Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[uconnric]

What's a bit frustrating to me is that outsiders (and many insiders) don't realize how our value will grow once we get into a P5 football conference. Big 12 football will sell out The Rent in it's first year.

Many of the college football "experts" don't think much of any team north or east of Penn State. We suffer from that bias and the fact that we stunk from 2016 to 2021 (and didn't play in 2020). Institutionally and facilities-wise we are a P5 school all day long.

 

[Dooooooomed]

6/29 Interview with Yormark on BYUtv. Expansion talk starts at 6:05...

BYU Sports Nation

 

[History Geek]

Listened to a good chunk of it. His reiteration of how he wants to be in all four time zones and how he thinks basketball is undervalued and wants to “double down” on the league’s hoops strength makes it clear he wants UConn. It will be interesting to see if he wants us enough to add us now and take us off the table, irrespective of what current PAC schools decide to do in the short term.

 

[Ldandy]

Many of the college football "experts" don't think much of any team north or east of Penn State. We suffer from that bias and the fact that we stunk from 2016 to 2021 (and didn't play in 2020). Institutionally and facilities-wise we are a P5 school all day long.

In fairness they’re not wrong. Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, BC, UMASS, and others haven’t helped the perception of the region by being mostly god awful on the field over the last decade and less than impressive in terms of facilities as well.

 

[businesslawyer]

What's a bit frustrating to me is that outsiders (and many insiders) don't realize how our value will grow once we get into a P5 football conference. Big 12 football will sell out The Rent in it's first year.

If we join the Big XII I hope you're right. But I would take the other side of that.

 

[JMick]

What's a bit frustrating to me is that outsiders (and many insiders) don't realize how our value will grow once we get into a P5 football conference. Big 12 football will sell out The Rent in it's first year.

We might sell out a game like WVU but we're not selling out every conference game unless we are competing at the top half of the league. The state supports winners. They won't just show up to Houston if we're 2-7. We have plenty of previous data to show this.

 

[GG]

Listened to a good chunk of it. His reiteration of how he wants to be in all four time zones and how he thinks basketball is undervalued and wants to “double down” on the league’s hoops strength makes it clear he wants UConn. It will be interesting to see if he wants us enough to add us now and take us off the table, irrespective of what current PAC schools decide to do in the short term.

I agree. This seems like proof that UCONN is definitely on his radar.

 

[whalerfan]

We might sell out a game like WVU but we're not selling out every conference game unless we are competing at the top half of the league. The state supports winners. They won't just show up to Houston if we're 2-7. We have plenty of previous data to show this.

I disagree. The interest factor alone will bring 28,000+ to every game (except Sacred Heart). More for TCU and Baylor.

 

[JMick]

I disagree. The interest factor alone will bring 28,000+ to every game (except Sacred Heart). More for TCU and Baylor.

28,000 is not close to a sellout

 

[noeynox]

If we join the Big XII I hope you're right. But I would take the other side of that.

Disagree. They are going to have to be competitive similar to how they were in the Big East. Can't get your doors blown in every time out like they did when Purdue and Missouri came to town, but people really underestimate the allure of P5 vs G5. There are good programs in the Big 12 with national appeal like Oklahoma State, TCU and West Virginia and others. If we are anywhere near 5-7, and 8-4, fans will show out. Even BB suffered here when the opponents were subpar and the performance was also. You were in the stadium that Friday night against Pitt when they played Sandstorm. Place was electric and can be that again.

 

[businesslawyer]

Disagree. They are going to have to be competitive similar to how they were in the Big East. Can't get your doors blown in every time out like they did when Purdue and Missouri came to town, but people really underestimate the allure of P5 vs G5. There are good programs in the Big 12 with national appeal like Oklahoma State, TCU and West Virginia and others. If we are anywhere near 5-7, and 8-4, fans will show out. Even BB suffered here when the opponents were subpar and the performance was also. You were in the stadium that Friday night against Pitt when they played Sandstorm. Place was electric and can be that again.

I'm not going to fight you because (i) we're not in the Big XII, and (ii) I hope you're right. But I think rebuilding the fan base will take more time.

 

[Blades]

What's a bit frustrating to me is that outsiders (and many insiders) don't realize how our value will grow once we get into a P5 football conference. Big 12 football will sell out The Rent in it's first year.

100% .....sports is based on momentum or perceived momentum, like being in a BCS conf or then not (heading out to the AAC ). That alone is a powerful factor in recruiting and fan interest. Facts and these are the numbers even as Uconn fans lost the 3 biggest draws (Va Tech, Miami, BC) before we ever got to play em' in the BE at the Rent.

Games/Avg Per Game /Capacity % 40,000 seat stadium /record
2003- 6/ 37059 / 92.6% / (First year at Rentschler Field- Independent 9-3 )
2004- 7/ 39304 / 98.3% /(8-4)
2005- 6/ 40000 / 100% / (5-6)
2006- 7/ 38939 / 97.3% / (4-8)
2007- 7/ 38205 / 95.5% / ( Co-Big East Champion 9-4 )
2008- 6/ 39331 / 98.3% / (8-5)
2009- 6/ 38229 / 95.6% / (8-5)
2010- 6/ 38248 / 95.6% / ( Big East Champion 8-5)
First 8 year avg. = 38,664 ---97% capacity

Double whammy - hired Pasqualoni as BE starts to crumble
2011- 7/ 36668 91.7% 5-7 record
2012- 6/ 34672 86.6% (Last year of BE/5-7 record)

 

[Bongo Fury]

I agree. This seems like proof that UCONN is definitely on his radar.

I don’t know if was said here but possibly waiting for input from BYU Cinci UCF UH. Seems high on BB. Men’s and women’s

 

[GoKU]

If I was a betting man, I'm putting my money on Colorado/UConn. Guess we will see....

 

[CL82]

Yormark seems like an intelligent guy. Here are the guiding principles that the big 12 will use for expansion:

Academics
Leadership
Brand upside
Athletic performance
Geography, and
Culture fit.

When you analyze Connecticut against this metric we do look pretty attractive. I believe we'd be the top school academically in the big 12. Certainly we have a national brand that would benefit from association with the big 12. Athletic performance speaks for itself, particularly in the big 12 area of emphasis, basketball. No school has one more men's and women's titles combined than Connecticut. Geography sounds like it might be a knock against us, except BY specifically talked about wanting to be on the East Coast and that being a plus for that category. The last thing is that he wants any institution that joins the big 12 to be "all in". We certainly would be.

He talked about that they are specifically looking at schools that bring value, regardless of whether they are P5 or G5. Then he went on to talk about how basketball is a big part of the big 12s future. He considers basketball, both men's and women's, to be a strength of the conference. He specifically talked about heritage as being something he considered a plus.

In a lot of ways this almost sounded like his pitch to the conference presidents about Connecticut. It ain't over 'til it's over, but we sure do seem to check a lot of boxes.

(Still doomed)

 

[History Geek]

If I was a betting man, I'm putting my money on Colorado/UConn. Guess we will see....

Thats my current gut feeling. Of course that has been changing daily.

 

[Bongo Fury]

If I was a betting man, I'm putting my money on Colorado/UConn. Guess we will see....

If I was a betting man, I'm putting my money on Colorado/UConn. Guess we will see....

CU has been quiet lately but I’d take that. KU & UConn @ MSG!

 

[Forte]

How can anyone watch that video of Yormark and not see him saying he wants UConn without saying he wants UConn ... though he has said UConn is the most heavily discussed when pairing us up with Gonzaga and SDSU etc. He is basically saying, look Big12 needed to think outside of the box of going head to head with the SEC and B1G. Adapt or die. The most telling is him consistently over and over, indicating that P5 vs. G5 does not matter to him as much as everyone thinks. As others noted and he reiterated, geography matters to him ... cough NYC cough EST. So let's go around all the know-it-all tweeters and think for a minute ... knowing Yormark can not vote but assuming he has the respect of the Big12 Presidents who also, btw value academics and would be looking up at UConn from that perspective ...

Academics - Check
Location NYC - Check
Basketball "HERITAGE" Check
Want grow and bring value to the conference - Proven Resume with Big East twice... Check
Upside - Check

My only question is what's the damn hold up... seems like CU has a preference for its current GF no matter how lame she has become

 

[RSTuthill]

We might sell out a game like WVU but we're not selling out every conference game unless we are competing at the top half of the league. The state supports winners. They won't just show up to Houston if we're 2-7. We have plenty of previous data to show this.

You are correct. We have world class companies here. Raytheon, the insurance companies, Electric Boat. Pratt and Whitney and Fred Rentschler are world class standards. Those are the people who buy the tickets. They are world class and they have pretty high standards. A couple 5-7 seasons is excusable. But not 1-11 or playing Houston when they are 2-7.

 

[businesslawyer]

Yormark seems like an intelligent guy. Here are the guiding principles that the big 12 will use for expansion:

Academics
Leadership
Brand upside
Athletic performance
Geography, and
Culture fit.



(Still doomed)

Seriously? That list is almost the opposite of prior conference additions.

 

[History Geek]

Seriously? That list is almost the opposite of prior conference additions.

It’s what he said. New strategy with the new guy in town, I guess. And he wouldn’t have be hired as commissioner if the consensus of presidents didn’t agree with his stated vision during the interview process.

 

[JMick]

You are correct. We have world class companies here. Raytheon, the insurance companies, Electric Boat. Pratt and Whitney and Fred Rentschler are world class standards. Those are the people who buy the tickets. They are world class and they have pretty high standards. A couple 5-7 seasons is excusable. But not 1-11 or playing Houston when they are 2-7.

yeah it's such an outlandish thing to think we'll magically sell out UCF, Cincinatti and Houston when we were in the same conference as them a few years ago and didn't come close to selling out those games. Like, we have the data that shows how many people showed up. The last time we played Cinci at home we drew 20,000. 23,000 for UCF. 12,000 for Houston.

if we suck, it won't matter if we're playing Iowa State or Texas Tech. We still won't draw a crowd.

 

[jostar1]

Here are some quotes from Yormark's interview:

There is strength in numbers.

I would like to stay at 14, even with the departures of Texas and Oklahoma, candidly. We’re not chasing a number, it’s really about the fit.

It gets back to the value equation. Whether you are a power 5 institution or a part of the Group of 5, it really comes down to the value equation. What are the things that a particular institution brings to the table.

I’ve been very intentional about it, as much as football drives the conference, basketball is a big part of our future. I think it’s undervalued. Whether you’re a member of the Power 5 or Group of 5, if you’re an institution that focuses on basketball, has a heritage there, that’s value for us. We need more than that, but that’s certainly valuable within our guiding principles and the conversations that we’re having.

Geography matters. I want to be a national conference. I want to be in all four time zones.

Question: There are schools that add value (in basketball). Do you feel like you need to add men’s basketball strength or because it’s the number one league when the contract comes up in 2031 is it good enough to attack with the existing teams?

Yormark: We are clearly the number one basketball conference in America. But if there is an opportunity to double down and create more value for our basketball business, absolutely, we should pursue it and explore it and we have. And will continue to do such. I think that’s a very important part of who we are as a conference, our basketball prowess, both men’s and women’s, and again, if there are opportunities to strengthen that position that we already have, I would like to pursue it in a holistic conversation and we have had those conversations and we’ll see where they take us.

 

[gars44]

Seriously? That list is almost the opposite of prior conference additions.

Just not exactly in that order.

 

[CL82]

Seriously? That list is almost the opposite of prior conference additions.

Yormark seemed serious when he said it.