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

[UConntLose]

The Mike Anthony article in Hearst just now posted is troubling. It makes a nice case for why UConn deserves a Big 12 invite. However it cites sources indicating that Yormark is trying to persuade the Big 12 schools that UConn makes sense. Presumably Anthony's source is someone high up in the athletic department, who has presumably been in recent communication with Yormark regarding our status. It's disappointing and concerning that we are still at the point of needing to convince the Big 12 leadership of the merits of adding UConn. Moreover this would appear to clearly refute the "we are already in" crowd who are posting that it's a done deal for UConn. Seems far from it.
Also if you don't already please consider subscribing to CT Insider/Hearst, their UConn coverage alone is worth it.

This is well said. I would call this article this late in the game not necessarily a good thing (would have liked to see this in May). Mike definitely talked to Dave or someone close to him who laid it all out there for Mike on where things stand.

What I think happened is either UConn put this in motion because their candidacy isn’t nearly as solid as it was a week or two ago (only because of the Utah cloud now in play), or Yormark told UConn to do this to put pressure on the fellow conference mates to lay it out very clearly that he wants UConn.

If this carries over into next week, we might have to commence an email blitz to the Big 12 Presidents telling them why UConn is a value add addition. I’m currently trying to get a byline I drafted placed with a CT paper on why the national perception of UConn football is flat out wrong but no luck so far. Unfortunately, the narrative of UConn football as a laughingstock has gone left unchecked for far too long so someone’s gotta do something about it (certainly our beat writers haven’t done it).

 

[JohnFSilver]

With today's news, I have little confidence now the PAC will survive. This is the old Big East all over again except with FOX instead of ESPN now probably telling B1G to take the 4 schools out in the West. This could suck for UCONN. If B1G takes Washington, Oregon, Cal, and Stanford, we have to fight UTAH for the 16th spot for the B12.

This will come down to UCONN vs. UTAH. Both Oregon St and Washington State will be screwed. Can we leapfrog Utah for the 16th spot? I sure hope so, but it is hard to tell.

B12 can also go to 20 by adding Utah, Oregon St, Washington St, and SDSU, but I doubt the TV network will pay pro rata for this bunch. A few schools will be screwed. I hope it is not us.

Rule #1

When you talk about the overall AD use these multipliers
Football 10x
MBB 2x
Baseball .5x
WBB .25x
everything else 0x.

Utah is great at skiing. UConn at Field Hockey. Nobody cares.

If Utah wasn’t in pac-10, what would they do?

 

[superjohn]

At some point, you can dangle whatever amount of money you want and you will still be shut off from some candidates who do not want to work outside of the power conferences. That’s just the reality of where college sports are going - the Big East will not be magically protected from it. (I think the next television negotiation will be the first wake up call.)

Football will become increasingly untenable. We exist outside of the CFP structure and while everyone will see some windfall from it, we will not.

You think the NCAA tournament is going away? You think the NCAA tournament will shrink? You think all these schools who win the NCAA tournament will no longer be a part of it and will no longer be able to schedule with other good programs? You think the Big East will disappear?

 

[SixRings]

If that’s the plan, I promise that it will not happen. We’re not going to maintain this level for the next decade and a half with costs increasing and the primary source of athletic revenue for every P5 school providing us with >$5m per year.

Ya but I seem to remember you said the same thing nearly 10 years ago. Maybe I’m wrong.

 

[Hoophound]

You think the NCAA tournament is going away? You think the NCAA tournament will shrink? You think all these schools who win the NCAA tournament will no longer be a part of it and will no longer be able to schedule with other good programs? You think the Big East will disappear?

He thinks that we are dangerously close to the Big East not being able to pay coaches, among other things. He’s right.

 

[superjohn]

He thinks that we are dangerously close to the Big East not being able to pay coaches among other things. He’s right.

I want to know where he stands. We had this same discussion about the AAC and Big East 10 years ago and he was wildly wrong.

I don't remember where you stood. Were you a part of the crew saying the AAC was better than the Big East and the Big East was done?

 

[JohnFSilver]

Here is my issue of UConn being sleighted again….why is the big 12 taking four schools (Utah, Arizona, ASU, BYU) to get into two markets?

It’s just inane when you think about diversity and breaking into new markets.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Here is my issue of UConn being sleighted again….why is the big 12 taking four schools (Utah, Arizona, ASU, BYU) to get into two markets?

It’s just inane when you think about diversity and breaking into new markets.

Seems like if you want Arizona, lil bro is the price for them. Utah is just good at football.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Seems like if you want Arizona, lil bro is the price for them. Utah is just good at football.

Not everyone can be good at football at the same time.

Someone is gonna finish in last.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

In another 20 years when the era where we were good at football is 30 years in the past we’ll get picked up as that’s what seems to be the biggest draw in CR

 

[upstater]

Ya but I seem to remember you said the same thing nearly 10 years ago. Maybe I’m wrong.

10 years ago UConn wasn't running a $50m deficit.

And before people jump in to tell us that the state continues to finance that deficit, tell me why the state isn't defraying the skyrocketing tuition?

As UConn increasingly comes under pressure at the top end (rising tuition) it's going to find it very difficult to maintain that huge deficit. People look at the $B budget and think $50m doesn't matter, but they don't realize most of that budget is spoken for, it's not fungible, it leaves the colleges little wiggle room. If I had to guess the College of Arts & Sciences runs on much much less than $50m.

 

[uconnyankee]

Story about Fox destroying the Pac 12.

Canzano: TV picking apart college football

JOHN CANZANO
AUG 2, 2023

The Pac-12 is in trouble.

The conference has made some strategic errors, blown the messaging and overplayed its hand. But it still has a line of wonderful schools, excellent brands, good media markets and talented college football teams.

So why is TV reluctant to buy it?

Well, in part, because it doesn’t have to — as long as it can destroy the conference and pick apart the carcass. Fox didn’t need to make a big bid on the Pac-12’s rights. Not after it captured the Los Angeles TV market and 5.7 million television homes when USC and UCLA defected for the Big Ten. Then, last week Fox grabbed Denver via the Big 12’s acquisition of Colorado.

What’s today’s target?

Phoenix, of course.

Then, maybe the Bay Area, Seattle and Portland. On Wednesday, the Big Ten Conference presidents reportedly opened preliminary talks to explore additional expansion. They may decide to add Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal. It’s early there. They’re just exploring. But it’s a full-on chess game now, being played by a merry band of pirates.

One of the remaining “Four Corners” athletic directors confessed a few days ago that the negotiating landscape was difficult. He believed Arizona, ASU and Utah wanted to stick together, see commissioner George Kliavkoff’s presentation, and ideally remain in the Pac-12.

What were the threats?

Peers from other conferences trying to “take the league,” he said.

TV executives trying to “own it all,” he offered.

A “major influence” from one TV group, in particular, he noted.

What TV group exactly?

“Fox,” he said.

Did the conference and its consultants piss off Fox by asking for $50 million per school in the early part of the negotiation? Or when it asked Fox’s remote broadcast crews to show up on site to football games? Should the Pac-12 have just taken the network’s first offer and kept quiet because the alternative literally meant an existential reckoning? Are there some antitrust issues that lawmakers should unpack?

Full story is here:

Canzano: TV picking apart college football

Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal on block next?

www.johncanzano.com

No empathy. Nobody cared when Big East was falling apart.
Interestingly, it was Big East that offered Big 12 schools an out when their world was upending about 10-15 years ago

 

[JohnFSilver]

No empathy. Nobody cared when Big East was falling apart.
Interestingly, it was Big East that offered Big 12 schools an out when their world was upending about 10-15 years ago

Would have happened if Cuse and Pitt didn’t leave.

I think the Texas and Oklahoma to Pac-12 would have led to that union.

 

[Hoophound]

I want to know where he stands. We had this same discussion about the AAC and Big East 10 years ago and he was wildly wrong.

I don't remember where you stood. Were you a part of the crew saying the AAC was better than the Big East and the Big East was done?

Honestly, I don’t remember where I stood exactly. I’m a big football fan, so I remember being more concerned with our football issues and hiring the right coach than I was about the conference.

I love the Big East and was ecstatic to go back. I also prefer an Indy football schedule to an AAC schedule. However, I was one of the first, if not the first, to point out that we were dangerously close to a time when we wouldn’t be able to keep a coach from a P5 school if they wanted him. I’ve always felt we need to get in a power conference not just for football, but for basketball long term. I don’t see the Big East thriving forever.

 

[SixRings]

10 years ago UConn wasn't running a $50m deficit.

And before people jump in to tell us that the state continues to finance that deficit, tell me why the state isn't defraying the skyrocketing tuition?

As UConn increasingly comes under pressure at the top end (rising tuition) it's going to find it very difficult to maintain that huge deficit. People look at the $B budget and think $50m doesn't matter, but they don't realize most of that budget is spoken for, it's not fungible, it leaves the colleges little wiggle room. If I had to guess the College of Arts & Sciences runs on much much less than $50m.

I don’t disagree with any of this. But it was preached 10 years ago and here we are, still winning.

 

[djct1999]

Worth a read…..

Here are some things to consider about the Big Ten potentially becoming the Big Twenty

It's always about the money. But figuring out that money is very complicated.

www.extrapointsmb.com

 

[Incursio007]

I get that the school athletic department is hemorrhaging money, but being a public school helps buffer those losses considerably compared to private institutions due to state provided funding. Most, if not all, college athletic programs operate in the red on an annual basis. I know money rules & a P5 (soon to be P2) invite would be great, but it’s not like the big east has been a bust for us. I’m still on cloud 9 after banner number 5 & regardless of which conference we’re in, basketball is set to thrive.

I’m a big football fan & think Mora has done a great job. Keep winning & things will always work themselves out. Just my two cents.

 

[kobe]

I sincerely hope you live another 60+ years. You won't see a single Cincinnati championship just like the previous 60+ years but I hope you live to be the oldest human ever.

same to you my friend.

maybe in 60+ years uconn will finally able to get an invite from a relevant conference. would love for you to be able to see it.

 

[Stinger92860]

Why would the p5 status matter to a college hoops coach?

What if the Px breaks away from the ncaa? Have you considered the consequences of being outside looking in?

 

[djct1999]

 

[UConn Dan]

 

[UConn Dan]

And away we go!!! Please be UConn at 16. Please.

 

[superjohn]

What if the Px breaks away from the ncaa? Have you considered the consequences of being outside looking in?

And does what? Run a tournament most of the country won't care about?

 

[Stinger92860]

And away we go!!! Please be UConn at 16. Please.

Screw Utah. Screw the ACC. This is a critical time for CR.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

What if the Px breaks away from the ncaa? Have you considered the consequences of being outside looking in?

This much is obvious.

By sheer numbers there wouldn't be enough tournament teams to run a bracket with just teams from the SEC, B1G, ACC, and Big12.

I mean, really a first round matchup 1 v 16 seed of Kansas vs a 10-22 Georgia Tech?

I think you at least need the mid majors to put together something that makes sense.