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

[coachcap]

I don't know how AD Dave plays this going forward, but UConn must not be used as a pawn going forward in conference realignment negotiations. It is a huge stain in perception on the University's reputation & will have negative consequences. I shudder at the idea of folding the football program that SOME 'Yarders aspire to.
If Yormark ACTUALLY wants UCONN as team 17-18, it HAS to happen.
As an alumnus of this institution, I have always been pro-all things UConn, but after SO many failed attempts to get into a P5 (now P4, maybe soon P3) conference, patience is wearing thin & recent events are leaving me feel jaded.

 

[businesslawyer]

The major conferences know they would lose any anti-trust lawsuit, which is why they are so generous with the G5 and why they would never break off, no matter what the edge lords say.

So that’s an admission that the answer to my question was “never,” and thus there was no basis for you to criticize the original statement? Got it. Thanks for your honesty.,

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

You absolutely do not take it

Then you risk everything including BE basketball to do what - maybe get into an ACC remnant league in 5 years?

 

[greenday61892]

The discourse on Twitter in adding OSU & UConn on Twitter shows a lot of sympathy for OSU. Why? Because they were in a power conference & so they have a big budget and a lot more sports than UConn.

Ok interesting where the hell was our sympathy in the collapse of the OBE

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Agree. Football has to go scorched earth on everything and everyone. Give Mora all the resources, get recruits with chip on their shoulder, play anyone anywhere.

I like the way you think. What percentage of the resources will you be funding?

 

[upstater]

I think that FSU will do everything in their power to get out in the next few years and once they do then the dam will break because Clemson will then go and UNC, etc will have to depart, etc. Long story short: The Magnificent 7 will take to action.

They can leave now, but the ACC will get all their TV rights.

and there is no incentive to allow them to leave for the other members.

The former Fox executive who correctly stated that Fox does not want to pay the B12 for UConn because they already own them at a discount also commented on a post about how the networks view a GOR like the ACCs. He made it plain that FSU would not see any money from their TV rights if they left, because that's how GORs work

 

[metsfan2323]

UConn must not be used as a pawn going forward in conference realignment negotiations. It is a huge stain in perception on the University's reputation & will have negative consequences.

The alternative is to never try to get into a P5 or should I say P4 conference which is really unacceptable. Our reputation is not damaged, and we need to keep trying. If the phone rings AD Dave needs to pick it up and listen.

 

[greenday61892]

According to the Jason Scheer comment last night, the potential invite to Gonzaga & UConn is for just basketball, NOT basketball/olympic sports. Acceptance of those terms is a huge headache for the athletic department.

That's literally not even possible unless we go indy for all sports except basketball because of the primary-conference-sponsored-sports rule. God that "offer" is just insulting. He has to know that's not even allowed, and if he doesn't, he's a bigger moron than I could've ever imagined.

 

[Waquoit]

Not exactly true. Massachusetts kicked in $72 million for "infrastructure improvements" and Gillette Stadium is exempt from property taxes, although the Krafts do pay a fee per ticket sold to the town but the value is less than if the stadium itself was taxed.

So the Kraft's went to all that trouble and bluff for $72M "infrastructure improvements"? No, they were all in until CT couldn't deliver.

 

[upstater]

I’ll say this — Yormark just eliminated a major competitor for football and basketball dollars from the marketplace. Would I put it past him to try to eliminate a basketball competitor from the marketplace as well? (That was rhetorical by the way.)

Bringing in schools that as loss leaders for the purpose of eliminating competitors is clearly illegal under antitrust laws, by the way, but for whatever reason the DOJ to date has clearly not given a damn about college athletics.

The courts are also firmly behind monopolies, as we just saw in the Microsoft Activision case. And these are Obama judges who are as rah-rah about monopolies as anyone on the right.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If the B12 offers a basketball only spot and covers our exit fee from the Big East, I think we have to take it. We want to be in on their basketball tournament after the split, and we’d now have a foot in the door for future expansion. It’s also just a really strong basketball league tbh.

They would need to pay us considerably more than the BE currently does, cover our BE exit fee, not require us to sign a GOR, and offer us three home and three road football games (on a rotating basis throughout the conference) and a gradually declining exit fee, beginning at what they paid to get us out of the BE, ending at zero (or full membership, our choice) at the time of their current contract expiring.

 

[auggie22]

I think we should permanently dispense with any statement that resembles “we are the obvious candidate” or “we add the most value”.

 

[Rewster]

There's nothing in there that even hints at a partial invite

There's nothing in there that even hints at a partial invite.

Part of this for me and maybe for others is to indulge in some speculation. But I always find you around my corner telling me how it is.

You saw the video. What do you think he is referring to. Not looking for facts just some pure speculation. If you only deal in facts this thread is not for you.

 

[Bongo Fury]

After watching the tang video, it has me thinking the big 12 might be about to take a bite out of the big East.

You wouldn’t have to take too big of a bite for us to not feel good about staying behind.

Villanova

Just that name alone and we’re already uncomfortable.

Villanova and one other traditional power

Georgetown under Cooley?
St John’s under pitino?

Starts to change how you feel instantly.

If things shake loose in ACC, maybe Pitt and Cuse. Don’t be the HolyCross of the Big East

 

[upstater]

Could be.....I've been trying to explain this to BE or die Uconn crowd on twitter. What would it take for Fox with the Big 12's help (and even ESPN if they get some content ) to stop bidding on the Big East in the next media deal ? If Yormark gets the go ahead to offer 3 BE schools and Gonzaga say $10 Mil each for hoops ? It equals a kill shot. Are Nova, G-town and the Johnies gonna say no and end up in a PAC-12 situation or old Big East where the rest are scrambling around hoping for chump change, SMH!....we've this movie way to many times...and Yormark gets NYC and MSG by default, hmmm isn't that what he said he wants !

The risk for these schools would be enormous.

Their fans would fall off if they start to suck in the B12.

They have even bigger rivalries with one another than UConn does.

They'd lose Olympic Sports affiliation in the BE, and worst of all, they risk their own home markets as the BE backfills with replacements.

What happens if the BE adds George Washington to take G'town's spot? What happens if they add St. Joseph's or maybe make a run at Temple? What happens when Seton Hall becomes the main Catholic BE team out of NY?

What I'm saying is: if the departing schools become the BCs of the B12, then good luck to them! Heck, the BE should've invited Boston U. or UMass long ago.

 

[Ha Who]

All of those teams are far more desirable than Gonzaga. Recent success is overrated, markets are far more valuable.

The ACC could potentially do the same thing. People think the Big East failed because it was hybrid which is not true, the hybrid Big East was the best basketball conference in the country, the hybrid Big East failed because ESPN went out of their way to destroy it. Past is prologue.

Time to think outside the box

 

[Storrs South]

The moment you decouple basketball programs from football, football is toast.

Now no conference is going to ever take on football because they don't have to!

Meanwhile, you're asking UConn to spend more money in football operations and more money in travel for all sports while making peanuts in comparison with CBSSN while Big 12 opponents are making significantly more in TV money. Oh and we lose Big East Tournament traveling locally to games.

How is football supposed to magically get good enough it can't be ignored? Even if UConn went 6-6 for the next 5 years in a row, which would be really hard to do with a Big 12 schedule!!!!, that would not change the Big 12 calculus.

If the school is willing to ***** itself out, then the conference will treat it like a *****. It's that simple.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

They can leave now, but the ACC will get all their TV rights.

and there is no incentive to allow them to leave for the other members.

The former Fox executive who correctly stated that Fox does not want to pay the B12 for UConn because they already own them at a discount also commented on a post about how the networks view a GOR like the ACCs. He made it plain that FSU would not see any money from their TV rights if they left, because that's how GORs work

Yes, that is how the GOR was set up to work, but FSU is extremely focused on getting out. They are prepping to build a war chest of money (looking into private equity, donor loans, etc) that would fight the GOR from a legal standpoint, enable a buyout of the GOR and or exit fee, etc. Almost every exit has been negotiated down and it seems like the same would be true with the ACC. When someone has the fury like FSU does, things that don't seem possible/prudent can be the outcome. It can't be understated how important big time football inclusion is to FSU.

 

[upstater]

Unfortunately if he offers 10 million and 4-5 football games along with a bowl spot. You take it.

You end up losing money if you do.

$10m - $5m = $5m which gets eaten up by travel for all your teams.

Maybe you get a small bump in revenue for football. But at the end of the day, you're treading water, you've lost the BE, you've lost the BET, and you've made things miserable for the vast majority of your student athletes.

 

[kemba]

The Big 12 is definitely not done. After adding UofA, ASU, and Utah, last night the board approved Yormark to seek out candidates 17 and 18 by December 31, 2023.

I know I saw this last night too but can’t find it now..is this confirmed from a legit source?

 

[UConnJim]

So the Kraft's went to all that trouble and bluff for $72M "infrastructure improvements"? No, they were all in until CT couldn't deliver.

I was responding to the point that the Krafts got no money from Massachusetts. And, not paying property taxes on the stadium minus the ticket levy probably saves the Krafts $15 million per year.

 

[noeynox]

The Big East and ACC should be talking to each other right now about a merger. Merging the ACC into another league is the only possible way I see out of the GOR.

I agree with the 1st part, but if there is a way out of the GOR, there is a very good chance the ACC ends up like the PAC, with just Wake, Cuse, and BC not getting scooped up.

What's crazy is ESPN financed the destruction of the ACC. We just Fox do the same to PAC. To see the incredulity of national writers as if this didn't happen the exact same way a decade ago is fascinating.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Idk if Nova, St Johns, and Georgetown would want to ever be involved in the Big 12. They would be going from having a substantial voice in conference decisions to the bottom of the totem pole, which is exactly why they wanted nothing to do with UConn/USF/Cincy when the Big East/AAC split happened.

Nova and Georgetown are not hurting for cash like we are

Their choice. Big 12 is building the Premier league in BB.

 

[Skiblets]

Those ten years of football incompetence ...brutal.

At a time when we needed to double down, Suzy lax and the Board went cheap.

We want to lay blame. It starts at the Board and Prez levels

 

[FfldCntyFan]

After watching the tang video, it has me thinking the big 12 might be about to take a bite out of the big East.

You wouldn’t have to take too big of a bite for us to not feel good about staying behind.

Villanova

Just that name alone and we’re already uncomfortable.

Villanova and one other traditional power

Georgetown under Cooley?
St John’s under pitino?

Starts to change how you feel instantly.

I posed something a few months back (when the rumors began) that if the B-12 was legitimately looking at adding Gonzaga, it wouldn't make sense without also adding another one or three non-football members. I threw out Creighton (due to location) and two of Marquette, St John's, Villanova and Georgetown (as at the time I thought we would be in play for an all sports invitation) and many (primarily basketball only UConn fans) dismissed the idea.

How would they feel if we declined a bid for all but football and (hypothetically) watched Gonzaga, Creighton and two of Marquette, St John's, Villanova and Georgetown join?