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

[HuskyHawk]

They don’t want UConn! How many times have they proved that?

Yormark just spent a lot of time making us look better. The ACC leadership is dumb, but there’s a chance the lightbulb goes off. UConn is Diane Franklin in Better Off Dead. Sometimes you don’t see what‘s right in front of you and when somebody else does you realize what you missed.

Big XII not taking us doesn’t change that. They too are set in their ways and put too much stock in “P5” status. They made the decision nobody will criticize them for. It’s also the right decision for rivalries and all the things we keep saying should matter. Hard to fault it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don't understand this logic though. FOX and ESPN both just agreed to pay more money to these PAC schools by moving them into the Big 12 and Big 10 when they could have had them for a helluva lot cheaper had they stayed together. And now ESPN is panicking that they have no west coast inventory so they're going to shell out money for Stanford and Cal?

The people in charge of this sham are beyond stupid

The B1G took four schools that had about 75% of the eyeballs for the Pac12. The Big XII took regional schools that fit perfectly with the schools they have. Several rivalries were maintained or renewed.

B1G went nationwide in a major way. The Big XII shored up dominance in the southwest/mountain/plains region. When you go to a sports bar in those states, it’s going to be a Big XII bar. This is something the B1G enjoys in its core territory, as does the SEC. As they expand they lose that. St. Louis is not “SEC country” for example. Maryland certainly is not “Big Ten country”.

ACC taking UConn should be an easy decision for the same reason the corner schools made sense to the Big XII. They should have grabbed Rutgers long ago too.

 

[Waquoit]

He is. He wants to lead the best program in the Big East. That can't happen unless we leave.

Why ask why?

 

[Luna]

Good point. Connecticut is an unaffiliated independent. I don't think that's better if your name isn't Notre Dame.

I think uconn football needs to built its brand..it looks like we will have a good team this year…we need Mora to stay and do his magic… then we will get a better tv deal and conferences will come calling

 

[ZooCougar]

Adding Cal and Stanford is like the Wish.com version of what the B1G did.

 

[ZooCougar]

I think uconn football needs to built its brand..it looks like we will have a good team this year…we need Mora to stay and do his magic… then we will get a better tv deal and conferences will come calling

As he gets results, pay the guy. He doesn’t need to be job hopping at this point.

 

[greenday61892]

From Malloy it means nothing. From Ned Lamont, maybe

SHOOT I'm just gonna blame the fact that I just finally quit a job bordering on a decade that by the end was giving me near-daily panic attacks and haven't fully readjusted yet

 

[Blades]

Wouldn't it be great if the ACC's next move was poaching the NC from his new conference for running his mouth, LOL !

 

[aburks41]

The B1G took four schools that had about 75% of the eyeballs for the Pac12. The Big XII took regional schools that fit perfectly with the schools they have. Several rivalries were maintained or renewed.

B1G went nationwide in a major way. The Big XII shored up dominance in the southwest/mountain/plains region. When you go to a sports bar in those states, it’s going to be a Big XII bar. This is something the B1G enjoys in its core territory, as does the SEC. As they expand they lose that. St. Louis is not “SEC country” for example. Maryland certainly is not “Big Ten country”.

ACC taking UConn should be an easy decision for the same reason the corner schools made sense to the Big XII. They should have grabbed Rutgers long ago too.

I understand why the conferences want to expand. I do not understand why ESPN and FOX just let the PAC die because they didn't want to pay them, but now they're okay with paying all of the schools even more money to be members of different conferences. That's what makes zero sense to me.

 

[Rufus]

I understand why the conferences want to expand. I do not understand why ESPN and FOX just let the PAC die because they didn't want to pay them, but now they're okay with paying all of the schools even more money to be members of different conferences. That's what makes zero sense to me.

The ratings of the games in the new conferences will be higher than the ratings of the games in the PAC-12. Higher ratings = higher charge for commercials = more revenue for the media partners.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Fox was never going to let the Big12 take UConn. Fox gets UConn for pennies in the BE.

Why would Fox pay UConn 8x more --- all while destroying the amazing Big East content they have?

It was never going to happen, no matter what Yormack wanted

The networks don’t control conference realignment!

 

[CTBballfan243]

The networks don’t control conference realignment!

Yes they do.

 

[noeynox]

The networks don’t control conference realignment!

Um. Whoever is financing it most certainly controls it. Anything else is posturing.

 

[UConnJim]

The ratings of the games in the new conferences will be higher than the ratings of the games in the PAC-12. Higher ratings = higher charge for commercials = more revenue for the media partners.

Maybe for the old Pac teams, but will overall Big 10 football TV ratings go up? I'm not so sure as adding more teams does not increase the number of desirable matchups. The number of games that Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State play hasn't changed and they will end up playing more games against less desirable opponents. Look at USC/Ohio St. They will probably play once every 2 to 4 years in an 18 team conference.

 

[CL82]

They were negotiating. Apple upped their offer $2M per school. I am guessing they didn't see FOX pull the Oregon and Washington card at the last sec to sink the Apple deal. Stuff like this happens, and it is part of the negotiation for many businesses. These conference realignments are pretty much like cutthroat corporate negotiations. Apple simply got played this time. I am sure they will be more prepared next time.

I don't know that they got played so much as they didn't understand the dynamics of the business in which they were trying to negotiate in agreement. They were probably no more than $9 million per school off of an agreement that would've left the conference intact.

I am sure that they will be more prepared next time too. But it is tough to call somebody a savvy negotiator who was completely tone deaf in a negotiation.

 

[CL82]

Well ESPN has never been Uconn's friend except when the Rasmussen's started the company, but who actually likes and wants to help out the tax man ?

It tends to be a bad negotiating position to piss off the people you're actually asking for something. In this case, insisting on UConn versus say Pittsburgh, would not have cost them a dollar and would have created good will. That's the low hanging fruit of negotiation.

 

[uconnyankee]

I think uconn football needs to built its brand..it looks like we will have a good team this year…we need Mora to stay and do his magic… then we will get a better tv deal and conferences will come calling

No.
Any UConn success under Mora will be deemed ‘Mora’s bump’, not UConn’s.

The argument will be, ‘yeah, but that was with Mora as coach, what happens if he leaves?’

 

[CTBballfan243]

 

[uconnyankee]

I understand why the conferences want to expand. I do not understand why ESPN and FOX just let the PAC die because they didn't want to pay them, but now they're okay with paying all of the schools even more money to be members of different conferences. That's what makes zero sense to me.

It’s about siphoning the value. Big got its mega brands. The Big 12 picked over what’s left and took the four corners.

Whatever is left has the least value. Funny that’s what ACC is going after hoping to increase its value. Them taking those schools smacks of weakness.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Um. Whoever is financing it most certainly controls it. Anything else is posturing.

I was being facetious.

 

[noeynox]

I was being facetious.

My bad. Ain't always easy to tell.

 

[Patman]

Adding Cal and Stanford is like the Wish.com version of what the B1G did.

Adding Cal and Stanford is the outright admission that the ACC is screwed AND they know it.

 

[buddy]

I think the ACC leftovers would be beyond stupid if they don't want to expand now. However, they are tied to the dumb long-term contract they signed with ESPN, and there isn't an automatic clause to pay the new team(s) more money pro rata so that will have to be negotiated with ESPN.

The question isn't if the ACC would like to expand or not, the real question is if ESPN is interested in paying some money to get some extra inventory. I am not sure what is the worth of UCONN, but our men's and women's basketball content got to be worth something.

Not enough apparently

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I understand why the conferences want to expand. I do not understand why ESPN and FOX just let the PAC die because they didn't want to pay them, but now they're okay with paying all of the schools even more money to be members of different conferences. That's what makes zero sense to me.

That's exactly what happened with the old Big East.

 

[How Sway?!]

Yeah those schools are going to leave a conference that pays more and fits their geographical make up for the B12.