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

[CL82]

It’s over Johnny.

 

[Pat125]

So @GoKU was right. I also said as much. We were #14 and then Friday morning it all went south.

Thank you B1G you greedy POS for running it for many schools including all the ones in the PAC that got screwed. You could not wait a few more years to get Oregon and Washington. It won't make a lick of difference, but many schools are paying it still for all the blood you spilled.

No, GoKU and/or his sources were way off. Yes, the Big Ten may well be scum, but everything that happened last week was well within the realm of possibility. So how anyone being an insider did not see this is beyond me. Really!?!

In any case, frankly the Big 12 should have picked UConn as 13 or 14, and tell the corner schools while they were f&rting around, that there are three spots left, and let the remaining school figure out with Cal and Stanford what to do next.

 

[pj]

Because the endgame was taking the big east off the board as the equivalent of a P5 conference. ESPN is already on the first tier of every cable provider at a significant premium, something like seven or eight dollars per subscriber the last time I looked which was many years ago.

Yes, I get that ESPN benefited from keeping their cable fees the same while reducing the payouts to content providers.

What I wonder is why they wouldn't want to have the most valuable content in their lineup. UConn is more valuable than a lot of stuff they kept. As the architects of realignment they could have maximized the value of ESPN's portfolio. Instead they let UConn go to Fox, while keeping schools like Louisville and Pitt that would have added more value in the B12.

 

[CL82]

Yes, I get that ESPN benefited from keeping their cable fees the same while reducing the payouts to content providers.

What I wonder is why they wouldn't want to have the most valuable content in their lineup. UConn is more valuable than a lot of stuff they kept. As the architects of realignment they could have maximized the value of ESPN's portfolio. Instead they let UConn go to Fox, while keeping schools like Louisville and Pitt that would have added more value in the B12.

They really didn't have much say. Connecticut left the American. I don't know if that was on ESPN's radar.

Ironically, though, it was ESPN's insistence that Contant be moved to ESPN plus, including Connecticut women's basketball, that was the straw that broke the camels back for us in the American.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

This I do not get: why not change to the Villanova model where it isn't a 50/50 split but more like 75/25.

Throw any marquee game over the break + one additional non break marquee game + cupcake during finals & break (4 games total) to Hartford. The rest on campus which should be about 13. Of course that Hartford package you couldn't sell for as much as Gampel, but are they afraid about losing season ticket holder revenue? Because if that's the case then the $7.5 million figure doesn't account for that.

For this season I could see something like:
XL: Providence, Creighton, Seton Hall + cupcake during break (let's say Boston University)
Gampel: Marquette, Villanova, St. John's, Georgetown, Xavier, DePaul, Butler + remaining cupcakes during semester

This is well balanced and games like DePaul and Butler (assuming during semester) don't need to be in Hartford. If you want more big games go to Gampel, but if you are OK with a few you can get a little exposure in Hartford. This also is more student friendly and builds a better campus environment and student interest. First XL game wouldn't be until December, which maybe you throw one cupcake early on there just to get people into basketball mode.

End of day, they need a better deal with Hartford in terms of money and scheduling priority.

I think you're ignoring the donations the school and seat licenses the school gets from playing in Hartford. They essentially get to double dip.

I suspect we'll never see the true data, but id love to see a donation breakdown between Gampel and Civic Center season ticket holders.

Now with all this said, I tend to agree it's not a good deal, but the worse part is how UConn accounts for it all. As @CL82 noted a lot of these expenses are just paper not cash out and something of the things the AD takes the expense for are kind of dubious as well.

The on campus stadium and deficit are such big talking points, that could pretty easily be resolved with a) 'committee' to investigate an on campus stadium, b) figure out a better way to spread the expenses out aside from parking it in the AD which makes the school like inept.

 

[CTBballfan243]

It’s over Johnny. And it ends with the biggest kick in the nuts of them all….and that’s saying something

At some point you just need to be happy with who/what you are. Be happy with what you have and stop chasing the dragon.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

SMU vs. UConn for ACC

SMU US News Rank 72
UConn US News Rank 67 (we are better academically)

 

[CL82]

I think you're ignoring the donations the school and seat licenses the school gets from playing in Hartford. They essentially get to double dip.

I suspect we'll never see the true data, but id love to see a donation breakdown between Gampel and Civic Center season ticket holders.

Now with all this said, I tend to agree it's not a good deal, but the worse part is how UConn accounts for it all. As @CL82 noted a lot of these expenses are just paper not cash out and something of the things the AD takes the expense for are kind of dubious as well.

The on campus stadium and deficit are such big talking points, that could pretty easily be resolved with a) 'committee' to investigate an on campus stadium, b) figure out a better way to spread the expenses out aside from parking it in the AD which makes the school like inept.

They are big talking points for us, I'm not sure how much bandwidth they occupy off of this board.

 

[Drew]

I think you're ignoring the donations the school and seat licenses the school gets from playing in Hartford. They essentially get to double dip.

I suspect we'll never see the true data, but id love to see a donation breakdown between Gampel and Civic Center season ticket holders.

Now with all this said, I tend to agree it's not a good deal, but the worse part is how UConn accounts for it all. As @CL82 noted a lot of these expenses are just paper not cash out and something of the things the AD takes the expense for are kind of dubious as well.

The on campus stadium and deficit are such big talking points, that could pretty easily be resolved with a) 'committee' to investigate an on campus stadium, b) figure out a better way to spread the expenses out aside from parking it in the AD which makes the school like inept.

For basketball tickets- couldn’t you just essentially combine the donation amounts for a full season if you moved to Gampel?

Why on Earth would anyone pay $2250 per ticket for 7-8 basketball games in the lower bowl of Gampel knowing 4 of those min are going to be against trash opponents? But you could probably get away with 4000 or so all in for lower Gampel with 16 home games (not sure how many they usually play) including the donation and ticket cost

I personally do not see the appeal of anything Hartford related for UConn other than “we’ve always done it this way”. Playing games in XL because they used to in the 90s or whatever is just stupid.

The school needs to come into some serious coin somehow (most likely a conference change), add a ton of revamped premium seating at Gampel, and move the games to campus. Anything else completely defies what collegiate athletics is about

 

[WestCoastHusky]

No, GoKU and/or his sources were way off. Yes, the Big Ten may well be scum, but everything that happened last week was well within the realm of possibility. So how anyone being an insider did not see this is beyond me. Really!?!

In any case, frankly the Big 12 should have picked UConn as 13 or 14, and tell the corner schools while they were f&rting around, that there are three spots left, and let the remaining school figure out with Cal and Stanford what to do next.

I think the part he was incorrect about was that UCONN Is #14 no matter what. I suspect Arizona, ASU, and UTAH approached the B12 as a package of 3, which B12 gave in on. This changed the original game plan, and UCONN was SOL.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think the part he was incorrect about was that UCONN Is #14 no matter what. I suspect Arizona, ASU, and UTAH approached the B12 as a package of 3, which B12 gave in on. This changed the original game plan, and UCONN was SOL.

This is what I said ages ago. The four corner schools would always top the list. There are all sorts of historical reasons for it, but they wanted the AZ schools for decades, and obviously wanted Colorado back. Utah is needed to shore up football and restores a rivalry with BYU. What GoKU missed on was that they'd be available. Until Washington and Oregon got the go ahead, they wouldn't have been.

 

[JeepCSC]

GoKU didn’t miss on whether they’d be available. He was adamant Utah was not in play.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

For basketball tickets- couldn’t you just essentially combine the donation amounts for a full season if you moved to Gampel?

Why on Earth would anyone pay $2250 per ticket for 7-8 basketball games in the lower bowl of Gampel knowing 4 of those min are going to be against trash opponents? But you could probably get away with 4000 or so all in for lower Gampel with 16 home games (not sure how many they usually play) including the donation and ticket cost

I personally do not see the appeal of anything Hartford related for UConn other than “we’ve always done it this way”. Playing games in XL because they used to in the 90s or whatever is just stupid.

The school needs to come into some serious coin somehow (most likely a conference change), add a ton of revamped premium seating at Gampel, and move the games to campus. Anything else completely defies what collegiate athletics is about

That's kind of my point, there are likely donors that wouldn't make the trip to gampel. Not to mention the additional capacity at the Civic center is more seat licenses and potential donations.

I know it isn't a great but we're not in a position to turn away fans.

They are big talking points for us, I'm not sure how much bandwidth they occupy off of this board.

I saw that referenced a lot during realignment chatter saying UConn is broke.

 

[huskymedic]

P5

 

[Rufus]

Not many key tweets today. I'm going through key tweet withdrawal again.

 

[Rufus]

P5

If those teams are forced to join a Group of 5, the Mountain West is a better destination than the American.

 

[huskymedic]

If those teams are forced to join a Group of 5, the Mountain West is a better destination than the American.

But Aresco has the drums beating…

 

[Forte]

The ACC will not say no on the second vote tomorrow. Its obvious they will be admitted. People bend over backward for other the old guard.

 

[HuskyHawk]

P5

Are these people dense? The Pac will stay the Pac and expand with some combination of MWC and AAC schools (Tulane, SMU). They aren't giving up the brand name and the NCAA credits.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Are these people dense? The Pac will stay the Pac and expand with some combination of MWC and AAC schools (Tulane, SMU). They aren't giving up the brand name and the NCAA credits.

They won't give up the brand name or the credits but it will be very difficult for them to grab anyone from the MW. That conference just upped its departure fees to (I believe) $34 million. The new PAC won't make enough money for the move to be worth it for MW schools.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

GoKU didn’t miss on whether they’d be available. He was adamant Utah was not in play.

That's the part that screwed us. UTAH was all suddenly available and willing, which wasn't the case until that dreadful Friday morning.

 

[bendm]

Are these people dense? The Pac will stay the Pac and expand with some combination of MWC and AAC schools (Tulane, SMU). They aren't giving up the brand name and the NCAA credits.

PAC4 + MW + SMU & Tulane = PAC18

at least 9 of the 12 MW teams must leave to dissolve the conference and remove exit fees. i don't think they will leave 3 teams hanging and will require PAC to accept all 12.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

I believe the B12 still wants UCONN. They simply haven't found the media partner yet to step up and pay for the UCONN addition. Once they find that, I believe we can still get in with another school.

 

[Ha Who]

I believe the B12 still wants UCONN. They simply haven't found the media partner yet to step up and pay for the UCONN addition. Once they find that, I believe we can still get in with another school.

 

[uconnyankee]

I believe the B12 still wants UCONN. They simply haven't found the media partner yet to step up and pay for the UCONN addition. Once they find that, I believe we can still get in with another school.

Does anyone think Memphis could be a good fit for Big 12?
Academically not strong, but they check a lot of other boxes including fan support.

Asking for a friend.