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

[businesslawyer]

Not only cheaper, but this move likely makes it more legally plausible.

I'm not a lawyer so perhaps you can add more, but wouldn't this move give them the cover to say the league made moves against the best interest of the group and therefore the GOR should be nullified...or something to that effect?

No. You have the terms of the contract and then the much more limited implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, which is nowhere near implicated by expansion.

 

[Sea Goat]

I think the StanCal/ SMU gambit is a mistake. That makes me worry about the acc. I would just as soon go big 12. No super teams there, but good solid programs.

Agreed - the ACC was able euchre a deal with these desperate schools so the additional money will soften the blow to existing, underperforming members who have agreed to an unequal distribution in favor of the better performers. The ACC still has serious systemic problems. This deal buys them time, but ultimately the SEC and BIG wannabes will leave.

 

[ninety-nine]

Agreed - the ACC was able euchre a deal with these desperate schools so the additional money will soften the blow to existing, underperforming members who have agreed to an unequal distribution in favor of the better performers. The ACC still has serious systemic problems. This deal buys them time, but ultimately the SEC and BIG wannabes will leave.

Yep, this new ACC configuration is fundamentally a short-term arrangement pending the next wave of realignment. It might be the case that when things shake loose again, whatever is left of the ACC (if that's still a thing) is actually more stable and a much better fit geographically for UConn than the Big 12, with the top-tier football schools and the Pacific contingent having departed. It's hard to project because of the way revenue models are evolving, as consolidation might mean three 24-team conferences or some such arrangement. It also might involve streaming contracts with new groups of contractually-affiliated schools. The current alignment does favor the Big 12, though, in terms of a stable lineup of universities, and it's probably more likely to stay intact and add a few members rather than being picked clean.

 

[metsfan2323]

The acc Adding these three schools makes no sense to me… they had a pretty good geography fit..now they don’t…uconn would have been the best school for them to add… there must be some kind of problem with some of the schools in the acc and uconn

ESPN pulled all of the strings to make this happen IMO.

The move was orchestrated by ESPN to finish off the PAC and devalue them to G5 status, it also puts a band aid on ESPN's ACC problem by funneling more money to the top ACC teams. No doubt in my mind that the B12 would have offered Cal/ Stanford if ESPN financed it for them but clearly ESPN did not because they wanted the money to go to the ACC.

 

[Kolumbo]

Believe or not, Binghamton is 10x the school Stony Brook is. I would send my kids to Geneseo or Purchase even, Albany too before Stony Brook. SB is excellent for business and finance. But liberal arts, humanities and sciences leave a lot to be desired compared to several other SUNYs.

Some of those Cals are excellent schools, esp. San Diego, Irvine and Davis. They have excellent reputations. Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara are pretty good too.

I'm no expert on the SUNY system but Stony Brook shares the designation of flagship and is AAU. Much better bang for the buck than South Canada SU. I guess my original point about SUNY is that the northeast schools were designed to be regional. If the 4 main SUNY schools were 1, it would have a $1 billion plus endowment with 95k students. Just Buffalo and Stony Brook combined would be greater than $1 billion and 60k students. That's B1G.

A Joint Statement from The University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University On Being Designated as New York State’s Flagship Public Universities - SBU News

January 5, 2022--Today Governor Kathy Hochul announced the formal designation of The University at Buffalo (UB) and Stony Brook University (SBU) as New York State’s flagship universities. The official recognition of these premier centers of higher education as joint flagships of the State...

news.stonybrook.edu

All the University of California's are AAU except for Merced and San Fran. Riverside was just admitted this year.

"Eight of UC's ten campuses (Berkeley, UC Davis, UCI, UCLA, UC Riverside, UCSD, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz) are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU)"

 

[pj]

Please explain how an institution breaching a contract gets officers of the institution jail time. I’ll have to immediately advise all my clients.

All of your clients are breaching their contracts?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I think an argument could be made that we didn’t suddenly stop caring about football for ten years. That despite some success during Edsall’s first run , the UConn administration NEVER cared enough about football and now we are paying a heavy price. We heard the complaints during Edsall 1.0. We witnessed the incompetence of at least one AD. We were stupefied by 3 straight horrible head coach hires! All of this is very depressing for our fan base who care about all of UConn ‘s sports programs.

UConn going from nowhere in 1AA to a Bowl eligible conference was treated by Storrs. as found money .

 

[CL82]

We're able to pay a $5M/year basketball coach, we could pay a $5M/year football coach too if there was a will to do it (and a will by backers to fund it).

I guess, of course by the same logic Tom could fund the building of an on-campus stadium and name it the-boneyard.com stadium, if he could find backers to fund it.

 

[CL82]

We pay our WOMENS basketball coach comparable to what we pay Mora. You can say what you want about our success with Geno but I promise that’s the type of thing that shows the admins at TCU, Clemson, FSU, etc. that we truly do not care about what matters most to them. Another reason we’re never getting in and need to look at other options til 2036.

Personally, I find your thoughts on this very insightful. You should email our athletic Director to let him have the benefits of your wisdom.

 

[pj]

I guess, of course by the same logic Tom could fund the building of an on-campus stadium and name it the-boneyard.com stadium, if he could find backers to fund it.

It would be shame if it became SyracuseFans.com stadium.

 

[CL82]

It would be shame if it became SyracuseFans.com stadium.

Hey if Tom foots the bill it's his call and I will gladly take my weekend pictures of me next to the name flipping it off.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

We're able to pay a $5M/year basketball coach, we could pay a $5M/year football coach too if there was a will to do it (and a will by backers to fund it).

The problem is the true $5m FB coaches won't come to us for the job, so you would pay a coach that's worth $2-3m the full $5m???

 

[WestCoastHusky]

The problem is the true $5m FB coaches won't come to us for the job, so you would pay a coach that's worth $2-3m the full $5m???

We do need to keep Mora long-term here. The UCONN administration needs to do whatever is within its power to keep someone like him here.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

We do need to keep Mora long-term here. The UCONN administration needs to do whatever is within its power to keep someone like him here.

Agreed - he is and I think will be worth his weight in gold here. If he stays long enough to get us back into the top 30-40 range you have to double/triple his pay and we'd be able to if we keep filling up the stadium. If we increase 15k fannies more per game at 6 games per year with an average ticket price of $15 that is $1.3m in incremental revenue just on ticket prices alone (to say nothing about improved merch sales, donation increases, etc).

 

[ZooCougar]

Could you please provide a detailed description (including steps involved) in unselling something.

It's like he watched Succession and he bases his entire understanding of business on it.

 

[JohnFSilver]

ESPN pulled all of the strings to make this happen IMO.

The move was orchestrated by ESPN to finish off the PAC and devalue them to G5 status, it also puts a band aid on ESPN's ACC problem by funneling more money to the top ACC teams. No doubt in my mind that the B12 would have offered Cal/ Stanford if ESPN financed it for them but clearly ESPN did not because they wanted the money to go to the ACC.

The vaunted San Francisco college football market? The deal makes no sense for tv. This is ACC presidents thinking Stanford and Cal are more important then they are.

All those presidents want to work at Stanford and Cal.

 

[uconndogs]

Could you please provide a detailed description (including steps involved) in unselling something.

lol……my initial thought exactly!

 

[kemba]

We pay our WOMENS basketball coach comparable to what we pay Mora. You can say what you want about our success with Geno but I promise that’s the type of thing that shows the admins at TCU, Clemson, FSU, etc. that we truly do not care about what matters most to them. Another reason we’re never getting in and need to look at other options til 2036.

We pay elite money to our coaches in basketball because we have elite coaches. That level coach is not coming here for football regardless of salary. This comparison doesn’t matter.

 

[uconnyankee]

They are taking plenty of payments, at least if not more than they would have in the AAC and more than we are getting. Aside from all the monetary benefits of them being in the ACC instead of AAC, having better opponents, better P5 association, and better educational institutions. Not sure how that equates to buying a seat.

Cal and Stanford came in at 30%. SMU came in for free. There is most certainly a price they are paying that the soft costs you imply wont cover. These three schools have deep pockets to pay so it works for them.

Not many other schools could make this deal.

 

[Dizzy21]

Cal and Stanford came in at 30%. SMU came in for free. There is most certainly a price they are paying that the soft costs you imply wont cover. These three schools have deep pockets to pay so it works for them.

Not many other schools could make this deal.

SMU did not come in for free. Between other conference payouts, they will be making at least, if not more than the AAC total payout. Add in increased attendance and exposure from playing more high profile teams and they will be making even more than that. Moving to the ACC is a net financial gain for SMU.

 

[UConnJim]

SMU did not come in for free. Between other conference payouts, they will be making at least, if not more than the AAC total payout. Add in increased attendance and exposure from playing more high profile teams and they will be making even more than that. Moving to the ACC is a net financial gain for SMU.

Debateable. With the increased travel expenses being in the ACC and the dilution the three new members bring to the league, I would guess for SMU it is a wash at best. Maybe they get higher ticket sales, but SMU had only 21k for their football game yesterday after getting an ACC invite. For example, the three new members won't add to NCAA basketball tournament credits, it's unclear if adding 3 members enhances the ACC CFP payout, and with the Charter standoff with ESPN, it's questionable if SMU, Cal, and Stanford will get full price for the ACCN in their markets.

 

[buddy]

The vaunted San Francisco college football market? The deal makes no sense for tv. This is ACC presidents thinking Stanford and Cal are more important then they are.

All those presidents want to work at Stanford and Cal.

Turns out some the ACC Presidents are alumni of Stanford and Cal, thus the push for them!

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Believe or not, Binghamton is 10x the school Stony Brook is. I would send my kids to Geneseo or Purchase even, Albany too before Stony Brook. SB is excellent for business and finance. But liberal arts, humanities and sciences leave a lot to be desired compared to several other SUNYs.

Some of those Cals are excellent schools, esp. San Diego, Irvine and Davis. They have excellent reputations. Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara are pretty good too.

Agree, Stony Brook suffers from the UMass syndrom. A decent school in a region where everyone crosses the nearest available bridge to go to one of the surrounding private schools. Buffalo is strong in hard sciences and bio (and the only school I did not get into, though I got into UConn, UMaine, UDelaware, and Syracuse). Albany is know for business and I know several alumni who have done well in banking world in NYC after. Binghamton is still in liberal arts and sciences. On the smaller side, I don't know much about Purchase, but Geneseo has a rep as the more affordable version of the 'little Ivy's' while Cortland is the DIII jock school (going to the Ithaca v Cortland annual football game is a fun, sloppy mess). Out in California, in addtion to the big brands in Cal and and UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC Davis are all top 50 US News schools.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Could you please provide a detailed description (including steps involved) in unselling something.

Reversing a GOR is effectively unselling something that has already been sold. Since it can't be done, I don't have to provide anything.

 

[Dizzy21]

Debateable. With the increased travel expenses being in the ACC and the dilution the three new members bring to the league, I would guess for SMU it is a wash at best. Maybe they get higher ticket sales, but SMU had only 21k for their football game yesterday after getting an ACC invite. For example, the three new members won't add to NCAA basketball tournament credits, it's unclear if adding 3 members enhances the ACC CFP payout, and with the Charter standoff with ESPN, it's questionable if SMU, Cal, and Stanford will get full price for the ACCN in their markets.

My point is that everyone is saying they came for free, which they didn't. They aren't taking some huge pay cut that needs to be funded by boosters. Also, they played Louisiana Tech in the opener and their home slate this year Prairie View, Tulsa, Charlotte, North Texas, and Navy. Having Clemson, Miami, FSU, North Carolina, etc to replace most of those is going to sell tickets in a city that loves football, regardless of if they are SMU fans or not. And I suspect that basketball tickets sales go through the roof through as it is a bunch of well known brands, rather than someone like Florida Atlantic.