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

[JMick]

In case you were wondering why the thought exists that we don’t take football seriously:

This graph doesn't really make that argument.

 

[Drew]

This graph doesn't really make that argument.

You know as well as I do that the bar always shifts when it comes to us:

Them: “UConn spends more on men’s basketball than it does on football”

Us: “Yeah but we spend more on football than anyone else in the G5”

Them: “Yeah but you do that through a subsidy generated by massive student fees because your athletic department has so much debt”

And on, and on, and on

 

[JMick]

You know as well as I do that the bar always shifts when it comes to us:

Them: “UConn spends more on men’s basketball than it does on football”

Us: “Yeah but we spend more on football than anyone else in the G5”

Them: “Yeah but you do that through a subsidy generated by massive student fees because your athletic department has so much debt”

And on, and on, and on

But who is "them?"

Randos on Twitter that read at a third grade level?

 

[LetsGoUC]

We're literally spending more than almost every G5 school....plus if we were in a power football conference that would be different, but they powers have left us out so this is not UConns fault.

 

[Drew]

But who is "them?"

Randos on Twitter that read at a third grade level?

Anyone in college sports media and administration, including Athletic Directors as recently as last year from the Big 12

 

[Waquoit]

Speaking of folklore, the groundhog said we were going to get an early spring.

 

[Sole]

Ain't that America?

No.. Taylor Swift

 

[huskymedic]

You know as well as I do that the bar always shifts when it comes to us:

Them: “UConn spends more on men’s basketball than it does on football”

Us: “Yeah but we spend more on football than anyone else in the G5”

Them: “Yeah but you do that through a subsidy generated by massive student fees because your athletic department has so much debt”

And on, and on, and on

Guess we need to shift the narratives one by one :

James Madison’s Record $53M in Student Fees Tops All Public Schools

James Madison's athletic student fee subsidies reached a record $53,3 million in fiscal 2023, by far the highest of any public school in the country.

www.sportico.com

 

[ScottVib]

Idk, I feel like spending as much as the top G5 programs shows otherwise

It’s percentages and perception. Sure UConn spends the same absolute dollars on football as the G5 schools. However if those same G5 schools had access to what UConn spends on basketball as well they’d allocate some (in certain cases most) of that to football as well.

The argument is then we spend as much as any non-P5 program which bleeds into the basketball-only argument of why isn’t football successful, since it’s not let’s devote more to basketball (where they are not only among the highest achieving but also the highest funded programs).

To external forces… football revenue is greater than basketball revenue; if UConn has access to more resources why aren’t they allocating those resources accordingly to improve the program. Clearly they don’t care… and if they get more resources whose to say they’d spend it on football.

UConn is also the only school among the major basketball programs where basketball draws more revenue than football. For each of the others football draws significantly more revenue. The non-UConn fan/president/AD wonders why UConn puts in so much “effort” (funding) to find dimes at the expense of finding dollars.

It’s not necessarily a fair argument but it’s an easy one to make, especially if you’re already predisposed to reject UConn.

 

[huskymedic]

UConn is also the only school among the major basketball programs where basketball draws more revenue than football. For each of the others football draws significantly more revenue. The non-UConn fan/president/AD wonders why UConn puts in so much “effort” (funding) to find dimes at the expense of finding dollars.

It’s not necessarily a fair argument but it’s an easy one to make, especially if you’re already predisposed to reject UConn.

Bit more color: Ticket sales only (no NCAA Tourney Credits/Media Revenue):

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Even Jay Bilas believes BB can break away ala CFP. UConn can be a major player in such a move. It remains farcical that UConn bumps along financially while the likes of Syracuse, BFC get $30mm per year. ( Rutgers getting $65mm is beyond farcical!).
With the ACC blowing up, we'll find some allies to take over March Madness - like UNC, Duke. It's not crazy and if football did it, BB can too!

The big money in basketball is the tournament and the NCAA uses it for a variety of things not basketball related .
Simply demand a bigger share or break away completely.. With the additional costs to be competitive that money is necessary.

 

[JMick]

Anyone in college sports media and administration, including Athletic Directors as recently as last year from the Big 12

They wouldn't care how much money we spent if we didn't suck. We spend enough to be competitive. Can't change our region to a recruiting hotbed

 

[Drew]

They wouldn't care how much money we spent if we didn't suck. We spend enough to be competitive. Can't change our region to a recruiting hotbed

“We spend enough to be competitive” is relative and I would pretty easily argue that 2 bowl games in 12 years says that we do not spend enough to be competitive with our existing schedules.

 

[JMick]

“We spend enough to be competitive” is relative and I would pretty easily argue that 2 bowl games in 12 years says that we do not spend enough to be competitive with our existing schedules.

But we spend as much as teams that are competitive

 

[huskymedic]

 

[FfldCntyFan]

In other news, water is wet.

 

[UConnJim]

I think you have to look at the big picture with UConn's revenues. Basketball revenues were weakening with the school in the AAC and the men's team in a decline. Stabilizing and improving basketball revenues and performance became a top priority and it has been accomplished. Remember, the tweet is about last year's revenues and this year ticket revenues for both men and women has seen improvement.

Football revenues and performance have started to improve since Mora arrived, but much more needs to be done. I do think UConn has invested more in football, but we need to continue to invest to improve performance. It's a virtuous cycle: invest in football leads to better performance which leads to higher revenues which leads to more investment which leads to better performance which leads to higher revenues... At the present time, the AD needs to lean on sponsors and donors to increase the investment in football.

And, I look at it this way. Right now, UConn could compete in the Big 10 in all sports with the exception of football at current spending levels. (I know UConn is not getting a Big 10 invite.) But it's pretty clear that if UConn gets an invite to a P4 conference, the increase in revenues could go primarily into football.

 

[ZooCougar]

For you and me?

Little pink houses for you and me.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

If we had P5 football media revenue to spend we would spend it most of it/almost all of it on football - just like all the other P5 schools. Most P5 schools break even (plus or minus) within their AD's. Only the top (about 15 schools I believe; there might be a few non-state schools that don't have to report their financials) of the P5 FB food chain actually report a profit from athletics. So, the idea of mapping us to P5 schools in terms of overall/football spending is a fool's errand.

 

[JohnFSilver]

If we were an 8-10 win team the stadium would be packed and people wouldn't care if we spent more money. Given the results of the last decade I don't blame people who think spending $1 on the program is too much.

That is the issue. You want results before investment.

Duke, NC, Kansas — all basketball schools, spend more on football than basketball.

There are 130 FBS football teams. Only 1 spends more on basketball than football. There is a reason UConn is the last independent and stuck in this conference purgatory. They aren’t spending Enough on football, and conversely aren’t generating enough revenue and are not winning enough.

The program is under performing in the field, in revenue generation and in media marketing.

Lastly, if football became good do you guys really think people would be happy about that? Or, pissed that it is stepping On basketball?

Think about stakeholders.

It’s a weird thing at UConn. Since the move in 2003, there has always been a movement to have the team stay in its lane and not eclipse the hoops programs in resources.

My professional opinion is that the program is underperforming in all aspects but has a lot of potential.

I just question if everyone in the AD department and UConn universe wants them to realize that potential.

 

[John]

It’s a weird thing at UConn. Since the move in 2003, there has always been a movement to have the team stay in its lane and not eclipse the hoops programs in resources.

My professional opinion is that the program is underperforming in all aspects but has a lot of potential.

I just question if everyone in the AD department and UConn universe wants them to realize that potential.

There's a vocal and misinformed minority of basketball fans who don't give damn what goes on with the rest of the athletic department and think the basketball program operates in some kind of magical vacuum. I'm guessing we have one of the only major fanbases in college athletics where people actively root against their own school's programs.

 

[Kolumbo]

It's really very simple. There is only one public athletic department in the entire country which is in a power basketball conference but not in a power football conference. Yes, UConn is the only school that is able to successfully spend more on basketball than on football. Ergo irrevocably concurrently inexorably Well Done UConn.

 

[JMick]

That is the issue. You want results before investment.

Duke, NC, Kansas — all basketball schools, spend more on football than basketball.

There are 130 FBS football teams. Only 1 spends more on basketball than football. There is a reason UConn is the last independent and stuck in this conference purgatory. They aren’t spending Enough on football, and conversely aren’t generating enough revenue and are not winning enough.

The program is under performing in the field, in revenue generation and in media marketing.

Lastly, if football became good do you guys really think people would be happy about that? Or, pissed that it is stepping On basketball?

Think about stakeholders.

It’s a weird thing at UConn. Since the move in 2003, there has always been a movement to have the team stay in its lane and not eclipse the hoops programs in resources.

My professional opinion is that the program is underperforming in all aspects but has a lot of potential.

I just question if everyone in the AD department and UConn universe wants them to realize that potential.

Yes I think nowadays if we were good, people would be happy because it would give them hope of joining a power conference. At this point all of the influential people understand the need to be in a power conference. And you can't compare our spending to teams bringing in 30mm+ on their media deals. It's unreasonable.

Yes there are dumb fans who would rather be in the Big East than the SEC - but they're dumb. They don't have a say no matter how important they think they are to their 500 Twitter followers.

I feel like we get too wrapped up in the Twitter and media sphere when at this point anyone related to the program who knows anything realizes that the whole thing is a joke. I'm not sure there's another fanbase or athletic department that understands the impact of conference realignment like ours does. Maybe SMU but how does their move look in five years when the ACC is toast?

Utahs football coach basically spat on the Big XII on their way in proclaiming they'll be in the B1G soon and ASU got dragged kicking and screaming by Arizona.

I think the administration under Dave gets it. The problem seems to be that a whole bunch of other schools presidents, ADs and BOTs are straight up clueless. And we can't fix that.

 

[John]

It's really very simple. There is only one public athletic department in the entire country which is in a power basketball conference but not in a power football conference. Yes, UConn is the only school that is able to successfully spend more on basketball than on football. Ergo irrevocably concurrently inexorably Well Done UConn.

It's not something to brag about.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Yes I think nowadays if we were good, people would be happy because it would give them hope of joining a power conference. At this point all of the influential people understand the need to be in a power conference. And you can't compare our spending to teams bringing in 30mm+ on their media deals. It's unreasonable.

Yes there are dumb fans who would rather be in the Big East than the SEC - but they're dumb. They don't have a say no matter how important they think they are to their 500 Twitter followers.

I feel like we get too wrapped up in the Twitter and media sphere when at this point anyone related to the program who knows anything realizes that the whole thing is a joke. I'm not sure there's another fanbase or athletic department that understands the impact of conference realignment like ours does. Maybe SMU but how does their move look in five years when the ACC is toast?

Utahs football coach basically spat on the Big XII on their way in proclaiming they'll be in the B1G soon and ASU got dragged kicking and screaming by Arizona.

I think the administration under Dave gets it. The problem seems to be that a whole bunch of other schools presidents, ADs and BOTs are straight up clueless. And we can't fix that.

I think you are wrong when you say if football was good people would be happy to get in a power conference. I think there is a sizeable
Minority of basketball only fans that would prefer football lose.

I want to ask you something. If UConn won in football in the aac, you think UConn goes back to the big east and goes Indy?

UConn basketball people look at UConn football as a threat. Benedict is doing a good job of trying to bridge fanbases and people, but no other AD department in the country is this fractured.

Football people
Basketball people
Women basketball people.

Football really is a problem for the school here. They went D1, but the financial commitment waned and there are people who prefer to focus all resources on hoops