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

[Sea Goat]

Since UConn has been bad, it sucks for students (and for many fans), but when UConn was good, people showed up including students. Sure, an on campus stadium would be great, but let's start winning first.

How quickly we forget the packed Rent for BE FB games in the mid 2000's! It was working! We packed the Rent and it had a great atmosphere, including tailgating!

The Pasqualoni hire and the first screw job on conference realignment in 2011 is what started FB down the toilet. There is simply no denying that hurt us the most. Before that time, we were dominating Syracuse (won 6 in a row from 2005-2011) and on a par with Pitt. (I have written ad nauseam about the reasons we were screwed, so I won't rehash the same here.) Then, once the first conference screw job occurred, we started to repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot FB-wise.

The question is - can we get it back? I say "yes", but only in a better conference setting. To do so, we need to monetize March Madness as I have suggested. If MM becomes controlled by an organization akin to CFP (and why not?), UConn will be an important player. It may actually have the gravitas as a BB program to drag FB along with it to a suitable conference. But change has to occur regarding MM. The NCAA makes over $1b each year from MM and the payouts to the schools suck in comparison.

Why does this matter? First of all, for all our greatness, our athletic dept needed a university subsidy of $38m+ to pay for operations.
The single biggest reason for this is being in an inferior conference. The BE paid UConn about $6.5m in 2023 (about same as Creighton - let that sink in!) For comparison, Big 10's Northwestern, hardly a big earner, received somewhere between $50-60m - more than all 11 Big East members received in distribution combined! This is not sustainable! The push to get into a better conference, with football, should be the A-number 1 goal.

 

[CJasmer]

Everyone I have brought to the Rent have been impressed by the experience, especially tailgating. There are not many college stadiums that are as easy to get to with almost unlimited parking for tailgating for the home fans as well as the visitors. The seating is terrific with no bad seats and plenty of leg room, especially when compared to older stadiums. Compared to other stadiums, there are enough restrooms at The Rent as well.

What other stadiums have these people experienced a college football game yet?

 

[ZooCougar]

Point being, they don't even see the football stadium when they visit campus, and it's not worth driving to East Hartford.

Wait a minute. The football recruiting trip may not be so bad after all. They can visit Cabella's and the new Lowe's and Wayfair warehouses next door.

View attachment 101927

Cabelas and a Chinese Eretailer. Oh joy.

 

[UConnJim]

What other stadiums have these people experienced a college football game yet?

Syracuse, BC, Notre Dame, Army, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Miami, UMass, Buffalo, WVU, Pitt, Penn State, ECU, NC State, UNC, Clemson ... The Rent is incredibly convenient to get to and the tailgating is among the best. That said, nobody is saying The Rent beats ND and Clemson, but it does beat a lot of stadiums.

 

[CJasmer]

Syracuse, BC, Notre Dame, Army, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Miami, UMass, Buffalo, WVU, Pitt, Penn State, ECU, NC State, UNC, Clemson ... The Rent is incredibly convenient to get to and the tailgating is among the best. That said, nobody is saying The Rent beats ND and Clemson, but it does beat a lot of stadiums.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Urcea]

Everyone I have brought to the Rent have been impressed by the experience, especially tailgating. There are not many college stadiums that are as easy to get to with almost unlimited parking for tailgating for the home fans as well as the visitors. The seating is terrific with no bad seats and plenty of leg room, especially when compared to older stadiums. Compared to other stadiums, there are enough restrooms at The Rent as well.

This man speaks the truth

 

[Urcea]

 

[Exit 4]

Nice post by the BE.....but no dollar amounts disclosed. Hmmmm.

 

[ScottVib]

Interesting details. Max is involved on the TNT part of the package. Peacock starts up with 25 games this year including tournament games and some quarterfinal matchups.

 

[Drew]

Interesting details. Max is involved on the TNT part of the package. Peacock starts up with 25 games this year including tournament games and some quarterfinal matchups.

Not just Max, the TNT portion is TNT, TBS, TruTV and Max. Which is interesting.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

I’m surprised Peacock (NBC) is able to start a year early. Glad I got the annual subscription for 20 bucks a few weeks ago. I have a feeling UConn will have a few games on Peacock as the biggest attraction.

“Peacock will launch its coverage of BIG EAST men’s basketball in 2024-25 with a package of 25 regular season games and five early round and quarterfinal conference tournament games. Beginning with the 2025-26 season, Peacock and NBC Sports will present more than 60 men’s and women’s regular season and BIG EAST Tournament games.”

 

[ninety-nine]

I’m surprised Peacock (NBC) is able to start a year early. Glad I got the annual subscription for 20 bucks a few weeks ago. I have a feeling UConn will have a few games on Peacock as the biggest attraction.

“Peacock will launch its coverage of BIG EAST men’s basketball in 2024-25 with a package of 25 regular season games and five early round and quarterfinal conference tournament games. Beginning with the 2025-26 season, Peacock and NBC Sports will present more than 60 men’s and women’s regular season and BIG EAST Tournament games.”

I don't see the $20 offer for one year of Peacock. I only see $59.99 for the year, or $5.99 per month, and that's with ads. Guess I'll be piecemealing yet another subscription service, this time from January through March.

 

[BullDawg]

I don't see the $20 offer for one year of Peacock. I only see $59.99 for the year, or $5.99 per month, and that's with ads. Guess I'll be piecemealing yet another subscription service, this time from January through March.

$20 was an introductory rate through Roku.

 

[ElGuapo]

FYI on free Peecock if you are an Xfinity customer...

I activated mine about 6 months ago when I was poking around in Xfinity Rewards page in my Xfinity dashboard.

Activate Peacock Premium from an Xfinity or NOW promotional offer

Learn how to activate Peacock Premium when it’s been included in a promotional offer from Xfinity.

www.xfinity.com

Peacock Premium promotional offers​

Eligibility	Offer
New and existing Xfinity Internet customers who subscribe to Gigabit or higher speed service	You can receive Peacock Premium at no additional cost for two years.* To verify your Peacock Premium activation status, go to xfinity.com/activate-peacock and log in with your Xfinity ID and password. After two years, Peacock Premium will terminate unless you elect to continue receiving the service.
Diamond or Platinum tier Xfinity Rewards members with any level of Xfinity Internet Note: Silver and Gold tier Xfinity Rewards customers aren’t eligible to redeem the offer.	You can redeem a reward to receive Peacock Premium at no additional cost.* Sign in to xfinity.com/rewards to take advantage of this offer. You’ll then receive an email with instructions on how to activate your offer. It may take a couple hours to receive the email.
NOW TV customers	You can receive Peacock Premium included as part of your service.* If you’re eligible to receive Peacock Premium, you may need to reactivate by going to xfinity.com/activate-peacock. See the NOW TV overview for instructions and device eligibility.
New customers with Xfinity Internet and an X1 TV Box, Flex streaming TV Box, or a Xumo Stream Box from Xfinity	You can redeem an offer to watch Peacock Premium at no additional cost for six months. Open the Peacock app on your X1 TV Box, Xumo Stream Box, or Flex streaming TV Box to redeem this offer.

 

[Waquoit]

Everyone I have brought to the Rent have been impressed by the experience, especially tailgating.

Pretty much all of the folks badmouthing The Rent don't go to games.

 

[Kolumbo]

Pretty much all of the folks badmouthing The Rent don't go to games.

That's not true at all. Especially considering that the students who go to games would much rather walk than take a bus.

USF has a much better stadium situation than UConn but has chosen to make the investment and build a new on-campus stadium. Yeah, NFL stadiums aren't ideal because colleges don't sell them out. But big picture, it's a much better situation in Tampa than we have in East Hartford. AAU and a new stadium. That's progress.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

That's not true at all. Especially considering that the students who go to games would much rather walk than take a bus.

Please point out the students who have been badmouthing the Rent on this board.

 

[CJasmer]

Please point out the students who have been badmouthing the Rent on this board.

Why would students be on the board. They actually have important things to do like go to class. The last thing they would talk about is going to a UConn football game. That is important for perhaps 5,000 people in the whole state of CT who really want to attend UConn football games. I think British and European schools have it right on athletics who treat it as club sports. Americans values are so backwards.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't know any students but I do remember reading a few posts by students who said it's awful.

Very weak. You disagree with me citing students then you say you don't know any. The students were there when we were in a decent league.

 

[Kolumbo]

Please point out the students who have been badmouthing the Rent on this board.

I don't know any students but I do remember reading a few posts by students who said it's awful and going to East Hartford is the problem. Is it your contention that students in Storrs would rather waste a couple hours getting to and from East Hartford than enjoy a football game on campus? I don't think any student would agree with that. That is just a given.

check that, I searched for you...

The Rent was pretty awesome at it's peak from 2007-2011 and that's coming from someone that was making the bus trip. The atmosphere in and outside the stadium was fantastic for students, alums, and fans.

The only negatives were 1) the bus ride itself was a time suck for students, but the student section was still full anyway so hardly a negative other than people's time, but 2) because of the bus, students left after the 3rd quarter most of the time to get back to campus and beat the bus line.

The problems are obvious and have already been stated here: the team needs to win, and not just win, but be good, which hasn't been the case in 13 years, and beat recognizable opponents (separate discussion that's been litigated 1,000x).

Secondarily, though, student habits around sports are not the same as they were a decade ago or even 5 years ago. Even if the team was just pretty good, I question how likely they'd actually go into the stadium.

I'm not going to act like I know the modern student that well, but anecdotally it feels like today's class of students at UConn are more studious and choosy of how to spend their time. "Why spend 6 hours in East Hartford to watch a 7-5 football team, when I can just spend 3 hours in a parking lot partying then go home." Then the supposed shutting down of much student tailgating post COVID doesn't help the situation either and further dissuades students from making the trip at all.

Anyway this is much ado about nothing in my opinion since I do not see a world where a stadium is built on campus unless something dramatically shifts and I'd give it like a <5% chance.

It took UConn Men's Basketball winning not 1, but 2 national championships back to back for the State and Athletic Department to get serious about renovating Gampel and I'm still unsure how substantial the changes will be. That's the type of mountain you are talking about climbing here.

I can second that. The entire experience felt disconnected from the college atmosphere. The setup seemed geared more toward the general public than the student body, especially now that students are crammed into the far reaches of the red lot.

I'm not saying it wasn't exciting at times, but overall, it lacked the campus experience. Even in victory, the excitement never carried over to the campus community. Getting off the bus or parking back on campus always felt very anticlimactic.

I was at UConn at the height of football success. I completely agree about losing the college atmosphere. It felt like I was off to watch a AAA baseball game or something. The bus ride is just too long. By the time you get there a lot of the hype is lost.

A college sports event should first and foremost cater to the college students. It's for them first and the community second.

 

[CJasmer]

I don't know any students but I do remember reading a few posts by students who said it's awful and going to East Hartford is the problem. Is it your contention that students in Storrs would rather waste a couple hours getting to and from East Hartford than enjoy a football game on campus? I don't think any student would agree with that. That is just a given.

check that, I searched for you...

This makes sense. The Rent would feel like minor league football team and not a real college football experience.

 

[huskymedic]

-> University of Virginia President James E. Ryan will serve as the league’s Chair of the Board of Directors for the second year of his two-year term. He will be joined by Wake Forest University President Susan R. Wente as the Vice-Chair of the league’s Board of Directors, announced by the Board of Directors following the annual winter meetings in February…

… The Conference’s Executive Committee will include Ryan, Wente, Boston College President William Leahy, University of Miami Chief Executive Officer and Acting President Joe Echevarria, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Joan Gabel, and Georgia Institute of Technology President Angel Cabrera. <-

 

[LoyalFanCT]

-> University of Virginia President James E. Ryan will serve as the league’s Chair of the Board of Directors for the second year of his two-year term. He will be joined by Wake Forest University President Susan R. Wente as the Vice-Chair of the league’s Board of Directors, announced by the Board of Directors following the annual winter meetings in February…

… The Conference’s Executive Committee will include Ryan, Wente, Boston College President William Leahy, University of Miami Chief Executive Officer and Acting President Joe Echevarria, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Joan Gabel, and Georgia Institute of Technology President Angel Cabrera. <-

Jim Ryan may be one of the best university presidents in the nation. UVA is lucky to have him.

 

[hank970]

Pretty much all of the folks badmouthing The Rent don't go to games.

Similarly, most folks who badmouth Porta Potties would rather not use them.

 

[noeynox]

Jim Ryan may be one of the best university presidents in the nation. UVA is lucky to have him.

How do people know such things?