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

[AzHusky]

I remember before JC people I worked with would say UConn needs to leave the Big East they will never be good enough to compete in that league. They will never be able to recruit a an All American. UConn is just small time and should accept it. Football needs the same chance to show that given the right stuff they can compete.

 

[CL82]

I mean, sure, except that
1) It draws the DMA boundary exactly at the county line, unlike the other map
2) Names the actual counties in the DMA, and which one

Aside from that, it's exactly alike?

Exactly! Other than that, they are identical.

 

[upstater]

I remember before JC people I worked with would say UConn needs to leave the Big East they will never be good enough to compete in that league. They will never be able to recruit a an All American. UConn is just small time and should accept it. Football needs the same chance to show that given the right stuff they can compete.

It's certainly an odd thing to say when they were landing All-Americans even though they weren't very successful under Perno. Corny, Aleksinas, Earl Kelley, they grabbed 3 or 4 of these guys.

 

[huskymedic]

Is there an assisted access for this? I’ve tried to do archive.ph and still won’t work

It appears that the Courant has nailed the back door shut by making many articles Subscriber Only.

 

[Bongo Fury]

I mean, seriously. I am frustrated as a fan, but anyone making these dumb proclamations … we can’t get players as an Indy. That’s just the way it goes. We gotta hope we can hit on the portal and NIL

Tough spot against Maryland and a. Poor performance by the team. Should be better next week. I don’t think it exposed anything but we don’t have enough talent to compete with a mediocre power conference team.

Difficult to get desired coaches as well.

 

[UCONNJACK]

It appears that the Courant has nailed the back door shut by making many articles Subscriber Only.

I get the Courant online subscription for .25 per week. I always negotiate a cheap rate when my subscription is up for renewal.

 

[huskymedic]

I get the Courant online subscription for .25 per week. I always negotiate a cheap rate when my subscription is up for renewal.

I have a subscription / I just won’t cut & paste the whole article in here.

 

[UConn Dan]

I have a subscription / I just won’t cut & paste the whole article in here.

Does the article have anything new? If so I’ll consider putting in a few bucks to support the local paper

 

[UCONNJACK]

Does the article have anything new? If so I’ll consider putting in a few bucks to support the local paper

Well worth the price. Good UConn academic and athletic coverage.

 

[huskymedic]

Nothing new here except this guy made my head hurt. Ooof. Who is this guy? What’s his background and agenda?

Later in the article he goes on to talk about revenue sharing and that we wouldn’t be able to keep up in the Big 12 and we should stick with our basketball identity and stay in the Big East. If we can’t keep up in the Big 12 how could we keep up in the Big East!?? How would be remain relevant nationally?!? How is this guy paid to say stupid ish like this?

It’s easy: College athletes can now get paid. A sports economist says that could hurt UConn basketball

He seems to be a go to for the Courant etal…

 

[bendm]

Later in the article he goes on to talk about revenue sharing and that we wouldn’t be able to keep up in the Big 12 and we should stick with our basketball identity and stay in the Big East. If we can’t keep up in the Big 12 how could we keep up in the Big East!?? How would be remain relevant nationally?!? How is this guy paid to say stupid ish like this?

Men’s and women’s Bball will be just fine staying in the BE as long as the school lets them keep a few million of their revenue to pay players. But that would unfortunately require cutting football and half the women’s non revenue sports.

Pretty sure “bball identity” is code for dropping football once and for all

 

[superjohn]

Nothing new here except this guy made my head hurt. Ooof. Who is this guy? What’s his background and agenda?

Later in the article he goes on to talk about revenue sharing and that we wouldn’t be able to keep up in the Big 12 and we should stick with our basketball identity and stay in the Big East. If we can’t keep up in the Big 12 how could we keep up in the Big East!?? How would be remain relevant nationally?!? How is this guy paid to say stupid ish like this?

But even with that kind of increase on the table, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist believes jumping to the Big 12 carries enormous risk for UConn.

“I think they would argue that it’s positive branding for the school to be a member of the Big 12. I think that’s what they would hope for, but I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do,” Zimbalist said. “Adding teams means they’re adding television markets, which will give them some increase in their television contracts, but of course, if you’re adding teams, you have to divide the increase amongst more teams … so I think that they’re kind of doing that out of desperation. They’re running around a little bit like a chicken with its head cut off doing whatever they possibly can to stay afloat and to generate some momentum and some positive images about what the future for their conference is.”

The only way we would keep up with revenue sharing in basketball by staying in the Big East is if we completely get rid of football and get rid of the 100 women's Title IX scholarships that go along with it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ever?

Kansas did it.

The B12 is not that strong.

But if you look at the # of NFL players from UConn versus most of the B12 from 10 years ago, UConn was well ahead of most of the schools. I think you can get as much talent here, but we've never ever ever really had the coaching.

Maybe a great OC in Joe Moorhead, but other than that, it hasn't been good.

Honestly, K-State was the worst football program in the country for decades until Bill Snyder arrived. KU was always up and down, but produced guys like Gayle Sayers, Nolan Cromwell, John Riggins Etc.

Can UConn win the Big XII? Maybe. Anything is possible. I’m not sure I even understand why we are so terrible right now.

 

[Dizzy21]

Men’s and women’s Bball will be just fine staying in the BE as long as the school lets them keep a few million of their revenue to pay players. But that would unfortunately require cutting football and half the women’s non revenue sports.

Pretty sure “bball identity” is code for dropping football once and for all

What revenue? Both men's and women's basketball lose money. Prior to Hurley's raise, the loss was significantly more than the entire Big East contract pays for all sports, now it is even more. Basketball has less than 5% of the athletes in UConn and is responsible for 30% of the athletic deficit. If a person was looking strictly at revenue and expense in the financials without any bias, you would easily say the basketball teams should be cut first. The basketball teams combined lost $10 million last year for 20 athletes and football lost $14 million for 85 athletes.

Anyone saying the Big 12 move is not because basketball needs to be saved is simply not looking at the numbers. The Big East model for basketball is unsustainable and will soon be even more unsustainable.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Nothing new here except this guy made my head hurt. Ooof. Who is this guy? What’s his background and agenda?

Later in the article he goes on to talk about revenue sharing and that we wouldn’t be able to keep up in the Big 12 and we should stick with our basketball identity and stay in the Big East. If we can’t keep up in the Big 12 how could we keep up in the Big East!?? How would be remain relevant nationally?!? How is this guy paid to say stupid ish like this?

But even with that kind of increase on the table, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist believes jumping to the Big 12 carries enormous risk for UConn.

“I think they would argue that it’s positive branding for the school to be a member of the Big 12. I think that’s what they would hope for, but I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do,” Zimbalist said. “Adding teams means they’re adding television markets, which will give them some increase in their television contracts, but of course, if you’re adding teams, you have to divide the increase amongst more teams … so I think that they’re kind of doing that out of desperation. They’re running around a little bit like a chicken with its head cut off doing whatever they possibly can to stay afloat and to generate some momentum and some positive images about what the future for their conference is.”

If everyone listened to Zimbalist, there'd be no sports industry in the US.

 

[Ha Who]

If everyone listened to Zimbalist, there'd be no sports industry in the US.

Exactly! I don’t know why they run to this guy. He doesn’t want life and fun in major cities. It is one thing to question taxpayer funding of stadiums, but to say they bring no economic benefits to cities is bunk. No, they are not high paying jobs, but remember the bars and restaurants when we had NHL hockey?

 

[Storrs South]

What revenue? Both men's and women's basketball lose money. Prior to Hurley's raise, the loss was significantly more than the entire Big East contract pays for all sports, now it is even more. Basketball has less than 5% of the athletes in UConn and is responsible for 30% of the athletic deficit. If a person was looking strictly at revenue and expense in the financials without any bias, you would easily say the basketball teams should be cut first. The basketball teams combined lost $10 million last year for 20 athletes and football lost $14 million for 85 athletes.

Anyone saying the Big 12 move is not because basketball needs to be saved is simply not looking at the numbers. The Big East model for basketball is unsustainable and will soon be even more unsustainable.

We actually don’t know if basketball is rev positive or neutral or negative. Nobody does. The accounting the school provides every year gives us some insight into sport by sport economics but it’s not a perfect view. For example, the license deals with Learfield, Nike, Coca Cola, etc cover the entire athletic department and don’t cover one sport.

Any one of us could make an argument X% is attributable to Y sport but we don’t actually know.

Benedict has mentioned in the past that if you cut football it would impact all of those agreements mentioned above and others so simply cutting a sport does not result in 1:1 savings since you are impacting revenue side of this for things directly related to football plus revenue that covers entire department.

Also playing at the Rent or XL is a cost on UConn’s books but it’s a state entity giving money to another state entity so one can argue this is hardly a cost but an interdepartment accounting adjustment.

And then lastly regarding hoops it has no accounting of donations, admissions and enrollment impacts looking at individual sport accounting.

 

[bendm]

What revenue? Both men's and women's basketball lose money. Prior to Hurley's raise, the loss was significantly more than the entire Big East contract pays for all sports, now it is even more. Basketball has less than 5% of the athletes in UConn and is responsible for 30% of the athletic deficit. If a person was looking strictly at revenue and expense in the financials without any bias, you would easily say the basketball teams should be cut first. The basketball teams combined lost $10 million last year for 20 athletes and football lost $14 million for 85 athletes.

Sportico’s Intercollegiate Finance Database

In 2023 men's bball made ~$10.6mill in revenue and had operating expenses of ~$13.8mill. that's a net loss of ~$3.2million.
In 2023 football made ~$6mill in revenue and had operating expenses of ~$20mill. that's a net loss of ~$14million!!!!

You think the fact that football lost less money per player makes up for the fact that it lost ~$11mill more than men's bball??? No. Saying UConn has the best men's bball program in the country and the worst football program in the country isn't bias its fact, and funding the best men's bball program in the country is well worth all the intangible benefits it brings to the school/state. Football only brings embarrassment.

The added benefit of cutting football is cutting 6 of the 12 women's sports (volleyball, swimming, crew, cross country, tennis, lacrosse). In 2023 non-revenue women's sports were a net loss of ~$18mill. So cutting football (~$14mill) and half the women’s sports (~$9mill) would have saved the school ~$23mill in 2023...

Starting next year the men's bball program will need to use about half its annual revenue (~$5mill) to pay players rather than cover operating expenses but the program will also be earning an extra ~$2mill per year from the new BE tv deal.

So... while it will cost the school a couple mill more per year to fund men's bball, it's still well worth it for all the intangible benefits. Continuing to fund men's (and women's) bball will also be affordable if the school starts saving over $20mill/year by cutting football and 6 women's sports.

i really hope UConn gets into the big12 or ACC but if we dont get into either by 2025 when revenue sharing starts then the school needs to sacrifice football and half its women's sports to save the remaining sports (bball, soccer, hockey, track, baseball/softball, golf/field hockey).

 

[upstater]

Exactly! I don’t know why they run to this guy. He doesn’t want life and fun in major cities. It is one thing to question taxpayer funding of stadiums, but to say they bring no economic benefits to cities is bunk. No, they are not high paying jobs, but remember the bars and restaurants when we had NHL hockey?

He's saying the economic impact is overblown because all the money is local.

There's only been a zillion studies reinforcing his main argument.

 

[upstater]

Also playing at the Rent or XL is a cost on UConn’s books but it’s a state entity giving money to another state entity so one can argue this is hardly a cost but an interdepartment accounting adjustment.

That's all well and good until the President of the University declares 15% of all employees across all departments will be let go. At that point, it's actual cutbacks and not fungible money moving around.

One thing people don't realize about university budgets is that very little of that money is fungible. Almost the entire research budget is spoken for and the rest is tied up as well. My school has a billion dollar budget but when a 2 million deficit was announced, they started letting people go. The entire budget for Arts & Sciences was $14m so $2m was a huge deficit. This is in a school with over a billion in revenues.

 

[Storrs South]

That's all well and good until the President of the University declares 15% of all employees across all departments will be let go. At that point, it's actual cutbacks and not fungible money moving around.

One thing people don't realize about university budgets is that very little of that money is fungible. Almost the entire research budget is spoken for and the rest is tied up as well. My school has a billion dollar budget but when a 2 million deficit was announced, they started letting people go. The entire budget for Arts & Sciences was $14m so $2m was a huge deficit. This is in a school with over a billion in revenues.

Except UConn doesn’t have to make this expenditure (at least for basketball). So the President and AD have already pointed this out to the legislature that you will continue to scratch our back and we will scratch yours. The expense exists to keep folks in Ct government happy and in turn the government will support the university however necessary to support the expense, which makes this a unique arrangement.

 

[Ha Who]

He's saying the economic impact is overblown because all the money is local.

There's only been a zillion studies reinforcing his main argument.

He's saying the economic impact is overblown because all the money is local.

There's only been a zillion studies reinforcing his main argument.

In that case demolish the XL and the Rent and save everyone a lot of money. As much as I love UConn, I don’t think state taxpayers should be subsidizing a small segment of the population. Maybe build a satellite campus for Smith College. That might help the school pay for his salary

 

[upstater]

Except UConn doesn’t have to make this expenditure (at least for basketball). So the President and AD have already pointed this out to the legislature that you will continue to scratch our back and we will scratch yours. The expense exists to keep folks in Ct government happy and in turn the government will support the university however necessary to support the expense, which makes this a unique arrangement.

It's the exact opposite of this. They will NOT support the expense, and this is already proven.

 

[superjohn]

We actually don’t know if basketball is rev positive or neutral or negative. Nobody does. The accounting the school provides every year gives us some insight into sport by sport economics but it’s not a perfect view. For example, the license deals with Learfield, Nike, Coca Cola, etc cover the entire athletic department and don’t cover one sport.

Any one of us could make an argument X% is attributable to Y sport but we don’t actually know.

Benedict has mentioned in the past that if you cut football it would impact all of those agreements mentioned above and others so simply cutting a sport does not result in 1:1 savings since you are impacting revenue side of this for things directly related to football plus revenue that covers entire department.

Also playing at the Rent or XL is a cost on UConn’s books but it’s a state entity giving money to another state entity so one can argue this is hardly a cost but an interdepartment accounting adjustment.

And then lastly regarding hoops it has no accounting of donations, admissions and enrollment impacts looking at individual sport accounting.

Basketball makes an unbelievable amount of money for UConn.

 

[upstater]

In that case demolish the XL and the Rent and save everyone a lot of money. As much as I love UConn, I don’t think state taxpayers should be subsidizing a small segment of the population. Maybe build a satellite campus for Smith College. That might help the school pay for his salary

Have you looked at Smith's endowment lately? They have over a million dollars for every student.