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

[KryHavok]

Former Fox Sports Networks President Bob Thompson

I liked the comments that followed the video, especially by AdmiralSnackbar247 (whose avatar is Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars, ^_^):
"I'm certain the networks are downplaying the real value of basketball to get an artificially low price on the rights"...kinda feels like the recent Big East contract.
Back to the video at the 9:45 mark "I'm sure a ton of those folks at ESPN attended UConn"...okay, now this guy is just shooting from the hip. If that EVER mattered, then ESPN would've pushed UConn into a Px conference much earlier. The guy is merely a minion, and I just regard his words as Fox lobbying to keep UConn as an undervalued asset.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Gonna disagree with you here.

As a new Michigan State dad (2 weeks since drop off) of an out of state student, I have never seen so much Green and White of everything on everyone, everywhere. From my short stay, I would rank the merchandising reasons as school pride, regional tradition, and then sports.

Isn't school pride also related to sports? I assume you didn't ask a bunch of people why they're wearing MSU gear, so your comments are really just opinion. I can't quite wrap my ahead around what "regional tradition" means in regard to merch.
I went to UConn because my oldest brother went there from 77-81. He would bring me to the men's soccer games and I was an avid fan of Husky Hoops on the B&W TV in my room. There was nowhere else I wanted to go. So even back then, the sports kicked off my love of and pride in UConn. I'm not suggesting sports is the end all for why people buy merch, but successful sports teams, like back-to-back natties, can really amplify the purchases.

 

[upstater]

If you actually post them, I'll look at them.



I think you're missing the point. It's inconsistent for the school to charge full freight for kid that would be otherwise heavily subsidized due to a need scholarship. Basically it is the academic side, taking advantage of the fact that the kid has an athletic scholarship to pump up its internal accounting. It seems more intellectually, honest to to look at what a particular student athlete would actually be charged, based upon his economic circumstances, and then make that the inter department charge back rather than arbitrarily charge him on discounted tuition, which very few people actually pay.


Perhaps, or perhaps your view on this is so jaundiced you're unable to recognize that the reasonable decision to invest in college athletics that so many institutions make across the country isn't somehow victimizing the academic missions of universities and instead, in fact, enhances it by creating visibility and brand awareness for the universities.

Sometimes it's hard to see the forest with all those trees in the way.

I just explained it to you how it really works and you somehow got the complete opposite viewpoint of what's happening.

1. State schools don't give scholarships. 95% of students are full payers.
2. If a student does receive such scholarships or tuition is defrayed by state programs, those numbers are held against the departments for enrolling a lot of non-full payers.
3. Tuition doesn't cover the true cost that a school expends on each student.

You evidently don't know the true costs.

I am off for now but will provide links to the Elsa Murano case at A&M and also the UAB situation with football later.

 

[BlueandOG]

Here are the 2023 numbers. 50 Most Applied to Colleges in 2023 I did say the UC system dominated.

I don't doubt that @bendm is right about the common app. Also, the Covid era changed the whole application process, from 5-6 schools to 12-15 schools. NEU is getting a boost from Co-op and perception that college needs to lead to employment.

The point is about sports. Do schools need sports to drive applications? In the absence of something else, maybe. But if you have that something else, whether great academics, a great campus, location like Boston, affordability, a fun granola vibe in a cool small city (UVM), you don't need football.

Psyched to see UConn is number 25 on the list, behind Duke and ahead of Notre Dame and Boston College!

 

[Forte]

I liked the comments that followed the video, especially by AdmiralSnackbar247 (whose avatar is Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars, ^_^):
"I'm certain the networks are downplaying the real value of basketball to get an artificially low price on the rights"...kinda feels like the recent Big East contract.
Back to the video at the 9:45 mark "I'm sure a ton of those folks at ESPN attended UConn"...okay, now this guy is just shooting from the hip. If that EVER mattered, then ESPN would've pushed UConn into a Px conference much earlier. The guy is merely a minion, and I just regard his words as Fox lobbying to keep UConn as an undervalued asset.

To be fair Thompson mentioned at the end he mentioned that we (FOX) use to have a lot of UCLA and USC alumn worked at in LA and really the only thing that mattered from that was the LA market.

 

[CL82]

1. State schools don't give scholarships. 95% of students are full payers.

95%, huh? Are you sure about that?

Here's another interesting statistic, 99% of the percentages you see listed on the Internet are made up

 

[CL82]

Tuition doesn't cover the true cost that a school expends on each student.

Fully aware of this, for public institutions. Those costs are subsidized by the state legislature, who intern are influenced by athletics. Thus, universities see the wisdom in supporting athletics, because it promotes goodwill with the state legislature who provide a significant percentage of the universities annual income.

Do you now see why it is in universities economic advantage to fund athletics. Seriously, this isn't hard stuff. You seem to have an attitude that every dollar spent on athletics would otherwise be spent on academics, and that's just wrong. If you eliminate athletics, I think it's very likely that the overall pie decreases significantly.

 

[gsmooth]

Met a sales rep yesterday at work. Dude saw my UConn hat and we started chopping it up about CBB. Guy was born and raised in Barcelona, Real Madrid fan. Lived in Texas for awhile, now in Miami. We both mutually agreed CBB is the most exciting sport to watch. Huge amount of respect for UConn. Thought it was interesting a European born and raised LA Liga fan is that high on American Collegiate Basketball. T

There is a possibility it might become more popular in Europe if more Europeans choose to play college basketball here in the USA due to NIL purposes.

 

[uconnyankee]

There is no way on this earth Northeastern got the 9th most applications in the US given that the entire California State university system exists... apparently the top 10 are ALL California schools.

Now, amongst privates, maybe. NU has always been seen as more approachable than the other privates and they're in Boston

Northeastern does some very ‘funky’ things when reporting figures. They’ve been buying up college campuses around the globe and sticking freshman there. Not sure it’s exclusive to Northeastern but I’m told it manipulates their acceptance rate as these students aren’t counted.

 

[UConnJim]

Someone just posted showing UVM is still one of the top application schools in the nation. A lot of applications for it still. I'd call that through the roof. All colleges have huge issues now and most of them are at least 50% out of state

UVM's applications are in line with URI and UNH, but below state schools like UMass, UConn, Stony Brook, Binghamton, Buffalo, Delaware., SUNY Albany, Rutgers, Temple, Maryland, and private schools like Syracuse, Quinnipiac, Miami.

Most large state universities are not >50% out of state enrollment and UVM is by far the outlier.

 

[uconn_jack]

There are at least two BC fans (that I know of) that post incognito on this board. One pretends to be a UConn fan.

Both BC fans post on the Boneyard?

 

[UConn Dan]

Former Fox Sports Networks President Bob Thompson in video above doesn't seem eye to eye with what is happening. Potentially a view into why Fox is hesitant. He thinks the money seems high for its value.

"There's not a lot of people buying basketball only..... you dont really see a lot of people clamoring throwing around a lot of money for regular season basketball."

... "it's a bit of a commodity because there is so much out there"

"Let ESPN foot the bill."

"It's not technically NY DMA. But its close." ... There ya all go.

Good thing Bob Thompson, known hater and UConn suppressor, is not making these decisions

 

[Exit 4]

Seems pretty stuck in his old school, linear tv bubble.

Been out of Fox for over a decade...I think.

 

[uconnyankee]

Former Fox Sports Networks President Bob Thompson in video above doesn't seem eye to eye with what is happening. Potentially a view into why Fox is hesitant. He thinks the money seems high for its value.

"There's not a lot of people buying basketball only..... you dont really see a lot of people clamoring throwing around a lot of money for regular season basketball."

... "it's a bit of a commodity because there is so much out there"

"Let ESPN foot the bill."

"It's not technically NY DMA. But its close." ... There ya all go.

Yeah, but he glossed over something. If the current Big 12 deal is $32M and roughly 25% is bb, then it’s about $8M for BB.
That’s $8M for Kansas and $8M for TCU.
I’m guessing Kansas is more and TCU is less. So $10-$11M for UConn BB doesn’t sound too far off. If you’re going to discount FB, you need to be fair and add premium to the #1 BB program. And let’s be honest, does any school have a 1-2 punch like men’s and women’s BB?

I also disagree with comment about wanting ‘whole package’.
Who’s that? ESPN or Fox? Who by the way split this deal.

I think you might get more bidders for smaller pieces. You’ll definitely get a better sense of market value between FB and BB.

Overall interesting take. I don’t think he was against it, just that BY has a plan and it includes getting higher value for BB. If FB value comes way down, more than BB deal he loses.

 

[uconnyankee]

Isn't school pride also related to sports? I assume you didn't ask a bunch of people why they're wearing MSU gear, so your comments are really just opinion. I can't quite wrap my ahead around what "regional tradition" means in regard to merch.
I went to UConn because my oldest brother went there from 77-81. He would bring me to the men's soccer games and I was an avid fan of Husky Hoops on the B&W TV in my room. There was nowhere else I wanted to go. So even back then, the sports kicked off my love of and pride in UConn. I'm not suggesting sports is the end all for why people buy merch, but successful sports teams, like back-to-back natties, can really amplify the purchases.

Daughter goes to JMU.
Athletics are huge there for a ‘G5’ school.
Students have huge amount of pride. All you see on campus is purple shirts, hats, or sweats. Even if not purple, it’s says JMU or Dukes.
Very strong fb following with a decent history. Kind of a fun program to follow.

 

[Bongo Fury]

UVM's applications are in line with URI and UNH, but below state schools like UMass, UConn, Stony Brook, Binghamton, Buffalo, Delaware., SUNY Albany, Rutgers, Temple, Maryland, and private schools like Syracuse, Quinnipiac, Miami.

Most large state universities are not >50% out of state enrollment and UVM is by far the outlier.

VT is a small population state. Seems like nearly half of Vermonters are CT transplants.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Been out of Fox for over a decade...I think.

But I'm sure he has tons of Fox stock so no wonder why he has the views he does.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Yeah, but he glossed over something. If the current Big 12 deal is $32M and roughly 25% is bb, then it’s about $8M for BB.
That’s $8M for Kansas and $8M for TCU.
I’m guessing Kansas is more and TCU is less. So $10-$11M for UConn BB doesn’t sound too far off. If you’re going to discount FB, you need to be fair and add premium to the #1 BB program. And let’s be honest, does any school have a 1-2 punch like men’s and women’s BB?

I also disagree with comment about wanting ‘whole package’.
Who’s that? ESPN or Fox? Who by the way split this deal.

I think you might get more bidders for smaller pieces. You’ll definitely get a better sense of market value between FB and BB.

Overall interesting take. I don’t think he was against it, just that BY has a plan and it includes getting higher value for BB. If FB value comes way down, more than BB deal he loses.

And with him having a career of sitting across the negotiating table from the Brett Yormarks of the world, I think Thompson's overall stance is still pro-tv and con-conference/teams.

 

[ZooCougar]

IMMINENT

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Yormark just announced it’s over. “Paused”

 

[TGW93]

 

[LetsGoUC]

WERE TEASED AGAIN.

 

[DoctorWho85]

If by "football school" you mean a middle of the pack Big 12 team, then I 100% believe the program can be built to that level. If you mean that we would actually be competing for Big 12 titles and a playoff spot, then I don't think that's ever going to be possible and I'm ok with that. I just want us to be competitive again against your average to above-average P4 schools.

Middle of the pack Big 12 school is still a very good football team. They also said UConn could never win the Big East and play in a BCS bowl. They did that. Plus with the money that'll inevitably be made with the new expanded playoffs, the P4 will surely push for a larger playoff beyond that so they can get more teams in and rake in more money. This would most definitely give UConn a reasonable chance once in a while to make the playoffs.

 

[Zionn]

Played again. F the BIG12 and leadership if they do this dance again.

 

[huskyinfl]

Everything's coming up Milhouse!