Manuel feels UConn in middle ground financially with power conferences (K. Duffy)

[Husky25]

Well, you don't have championships. You don't have championship games. You don't have automatic births to the NCAA tourney. You don't have any conference officials or conference HQs. You don't have conference TV rights, conference logos, etc.

The point is if your going to create a scheduling alliance with 6-8 other schools, up that target by 3-5 more and create a true conference. The Big Ten was intended in the first place to do just that: make scheduling of sporting events easier and to do it with like minded scholastic institutions. Originally, it was not about TV dollars, ESPN, or how many teams play in post season exhibition football games (Only the Rose Bowl, I believe, in the early years).

 

[Fishy]

UConn
UCF
Cincy
NIU
USF
Boise
SDSU
BYU
CSU


Would love to see the revenue figures of those schools. That conference wouldn't be too shabby in theory.

Cincinnati - $48M
Boise State - $43M
USF - $43M
UCF - $41M
San Diego State - $38M
Colorado State - $31M
Northern Illinois - $23M

Brigham Young is private and therefore figures are not readily available, but checking the last time figures were available and projecting them a bit, I'd be comfortable in saying that they would likely fall just short of Cincinnati's $48M

UConn, at just under $64M, rates higher than Kansas State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Arizona State, Washington State, Utah, Oregon State, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa State, Colorado and lord knows how many private schools.

 

[ZooCougar]

Not easy to do now.

B1G has gone to a 9 game conference schedule. Big 12 with 10 teams in the conference plays 9 conference games. SEC, with the start of the SEC Network, will wind up going from 8 to 9 games because they will want the inventory.

The problem with this approach is finding games once the conference games start for the P5 and even more difficult to find games played at the Rent.

You would need to get at least 6-8 schools to agree to a scheduling alliance to make this work. Maybe UConn, Cinn, BYU, Boise, UCF, USF, ECU & San Diego St. This would guarantee you 7 games. Still need to find 5 games plus need to create some bowl tie-ins

You're not seeing the point. Although you are sort of right but for a different reason

PSU, WVU, Pitt, SU, BC, Rutgers, Miami, Temple, and perhaps to a lesser degree ECU and maybe even ND (not sure if they were Indy) all used to play eachother with great frequency (Think Flutie and his hail mary against Miami or WVU/SU in that movie a few years ago) . Back then, the model supported schools being independent because TV money wasn't as tied to conferences and most games weren't televised. It was easy to schedule as an Indy because there were scads of them and they were generally in the same region. When Big East football finally came about, using most of those schools as the basis of the conference was pretty much turn key.

I think what Upstater was suggesting and its an idea that would have to be embraced is that we develop habitual scheduling with other high "mid majors" so that we never have a dearth of games and maintain a good SOS.

One could even make the argument that if we could lock in the scheduling, sell our own FB TV rights, and somehow put the other sports in a respectable conference such as the Big East, that it would be far more lucrative for us to get the heck out of the AAC.

The biggest problem of course would be bowl alliances.

 

[ZooCougar]

A conference by any other name is still a conference.

Not true. No exit fee, no championship game, no sharing money.

 

[ZooCougar]

Cincinnati - $48M
Boise State - $43M
USF - $43M
UCF - $41M
San Diego State - $38M
Colorado State - $31M
Northern Illinois - $23M

Brigham Young is private and therefore figures are not readily available, but checking the last time figures were available and projecting them a bit, I'd be comfortable in saying that they would likely fall just short of Cincinnati's $48M

UConn, at just under $64M, rates higher than Kansas State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Arizona State, Washington State, Utah, Oregon State, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa State, Colorado and lord knows how many private schools.

Ugh NIU is pitiful.

I am just trying think outside the box here. Somewhere there has to be the pieces to create a new construct that is more profitable than the AAC.

I have this feeling that when Aresco tells the Presidents that it's time to adopt the same policies as the P5 that a half or a third of the schools are not going to have the means, and we will be artificially held down.

 

[ZooCougar]

The point is if your going to create a scheduling alliance with 6-8 other schools, up that target by 3-5 more and create a true conference. The Big Ten was intended in the first place to do just that: make scheduling of sporting events easier and to do it with like minded scholastic institutions. Originally, it was not about TV dollars, ESPN, or how many teams play in post season exhibition football games (Only the Rose Bowl, I believe, in the early years).

Not just like minded, but similar in resources. Short of that, if we can figure out how to make more money as Indy and still find an adequate home for the other sports then you have to look into that.

 

[upstater]

The point is if your going to create a scheduling alliance with 6-8 other schools, up that target by 3-5 more and create a true conference. The Big Ten was intended in the first place to do just that: make scheduling of sporting events easier and to do it with like minded scholastic institutions. Originally, it was not about TV dollars, ESPN, or how many teams play in post season exhibition football games (Only the Rose Bowl, I believe, in the early years).

We're in a true conference now. The problem is the TV contract.

 

[upstater]

You're not seeing the point. Although you are sort of right but for a different reason

PSU, WVU, Pitt, SU, BC, Rutgers, Miami, Temple, and perhaps to a lesser degree ECU and maybe even ND (not sure if they were Indy) all used to play eachother with great frequency (Think Flutie and his hail mary against Miami or WVU/SU in that movie a few years ago) . Back then, the model supported schools being independent because TV money wasn't as tied to conferences and most games weren't televised. It was easy to schedule as an Indy because there were scads of them and they were generally in the same region. When Big East football finally came about, using most of those schools as the basis of the conference was pretty much turn key.

I think what Upstater was suggesting and its an idea that would have to be embraced is that we develop habitual scheduling with other high "mid majors" so that we never have a dearth of games and maintain a good SOS.

One could even make the argument that if we could lock in the scheduling, sell our own FB TV rights, and somehow put the other sports in a respectable conference such as the Big East, that it would be far more lucrative for us to get the heck out of the AAC.

The biggest problem of course would be bowl alliances.

I was going one step beyond this. It's the bball rights, men's and women's, that are really lucrative. Go Indy in bball--or somehow affiliate with the A10. I don't know how--what do they make in $$? Do they even care? They can sell the rights to UConn away games.

 

[bobbyinaz]

Not true. No exit fee, no championship game, no sharing money.

No bowl games

 

[Fishy]

Ugh NIU is pitiful.

I am just trying think outside the box here. Somewhere there has to be the pieces to create a new construct that is more profitable than the AAC.

I have this feeling that when Aresco tells the Presidents that it's time to adopt the same policies as the P5 that a half or a third of the schools are not going to have the means, and we will be artificially held down.

Yep, it's painful.

You cannot put together a conference of UConn's peers because they are all in P5 conferences already!

For information purposes...East Carolina and Tulsa are both at around $32M with Tulane a little lower - maybe $29M.

 

[Husky25]

That's basically what the Eastern Independents used to do.

Not easy to do now.

B1G has gone to a 9 game conference schedule. Big 12 with 10 teams in the conference plays 9 conference games. SEC, with the start of the SEC Network, will wind up going from 8 to 9 games because they will want the inventory.

The problem with this approach is finding games once the conference games start for the P5 and even more difficult to find games played at the Rent.

You would need to get at least 6-8 schools to agree to a scheduling alliance to make this work. Maybe UConn, Cinn, BYU, Boise, UCF, USF, ECU & San Diego St. This would guarantee you 7 games. Still need to find 5 games plus need to create some bowl tie-ins

Not true. No exit fee, no championship game, no sharing money.

No bowl games

C'mon, fellas. All of these one off responses take my comments out of the context that you originally set up. Why mention independence? It's never going to happen. If there were 25 other teams, it may be a viable option, but there 6.

My comment was why create a scheduling alliance, when the schools you mentioned can basically become a conference that spans the country. At the end of the Day, conferences are scheduling alliances And don't give me this baloney about lack of bowls. The AAC just created three bowls out of thin air. Plus my guess is that those bowls that have MAC and 7th position P5 tie ins would coming running after the inventory listed above.

 

[itgoeslike]

Since we're talking financials, here's an article that details top shoe and apparel contract valuations for public universities per documents submitted in the O'Bannon trial. There are only 14 public universities with richer deals than UCONN, which is ahead of most P5 schools. ND just secured the largest deal ever today with Under Armor. There are probably a few private schools ahead of UConn (Duke comes to mind), but it's not many.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/01/how_much_do_colleges_get_for_s.html

 

[Stinger92860]

I'd be curious who would be in a real best of the rest conference. Borderline schools would be Temple, Fresno, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado St, Tulsa, N. Illinois, East Carolina, SMU and Houston.

Shoe-ins would be UConn, Cincy, BYU, Boise, UCF, USF, Navy and SDSU.

I'd go with:

UConn
Cincy
Temple
UCF
USF
Navy

Boise
Houston
UNLV (as I understand it, UNLV has more potential than Nevada, I'm indifferent)
Fresno
Colorado St
SDSU

Would this be a football only conference? I would sign up today and see if we could place everything (except hockey of course) in the big east. This scenario would be much better then the AAC and should result in increased revenues.

 

[Hoophound]

Would this be a football only conference? I would sign up today and see if we could place everything (except hockey of course) in the big east. This scenario would be much better then the AAC and should result in increased revenues.

It could be but I think its a decent conference for basketball as well. However, I forgot Memphis. I would definitely include them in place of Fresno, UNLV, CSU or whoever based on contract value.

 

[UPitt]

Since we're talking financials, here's an article that details top shoe and apparel contract valuations for public universities per documents submitted in the O'Bannon trial. There are only 14 public universities with richer deals than UCONN, which is ahead of most P5 schools. ND just secured the largest deal ever today with Under Armor. There are probably a few private schools ahead of UConn (Duke comes to mind), but it's not many.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/01/how_much_do_colleges_get_for_s.html

Notre Dame signed a 10 year deal worth 9 million a year. Also, the article makes mention that Michigan has the largest contract at 6 million a year and 6.5 million dollar signing bonus. It has been reported everywhere else that Michigan has an 8 year contract worth 8.2 million a year.

 

[itgoeslike]

Notre Dame signed a 10 year deal worth 9 million a year. Also, the article makes mention that Michigan has the largest contract at 6 million a year and 6.5 million dollar signing bonus. It has been reported everywhere else that Michigan has an 8 year contract worth 8.2 million a year.

ND stands for Notre Dame. . .The amounts reflect what was included in the court document. The amounts could be based upon where the deals are in their life cycle. Many deals back load the highest payments. When UCONN's deal was announced it was valued at $45.5 and $46M over 10 years, which is higher than the amount included in the article. At the very least, and assuming accuracy utilizing the same methodology, the article puts the deals for public universities into a single database for comparison.

 

[noeynox]

Yep, it's painful.

You cannot put together a conference of UConn's peers because they are all in P5 conferences already!

For information purposes...East Carolina and Tulsa are both at around $32M with Tulane a little lower - maybe $29M.

Depressing and makes no sense on so manu levels. Time to start winning big in football. Enough of the happy horse sheet. No history, no recruiting base, fugg it. Just win damn it!!!!!

 

[billybud]

Just win..is the answer.

Dominate the AAC. Win the bowl games.

Become a name as a college football program. Build a football brand, not just BB.

Someone will notice.

 

[buddy]

Just win..is the answer.

Dominate the AAC. Win the bowl games.

Become a name as a college football program. Build a football brand, not just BB.

Someone will notice.

Boise St dominated their conference in football for years. Not to mention, national attention. What P5 conference are they in? Winning does not matter. If it mattered neither Maryland nor Rutgers would be going to the B1G. Dollars, cents, political pull are all that really matters.

 

[UPitt]

Boise St dominated their conference in football for years. Not to mention, national attention. What P5 conference are they in? Winning does not matter. If it mattered neither Maryland nor Rutgers would be going to the B1G. Dollars, cents, political pull are all that really matters.

First, Boise St is not Uconn. The entire state of Idaho has a population that barely surpasses 1.5 million, and the academics are not exactly stellar (USN 65th in West region). What P5 conference would invite them with those numbers?

Second winning has mattered for Utah, TCU, Louisville, and WVU in recent conference expansion. VTI and BC were both winning programs when invited to the ACC. Not that winning is a requirement, but it has raised the stock of some programs prior to moving into a better conference.

In the end, the criteria for being invited has been a moving target, but it makes sense to make you University look as strong as possible in all aspects (sports, academics, popularity).

 

[buddy]

First, Boise St is not Uconn. The entire state of Idaho has a population that barely surpasses 1.5 million, and the academics are not exactly stellar (USN 65th in West region). What P5 conference would invite them with those numbers?

Second winning has mattered for Utah, TCU, Louisville, and WVU in recent conference expansion. VTI and BC were both winning programs when invited to the ACC. Not that winning is a requirement, but it has raised the stock of some programs prior to moving into a better conference.

In the end, the criteria for being invited has been a moving target, but it makes sense to make you University look as strong as possible in all aspects (sports, academics, popularity).

Pitt would be where UConn is if UConn wasn't blackballed by BC.

 

[noeynox]

Just win..is the answer.

Dominate the AAC. Win the bowl games.

Become a name as a college football program. Build a football brand, not just BB.

Someone will notice.

I am not suggesting UConn hasn't won enough to be included in a P5 conference. I'm just tired of the talk of empty cupboards, and UConn having no history, tradition, or recruiting base. There are no excuses going forward as long as we are in this league. Were a giant of an athletic department compared to others in this conference. Go out and threaten for double digit win seasons and knock off the P5 teams on the schedule.

 

[tzznandrew]

Pitt would be where UConn is if UConn wasn't blackballed by BC.

Honestly, more likely Pitt would either be in the B12 (instead of WVU) or in the ACC instead of Louisville (their tradition and academics, and connection to ND would likely trump Louisville's more recent successes). Hell, B12 may have taken Pitt/WVU/Cincy or UL in one fell swoop if Pitt were still around.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I have to agree with both billybud (his most recent post in this thread) and UPitt. If we can remotely resemble in football what Boise St has done for a decade we will have a home in either the B1G or ACC.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Somewhat agree. I no longer blame him for Louisville taking the ACC spot over us, but I don't like that he tries to sell us (the fans) like we are in some great conference that we should be proud of. I did not see UCF/George O'leary say peep about how great the conference was when they were accepting their Orange Bowl trophy. They didn't say a damn peep about The American with Mike Aresco standing right there on stage. That to me was very telling. No one associated with UConn should even utter the conference name when discussing UConn's future. Be conference neutral when talking about our future, please.

"Neutral" is good. There is no benefit derived from crapping on present partners or doing or saying anything that further dilutes the value of the AAC. It comes across as petty jealousy. Right now, the AAC is the only Conference UCONN has. It's much less than optimum, but it's a bird-in-hand.With no guarantees in sight, the only choice is to keep applying paint and polish in hope of adding value to the AAC.

UCONN's worthiness can be exhibited without having it look like some snooty Beacon Hill society Doyen who thinks her daughter it too good for anyone one but a Cabot, Lodge or Harriman. The same mother who is surprised when her daughter ends up a bitter, old spinster. UCONN has to be an exemplary partner and conference member in the present and as a "projection."

 

[Sea Goat]

I have to agree with both billybud (his most recent post in this thread) and UPitt. If we can remotely resemble in football what Boise St has done for a decade we will have a home in either the B1G or ACC.

Don't you hate being told by some of the same as that kept you out of a P-5 conference (ACC) what you have to do to now get in? Doesn't UConn qualify for a P-5 conference if its academics sink like a stone like Louisville? or it goes through the dark ages in football and is ebbing as an academic institution like Syracuse? or hasn't done a damn thing notable anywhere anytime like Rutgers? or dropped 7 varsity sports because of financial failure like Maryland? or ....

 

[Husky25]

Don't you hate being told by some of the same as that kept you out of a P-5 conference (ACC) what you have to do to now get in? Doesn't UConn qualify for a P-5 conference if its academics sink like a stone like Louisville? or it goes through the dark ages in football and is ebbing as an academic institution like Syracuse? or hasn't done a damn thing notable anywhere anytime like Rutgers? or dropped 7 varsity sports because of financial failure like Maryland? or ....

Not as much as the same people (or "as" as you put it) moving the goal posts just far enough to keep UConn at the wobbly card table.

That's probably exactly what you meant...it's nearing 5:00 and I've been having a separate pointless conversation with a BC supporter who takes benign comments about BC too personally...Maybe it's time to quit the Boneyard for a little while before I go too batty...

 

[Sea Goat]

Not as much as the same people (or "as" as you put it) moving the goal posts just far enough to keep UConn at the wobbly card table.

That's probably exactly what you meant...it's nearing 5:00 and I've been having a separate pointless conversation with a BC supporter who takes benign comments about BC too personally...Maybe it's time to quit the Boneyard for a little while before I go too batty...

Hang in there Husky 25 - and please don't let the bastards of BC get you down. Categorize them correctly -- and don't let them ever confuse you with someone who gives a what they think.