Michigan Game Transportation

[J187Money]

Upstater is correct. With UConn, the BTN could charge $2-3 a month for every cable system in the State ~1M cable households. The political juice to make that happen is there. So that's $24-36M, more than enough to cover our revenue share. Neither RU or Maryland will bring that much, they don't penetrate their markets as well, though they may be larger. Delany actually already knows this, it's the Presidents and boosters who don't.

This is probably the best way this has been said on this board. And it has been said about 1000 times.

 

[michigannyc]

UConn is not AAU and does not have very good football. So they don't qualify.

I was just pointing out that TV is not a strike against UConn. That's all. Delany knows very well about UConn's TV numbers because UConn's TV licensing and production is arranged by IMG, and Delany has close IMG connections. He knows exactly how big UConn's market stretches and the levels of penetration.

Read this:


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/sports/ncaabasketball/left-behind-uconn-ponders-starting-over-again.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0[/quote]

I can tell you are much more knowledgeable regarding the TV markets than I am. As someone who has walked the streets of Manhattan on football Saturdays, I agree that Rutgers doesn't seem to have a large following in NYC. However, I haven't seen UConn fans packing the bars either. What I have seen are many Notre Dame, Michigan, OSU, and Penn State fans. I am aware that tv ratings are not based on the number of fans who show up to a bar or the number of fans sporting a t-shirt in the streets. In my opinion Notre Dame would have turned more television sets to the Big Ten Network in the NY market. However Rutgers is the closest team so there may be less outrage by New Yorkers if they are forced to pay higher cable bills for the Big Ten Network than if a team from Indiana was added. New York is clearly a pro-sports city. The vast majority of New Yorkers couldn't care less about college sports and having to pay more for cable for something most don't want probably wouldn't go over well.

As a Michigan fan I only care about two things when it comes to conference expansion. Michigan having a tough enough schedule so that the team can qualify for the four team playoffs even if we have 1 loss and for me to be able to go to the games without having to spend an arm and a leg. If I were running UConn, I would hire as many people from Pennsylvania as possible for the football staff and recruit the state as hard as possible. There is no other state in the region with as much talent and PSU/Pitt are down right now so there is an opening for a team to land recruits. I would then add as many games with top tier opponents as possible. If you have to travel to Florida, Texas, Alabama, Oregon, and LSU without a return trip, so be it. If you occassionally pull off a win and combine that with your strong bball program and attractive tv market (if your numbers are correct), I don't see how UConn could be left out in the cold when conference expansion is complete.

 

[upstater]

Good post. Don't sleep on the talent UConn is already getting however. Twice we've been top 5 for putting players in the NFL draft. Twice in the last couple years we had 5 players get picked. There are a lot of UConn faces in the NFL, more than say Louisville. So we're not doing bad on talent. I agree with the rest of your post.

 

[Adios]

Don't forget the rest of New England. When was the last time Michigan came to New England?

Aside from a 50 year rivalry with Yale, this is our biggest home game ever. I give Yale football complete respect.

 

[whaler11]

Good post. Don't sleep on the talent UConn is already getting however. Twice we've been top 5 for putting players in the NFL draft. Twice in the last couple years we had 5 players get picked. There are a lot of UConn faces in the NFL, more than say Louisville. So we're not doing bad on talent. I agree with the rest of your post.