Mike Anthony: UConn President Susan Herbst Understood Importance Of Athletics-Academics Partnership

[JMick]

True but you would probably make more money off the men's and women's basketball programs

This doesn't make any sense

If the options are NBE + FCS or NBE with no football, no football is cheaper....

No one is saying go FCS and stay in the AAC

 

[gampelcrazies]

This doesn't make any sense

If the options are NBE + FCS or NBE with no football, no football is cheaper....

No one is saying go FCS and stay in the AAC

It does make sense. Good luck getting rid of football all together. You have to keep the program at some level

 

[intlzncster]

UConn might seek special exit terms to allow an exit to a P5 conference, but such special provisions can be accommodated with compensation elsewhere.

Why would the NBE agree to that? Too risky intermediate/long term.

If anything, the NBE is going to insist on an egregious 'buyout' clause were UCONN to try to leave. Saying $50-100 mil.

Clearly, UCONN needs the NBE more than the NBE needs UCONN.

 

[JMick]

It does make sense. Good luck getting rid of football all together. You have to keep the program at some level

According to who?

 

[intlzncster]

I don't know if that's true. FCS football would definitely bring in less, but does the increased basketball and media revenue from the NBE, the lower cost of playing FCS football, the savings from multiple zero-revenue women's sports that could be cut without the scholarship matching make up for it? I definitely don't think it's worth making the move until we know the payout of the new AAC deal

Why would they do something that's a wash? No point other than to give a bit of advantage to the BBall programs. The goal is to make money here, first and foremost.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm not saying any of this is going to happen tomorrow; however, we are rapidly approaching a time for choosing.

The current path that UConn athletics is on is not sustainable.

After next round of conference realignment when the network deals are up. Not before.

 

[Guapo]

After next round of conference realignment when the network deals are up. Not before.

100% agree

 

[gampelcrazies]

According to who?

Have you seen any programs as big as UConn drop football before?

 

[JMick]

Have you seen any programs as big as UConn drop football before?

That's a non-sequitor.

If the option is FBS football or FCS football, you keep playing FBS.

If the options are FBS football or no football, that's a discussion worth having.

These are hypotheticals. I'm not sure why you think we need to keep an FCS football team if we hypothetically go to the big east. It's a money loser.

 

[jimva]

I think there is a little bit of cart in front of the horse here. As JC used to say winning takes care of everything. It fills seats, creates demand for the product on TV nationally and makes us more attractive to P5 conferences. I think this coming year is a critical year to show a lot of progress both on winning/being more competitive and putting buts in seats. We can build on this for 2019 and then opportunities will materialize.

I think it would be a huge mistake to start looking for avenues of retreat before, at least next summer.

 

[Guapo]

I think there is a little bit of cart in front of the horse here. As JC used to say winning takes care of everything. It fills seats, creates demand for the product on TV nationally and makes us more attractive to P5 conferences. I think this coming year is a critical year to show a lot of progress both on winning/being more competitive and putting buts in seats. We can build on this for 2019 and then opportunities will materialize.

I think it would be a huge mistake to start looking for avenues of retreat before, at least next summer.

I would not get your hopes up about this year (if you're talking about football)

 

[uconnphil2016]

I don't see dropping football as a viable option. You'll have thousands of CT taxpayers driving by P&W Stadium every day wondering why the state used taxpayer money to build a 90 million dollar white elephant that's overgrown with weeds.

If we play FCS football, we won’t be at the Rent anyways

 

[8893]

If we play FCS football, we won’t be at the Rent anyways

I thought it was built with the potential to expand and add on the required number of seats?

 

[JMick]

I thought it was built with the potential to expand and add on the required number of seats?

Lol you're thinking backwards. If we went P5 we'd probably be required to expand. Right now we can't get it much more past half full

 

[CL82]

If we play FCS football, we won’t be at the Rent anyways

Where would it be Phil? It's not like we could play at Memorial Stadium anymore.

 

[8893]

Lol you're thinking backwards. If we went P5 we'd probably be required to expand. Right now we can't get it much more past half full

Yes, I was confused. I was thinking BCS, not FCS.

And yes, I realize that the BCS is now defunct.

As you can see, I'm a *big* college football guy...

 

[uconnphil2016]

Where would it be Phil? It's not like we could play at Memorial Stadium anymore.

It wouldn’t be at the Rent. We don’t own the Rent, and I doubt we could afford to play there with diminished attendance (literally no one would go to east Hartford to see FCS teams) and diminished revenue.

 

[CL82]

It wouldn’t be at the Rent. We don’t own the Rent, and I doubt we could afford to play there with diminished attendance (literally no one would go to east Hartford to see FCS teams) and diminished revenue.

So you're saying we'd have to build an on campus stadium to go to FCS ball? I like the way you think buddy!

 

[uconnphil2016]

So you're saying we'd have to build an on campus stadium to go to FCS ball? I like the way you think buddy!

I just don’t know that an FCS team has ever played in a. 40k seat stadium and I’m not sure we could cover cost of operation to have max 10k people there

 

[JMick]

So you're saying we'd have to build an on campus stadium to go to FCS ball? I like the way you think buddy!

Throw some turf down at C lot and call it a day

 

[CL82]

Throw some turf down at C lot and call it a day

Nah, the locals would complain about kids parking off campus. We could turf the band practice asphalt though.

 

[UConnNick]

I just don’t know that an FCS team has ever played in a. 40k seat stadium and I’m not sure we could cover cost of operation to have max 10k people there

Some do...Yale, Harvard and Penn, to name a few.

We aren't going to build a new stadium to play FCS football. That's totally insane.

 

[Guapo]

Some do...Yale, Harvard and Penn, to name a few.

We aren't going to build a new stadium to play FCS football. That's totally insane.

UConn to the Ivy Leauge confirmed

 

[uconnphil2016]

Some do...Yale, Harvard and Penn, to name a few.

We aren't going to build a new stadium to play FCS football. That's totally insane.

Playing FCS at the Rent is equally insane. Yale, Harvard, and Penn have no financial restraints and also all own their own large stadiums. UConn has to pay to use the Rent, so it’s that much more vital to get butts in the seats. They won’t rent it to have 6,000 people watch them play William and Mary

 

[CL82]

Playing FCS at the Rent is equally insane. Yale, Harvard, and Penn have no financial restraints and also all own their own large stadiums. UConn has to pay to use the Rent, so it’s that much more vital to get butts in the seats. They won’t rent it to have 6,000 people watch them play William and Mary

So you are saying that realistically the only choices are to make FBS work or drop football all together. I am inclined to agree.