NBE should stay at 10 teams and go to a 9 game football schedule

[metsfan2323]

I'm interested to see how others feel about this. Would you rather see the New Big East at 12 teams with a conference championship game or stay at 10 teams and play a 9 game conference schedule?

My preference is the 9 game conference schedule without the conference championship game. At this point I could not care less if Navy joins and doubt they want to anyway and I certainly don't think Tulsa adds a whole lot to the conference and conference championship games tend to be terrible anyway. I like the idea of playing each team in the conference and only having three non conference games per year. Warde seems to struggle scheduling non conference games anyway.

BTW, no need to post that you prefer to be in another conference, that is a given. This thread assumes we are in this league for 7 years.

 

[whaler11]

I think this will be the outcome in the near term.

 

[UCFBfan]

Now that the TV deal is finished, there is no need to add a single team unless they are in a Power conference and for some reason want into the NBE (I'm clearly being sarcastic). Navy will make more in their CBS deal for the Army-Navy game than they will with three years of being in this conference. They aren't coming.

I know that the ESPN deal is for a Conference Championship game but if Aresco, who I think should be forced out, signs on another worthless program, I will be done with this crap. Screw Tulsa, UMass, any other crappy program that means nothing.

The "Grand Experiment" of adding big market teams that aren't very good has failed miserably. Now programs like UConn and Cincy must suffer because of it. It just makes m sick.

We better stay with 10 teams going forward.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Now that the TV deal is finished, there is no need to add a single team unless they are in a Power conference and for some reason want into the NBE (I'm clearly being sarcastic). Navy will make more in their CBS deal for the Army-Navy game than they will with three years of being in this conference. They aren't coming.

I know that the ESPN deal is for a Conference Championship game but if Aresco, who I think should be forced out, signs on another worthless program, I will be done with this crap. Screw Tulsa, UMass, any other crappy program that means nothing.

The "Grand Experiment" of adding big market teams that aren't very good has failed miserably. Now programs like UConn and Cincy must suffer because of it. It just makes m sick.

We better stay with 10 teams going forward.

In Blaud's last blog, he also talked about the C7 still considering leaving in July of this year. If that happens, do we stick with a 10 team league for both b-ball and football? 10 team league means you could play everyone twice for an 18 game season.

 

[UCFBfan]

In Blaud's last blog, he also talked about the C7 still considering leaving in July of this year. If that happens, do we stick with a 10 team league for both b-ball and football? 10 team league means you could play everyone twice for an 18 game season.

If they do leave in July, RU, Louisville, and ND will still be here. However, I think Tulane and ECU don't join until 2014 for bball so we'd have 11 members? I might be wrong with my math....Either way, I think playing each team twice in bball presents better TV match-ups so we'd be more likely to be on real ESPN as opposed to SNY or ESPNU.

 

[upstater]

The CG really doesn't matter.
The pay is so low it's irrelevant. But increasing the take through fewer teams doesn't help much either. We are talking $100k or so.
I also don't know how ESPN could give the league a contract for a CG when it only has 10 members or 11 in 2 years or 12 in the future, especially when it doesn't even know one of the teams.

This leads me to 2 possibilities:

1. Either the $20 million is to be divided by the current 10 with an additional $2 per team added when new teams join, or...

2. No one ever did a market valuation--everyone is just making up numbers to see what sticks.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Upstater, I agree. But then why even look at expanding? Keep the league at 10 teams for football starting in 2014-2015, and 9 for basketball. If Navy still wants to come in 2015, fine. But don't expand to expand (i.e. Tulsa) and don't invite East Carolina for all sports. 9 teams for basketball. True round robin schedule for 16 games.

Let's look at this closer in regards to basketball. 9 team league in basketball:

1. UCONN (elite program)
2. Cincinnati (moderately good program)
3. Temple (moderately good and consistent program)
4. Memphis (moderately good program that consistently recruits well)
5. South Florida
6. Central Florida
7. Houston
8. SMU
9. Tulane

In most years, 4 out of the 9 are locks for the NCAA Tournament. Out of the other 5 teams, you hope that 1-2 develop into decent programs. I think that between USF, UCF, Houston and SMU, you can hope that 2 turn into respectable, NCAA Tournament type teams.

 

[UConnDan97]

The "Grand Experiment" of adding big market teams that aren't very good has failed miserably.

No doubt about it.

It's unclear how much better the strategy would have been if the bulk of the good products (ND, Rutty, Boise, C-7 good teams, Ville) were still here to show to the large population bases. You can't show large population bases mediocrity and expect a lot of people to buy into it.

However, in the spirit of being the guy that looks at the glass as "1/4 full", I see an opportunity for UConn here. In football, these are teams that we can beat, and in many cases, teams that we should beat regularly. Putting up large win totals in front of large population bases can't hurt our image, especially with recruits from those cities. It would be like the "Boise effect" but doing it in New Orleans and Houston instead of Fort Collins and Colorado Springs.

On the basketball side, it could have an even greater impact. We're already a household name, and I expect that we will see many 25+ win seasons in this league. The inner-city basketball recruits in all of these large population centers will continue to be exposed to the UConn brand. I believe that UConn bball will still be able to thrive and remain a "blue-blood", even in this new crappola situation.

Those are my thoughts. The money sucks. The teams are alright. The short-term opportunity is there for the taking. Time for UConn to take it...

 

[upstater]

Upstater, I agree. But then why even look at expanding? Keep the league at 10 teams for football starting in 2014-2015, and 9 for basketball. If Navy still wants to come in 2015, fine. But don't expand to expand (i.e. Tulsa) and don't invite East Carolina for all sports. 9 teams for basketball. True round robin schedule for 16 games.

Let's look at this closer in regards to basketball. 9 team league in basketball:

1. UCONN (elite program)
2. Cincinnati (moderately good program)
3. Temple (moderately good and consistent program)
4. Memphis (moderately good program that consistently recruits well)
5. South Florida
6. Central Florida
7. Houston
8. SMU
9. Tulane

In most years, 4 out of the 9 are locks for the NCAA Tournament. At out the other 5 teams, you hope that 1-2 develop into decent programs. I think that between USF, UCF, Houston and SMU, you can hope that 2 turn into respectable, NCAA Tournament type teams.

I don't disagree. I just can't get myself worked up over this.

 

[TRest]

We should pay $5 million to Tulane to not join, forget Navy, and just live with the results. There is no market for a championship game in football.

 

[CL82]

We should adopt any framework that aids us in getting the hell out, other than that I couldn't care less.

 

[RS9999X]

Book the conference game in Guyana. Offer free tickets to every idiot who said "football is driving the bus". Tell them they won tickets to paradise.

Sent from my Lumia 920 via Windows 8. Now bite me Apple Droids.

 

[huskiesnyc]

How long is our deal with SNY? Are we in negotiations for an extension?

 

[upstater]

How long is our deal with SNY? Are we in negotiations for an extension?

UConn doesn't get paid by SNY so it's irrelevant. SNY sends the check to the BE. SNY is all about exposure. That's it.

 

[BFieldHusky]

UConn doesn't get paid by SNY so it's irrelevant. SNY sends the check to the BE. SNY is all about exposure. That's it.

So it does not count towards Tier 3 rights?

 

[UCFBfan]

UConn doesn't get paid by SNY so it's irrelevant. SNY sends the check to the BE. SNY is all about exposure. That's it.

Are you sure? according to this article UConn and SNY agreed on a 3 year deal to broadcast 300 hours of men's basketball and football. The article is from 2010 so women's basketball is not included. I don't see why SNY would ink a deal with UConn specifically if they were just paying the BE.

 

[RS9999X]

They had SU and RU as well and they paid ESPN for games and the schools for coaches shows, etc.

Sent from my Lumia 920 via Windows 8. Now bite me Apple Droids.

 

[RS9999X]

While the deal seems straightforward at a glance, it isn't as simple as just UConn and SNY.

Mike Enright, sports information director for UConn football, explained the quagmire of television rights that led to the SNY deal.

"The way it works is, we have our TV rights for men's basketball and football, but as a member of the Big East Conference, we pool them," Enright said. "The Big East, in an agreement with the schools, takes those rights so they can pool the eight football schools and all 16 sports schools together."

"Then they sell all the TV rights to ESPN, and then ESPN kind of picks out what they want and the give the rest to a company called ESPN Regional, which is part of ESPN," Enright said. "ESPN Regional takes those other games and sells them to stations in the local markets. They've got New York, Washington, Philadelphia, South Bend, Milwaukee, ect. So at the end of the day the contract is between ESPN Regional and SNY."


Sent from my Lumia 920 via Windows 8. Now bite me Apple Droids.

 

[huskiesnyc]

UConn doesn't get paid by SNY so it's irrelevant. SNY sends the check to the BE. SNY is all about exposure. That's it.

Really? I thought I read recently that SNY pays our women's team alone 1.5 mill annually?

 

[upstater]

Really? I thought I read recently that SNY pays our women's team alone 1.5 mill annually?

Women's bball yes. Not fball and men's bball.

 

[upstater]

So it does not count towards Tier 3 rights?

ESPN has those rights.

 

[upstater]

Are you sure? according to this article UConn and SNY agreed on a 3 year deal to broadcast 300 hours of men's basketball and football. The article is from 2010 so women's basketball is not included. I don't see why SNY would ink a deal with UConn specifically if they were just paying the BE.

It's exposure for UConn, plus UConn makes money (with IMG) from the coaches shows and other UConn dedicated shows. So, you give SNY exclusivity, but ESPN gets the money (of course ESPN also does the production with the BE) from SNY.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

assuming Navy doesnt come, we could use UMass to help attendance. there is not a single team on our conference schedule that is a likely sellout most years. UMass as a conference rival will probably sell out.

 

[Fishy]

ESPN has those rights.

Technically, no.

The way it worked...

ESPN (and CBS in hoops) had the Tier 1 rights - they took what they wanted. What they did not want, the Tier 2 rights, were given to ESPN Regional. ESPN Regional took all of the football and basketball content generated by UConn, plus one women's basketball game.

Our Tier 3 rights, basically, what's left over, were retained by UConn. The only thing of value there is the women's basketball stuff and that is what we sold to SNY directly.

The SNY/ESPN Regional deal expires this August.

My hunch is that it will be renewed. I'm not sure SNY has anywhere else to go to fill those hours and the cost they pay ESPN will likely come down.

 

[jbdphi]

If we're stuck here for a while, I'd definitely prefer the smaller conference format of 10 teams and 9 conference games in football. I cannot imagine why Navy would want to join this conference other than for scheduling reasons (which I suppose could be an issue).

Still, with just 10, you play everyone once, require less OOC games to schedule which are going to be a struggle to get anyways, and you have a chance to try and develop some year in-year out rivalries if at all possible. Without a Western strategy there doesn't seem to be any reason to split up into divisions (God help us if someone needs to come up with names for them).

With this contract, the only reason I can see for having a championship game is to potentially give the conference's best team a quality win to boost rankings and get the Access Bowl position. That being said, with 10 teams, the conference's best team should still have just as good of a shot without it. As long as Boise is out there it is going to be pretty damn tough to do. They've built up a reputation with the voters that will be difficult to break through.