"New England's Team?" How much weight does UConn carry in the region? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

"New England's Team?" How much weight does UConn carry in the region?

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Fishy said:
It's not a disregard - it's just how things are.

UMass is a non-starter - they're in the western hills of Massachusetts and there's just not enough there for them to get a serious toe-hold in Massachusetts let alone New England. It's not their fault and there's nothing they can do about it. Boston College is a small, private school outside of Boston. If you're a fan of Boston College, it's because you went to Boston College. Not their fault and nothing they can do about it.

Unless you think URI, UNH, Vermont or Maine at Orono can capture the hearts and minds, you basically have one national program in the region.
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We've got the Lenox and Montague markets locked up!!:rolleyes:
 
B1GOSU said:
I thought Delany was on record saying the same thing about the B1G and how the B1G would go to DIII if athletes were ever regarded as employees.
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I also read Delany saying that doing some commentary after O'Bannon dropped. I think what drew that response was the O'Bannon lawsuit wanting 50% of TV revenue for athletes (almost exclusively Football and Basketball since they make all the revenue. )
 
UMass said:
We've got the Lenox and Montague markets locked up!!:rolleyes:
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That is an excellent point.

I won't give you credit for Lee, though - they've been leaning towards Westfield State for generations.
 
All the vitriol and hatred for BC aside.....here is my take.

As others have mentioned, college sports is just not as big of a deal in the Northeast as it is in the rest of the nation. But where some see a place that is essentially a wasteland for college sports (only really one successful program in the region being UConn M/W Basketball) I see an opportunity.

In New England, I really don't think most people see BC and UConn Football as "bigtime". BC gets some name programs in town, and they have produced some fine NFL QBs but they have never really been an "elite" program. It's also clear that getting into the ACC never gave them a big push in that direction, in fact they have basically regressed for a ton of different reasons and so has UConn for that matter.

So all you have is BC and UConn. Whether one or the other can deliver the whole region is debateable.

UConn has indisputably has the strongest Hoops program in the nation. It's completing a $40 Million basketball facility with private funding.. It's upgrading hockey and is Hockey East. Football is floundering but it can only improve from where it is now.

BC has the best Hockey in the nation. Tasted success in basketball, tasted greater success in football but has a small fanbase regardless.

What happens if the B1G decides to really shake things up and invites both UConn and BC? Their 6 team Hockey conference is instantly bolstered, to say the least. But what it really gets is the chance to integrate the last major market in the US that really doesn't care college sports at the moment.

The thing of it is, people in the northeast generally think that elite college football happens somewhere south and west of it in some flyover state or Florida, California or even Oregon. But if you could possibly bring an entire region into that fold by adding two schools then goodness, why wouldn't you explore that?
 
@ZooCougar too bad BC can't see how having UConn on a level playing field would be beneficial to them. Rivalries matter in college sports. BC basketball has turned into Rutgers basketball, basically playing to crowds consisting of friends and family. Oh well. We will see how this all shakes out.
 
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CTMike said:
For a dying business it seems more popular than ever, with room to flourish in NE if someone has the foresight to give us the chance.
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Rather than waiting for someone to give us a chance, we need to seize the opportunity right before us.
 
JayRU09 said:
NIT finals against Michigan. We took over the Garden. Just because we don't go when we suck (which, be honest, if UCONN sucked CT fans wouldn't be making the trek either), doesn't mean we don't travel to the Garden when we have good reason to.
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You took it over and lost. Well done.
 
Point being?

Hell for all of your fuss over how your fans travel for basketball, they sure as heck don't for football, which last I checked was the sport 'driving the bus'.

Take over Yankee stadium and then let's talk.
 
ZooCougar said:
All the vitriol and hatred for BC aside.....here is my take.

As others have mentioned, college sports is just not as big of a deal in the Northeast as it is in the rest of the nation. But where some see a place that is essentially a wasteland for college sports (only really one successful program in the region being UConn M/W Basketball) I see an opportunity.

In New England, I really don't think most people see BC and UConn Football as "bigtime". BC gets some name programs in town, and they have produced some fine NFL QBs but they have never really been an "elite" program. It's also clear that getting into the ACC never gave them a big push in that direction, in fact they have basically regressed for a ton of different reasons and so has UConn for that matter.

So all you have is BC and UConn. Whether one or the other can deliver the whole region is debateable.

UConn has indisputably has the strongest Hoops program in the nation. It's completing a $40 Million basketball facility with private funding.. It's upgrading hockey and is Hockey East. Football is floundering but it can only improve from where it is now.

BC has the best Hockey in the nation. Tasted success in basketball, tasted greater success in football but has a small fanbase regardless.

What happens if the B1G decides to really shake things up and invites both UConn and BC? Their 6 team Hockey conference is instantly bolstered, to say the least. But what it really gets is the chance to integrate the last major market in the US that really doesn't care college sports at the moment.

The thing of it is, people in the northeast generally think that elite college football happens somewhere south and west of it in some flyover state or Florida, California or even Oregon. But if you could possibly bring an entire region into that fold by adding two schools then goodness, why wouldn't you explore that?
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1 BC doesn't fit the B1G profile.
2. If basketball prowess isn't factored in... No way hockey is involved in the decision process.
 
JayRU09 said:
NIT finals against Michigan. We took over the Garden. Just because we don't go when we suck (which, be honest, if UCONN sucked CT fans wouldn't be making the trek either), doesn't mean we don't travel to the Garden when we have good reason to.
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Wow an NIT finals reference. I was just starting middle school the last time I was excited about an NIT Final. For the record UConn took over the garden then too.
 
From when I lived in the Central Valley of VT and NH for a few years, I remember UConn B-ball being the only team besides the Pats/Bruins/Sox that got the majority of the bar engaged in a game. I can't recall ever seeing BC on the TV...unless Sportscenter was running a bloopers real.
 
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JayRU09 said:
Point being?

Hell for all of your fuss over how your fans travel for basketball, they sure as heck don't for football, which last I checked was the sport 'driving the bus'.

Take over Yankee stadium and then let's talk.
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Gentlemanly wager: if UCONN doesn't beat at least half of these attendance figures (I included your MetLife game too because I was feeling generous), then I will change my avatar pic to something Rutgers (you post the pic, I will replace Obama holding a UCONN jersey) for a week following our game against Army. If we do, then your name becomes JayUCONN09 for a week.

We haven't had a chance to take over Yankee Stadium yet because we have never played there. That ends this season when we play Army. UCONN will move 40K tickets. I am 100% confident that we will beat most of these attendance figures below.

Regular Season:
54,251 - Notre Dame @ Army (Yankee Stadium - 2010)
41,292 - Rutgers vs Army (MetLife Stadium "New Meadowlands Stadium" - 2010)
30,028 - Rutgers @ Army (Yankee Stadium - 2012)

Bowl games:
47,122 - Notre Dame vs Rutgers (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2013)
39,098 - Syracuse vs WVU (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2012)
38,328 - Rutgers vs Iowa State (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2011)
38,274 - Syracuse vs Kansas State (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2010)
 
BigRonBuckeye said:
Can you post one of those maps... I've never seen one.
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5339c88b5da97.preview-300.jpg

http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=sportsnation&pollId=4267753
 
You got yourself a deal. Let's make it you have to beat the average Yankee stadium attendance for those games, 41,183 and a half people.

Now the half could be a midget or a torso.
 
Dooley said:
I enjoy seeing that everyone outside of Kentucky hates Kentucky. SEC country rallied behind Florida.
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I like the picture that was posted. I liked the graph that the link brought me to even more.
 
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JayRU09 said:
You got yourself a deal. Let's make it you have to beat the average Yankee stadium attendance for those games, 41,183 and a half people.

Now the half could be a midget or a torso.
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I'll be sure to pack mini Dooley for the trip. I knew that little guy would come in handy one day.
 
Dooley said:
Gentlemanly wager: if UCONN doesn't beat at least half of these attendance figures (I included your MetLife game too because I was feeling generous), then I will change my avatar pic to something Rutgers (you post the pic, I will replace Obama holding a UCONN jersey) for a week following our game against Army. If we do, then your name becomes JayUCONN09 for a week.

We haven't had a chance to take over Yankee Stadium yet because we have never played there. That ends this season when we play Army. UCONN will move 40K tickets. I am 100% confident that we will beat most of these attendance figures below.

Regular Season:
54,251 - Notre Dame @ Army (Yankee Stadium - 2010)
41,292 - Rutgers vs Army (MetLife Stadium "New Meadowlands Stadium" - 2010)
30,028 - Rutgers @ Army (Yankee Stadium - 2012)

Bowl games:
47,122 - Notre Dame vs Rutgers (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2013)
39,098 - Syracuse vs WVU (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2012)
38,328 - Rutgers vs Iowa State (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2011)
38,274 - Syracuse vs Kansas State (Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium - 2010)
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Dooley, 30,028 should be your benchmark for the bet.... Rutgers v Army regular season game. The only apples 2 apples comparison.
 
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Unfortunately CommonCensus does not have a college basketball fan map, if it did it would show UConn dominating New England and New York. But they do have a football map. It dates from 2010, and here it is:

http://commoncensus.org/sports_map.php?sport=5


UConn is the dominant college football rooting interest in Connecticut but its football fan base doesn't extend much beyond state borders as of yet. However, UConn's fan base in this algorithm comes out bigger than those of Pitt, West Virginia, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Iowa State, Purdue, Indiana, Louisville, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and many other G5 teams.

In the AAC, the ranking is:
UConn 347
East Carolina 313
UCF 148
Cincy 137
Navy 97
USF 92
Memphis 69
SMU 42
Houston 37
Tulsa 25
Temple N/A
Tulane N/A

Other top non-P5 teams:
BYU 373
Boise St 241
Wyoming 183
Buffalo 129
San Diego St 106
Nevada 91
Army 84
Air Force 79
Fresno St 62

B1G does really well by this algorithm. Top teams nationally include:
Penn State 1397
Ohio State 1136
Michigan 1019
Notre Dame 994
Texas 873
Texas A&M 849
Wisconsin 751
Illinois 750

You can see on this algorithm that a school like Illinois really benefits from being the "favorite team" of a lot of residents of a populous state, even though there is very little passion for them, while Alabama (202) suffers from splitting a small state with Auburn (288) and doesn't get a lot of credit for the many out-of-staters who follow them and watch their games, but don't name them as their favorite team.

I think this illustrates the value of the B1G strategy. Rutgers (517) and Maryland (607) score very well, despite little history of football success. So do Minnesota (498), Iowa (483), Indiana (305), and state flagships generally. Syracuse and BC come out with big followings in this method thanks to a lack of northeastern competition. If UConn joined the B1G, it could steal most of their fans and get into the 600-700 range fairly quickly I believe.
 
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pj said:
Yeah, funny thing -- people in Florida were among the happiest for UConn's win. Must be a lot of anti-Kentucky animus in the SEC. Note that every SEC state except Kentucky was rooting for Florida before the Final Four started.
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All the Florida fans in my section just wanted us to beat them. We were only fans from ct that high up and there was that much dislike from the two of them. After this final four there is not to like about the Kentucky fanbase.
 
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