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

[Dooley]

He can't 'like' my post and then change the rules of the bet, that's a legally binding handshake like agreement right there.

Not changing the terms. My Boneyard honour is only as strong as my word. 41,183 1/2 it is.

 

[BigRonBuckeye]

http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=sportsnation&pollId=4267753

Well done.

 

[BigRonBuckeye]

Well, you guys added Maryland and Rutgers. So there is no way football figured in the decision process.

Touché. Moves based on markets and long potential imho.

They are trying to turn hockey into a profitable venture on BTN but there would be massive pushback from Minnesota to adding schools just for hockey. They, moreso than any of the other teams, lost a lot when they left the wcha. The powers that be in Minnesota want to play as many of the Minnesota schools as well as North Dakota as possible every year. They are able to do that now because the conference is small. Every school we add means (given current structure) removing 4 non conference games which would squeeze their scheduling abilities.

I agree that BC is a monster in Hockey and Hockey East is as solid a league in the country in hockey, but if/when UConn joins the B1G i see you all doing the same thing Minnesota is doing by playing tons of non conf against local/regional schools and a "National" Conference schedule. I just don't see more than one from New England, especially for hockey.

 

[ZooCougar]

Touché. Moves based on markets and long potential imho.

They are trying to turn hockey into a profitable venture on BTN but there would be massive pushback from Minnesota to adding schools just for hockey. They, moreso than any of the other teams, lost a lot when they left the wcha. The powers that be in Minnesota want to play as many of the Minnesota schools as well as North Dakota as possible every year. They are able to do that now because the conference is small. Every school we add means (given current structure) removing 4 non conference games which would squeeze their scheduling abilities.

I agree that BC is a monster in Hockey and Hockey East is as solid a league in the country in hockey, but if/when UConn joins the B1G i see you all doing the same thing Minnesota is doing by playing tons of non conf against local/regional schools and a "National" Conference schedule. I just don't see more than one from New England, especially for hockey.

They play so many games in hockey, you could add two more hockey schools and still play Mankato State to you heart's content.

 

[BoatShow]

Honestly I find it hard to conceive rooting for another state's flagship university. Then again, I'm a UConn fan it is pretty hard for me to conceive rooting for anyone else period.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

If UNH or Maine were playing for an FCS National championship against a school from an other area.
90% of hardcore Conn football fans would be routing for them.
There is a natural regional pride.
If UConn is in the B1G it will be a source of regional pride for all New England football fans.Remember the bar is set pretty low ,all were asking is for them to tune in to watch a game. For instance you have Texas Tech playing Baylor or UConn vs Mich State. I would guess the rating for the later game will be 5 times the former.

 

[woomba]

I think this is the real answer - New England will support whichever team is hot at the moment so theoretically both BC and UConn can 'carry' New England when they are doing well...and not carry them at all when they're not.

BC doesn't really fit institutionally with the Big Ten though, so if the Big Ten ever wanted to take a stab at the NE market I see UConn being more likely of the two.

 

[BigRonBuckeye]

If UNH or Maine were playing for an FCS National championship against a school from an other area.
90% of hardcore Conn football fans would be routing for them.
There is a natural regional pride.
If UConn is in the B1G it will be a source of regional pride for all New England football fans.Remember the bar is set pretty low ,all were asking is for them to tune in to watch a game. For instance you have Texas Tech playing Baylor or UConn vs Mich State. I would guess the rating for the later game will be 5 times the former.

Is there enough regional pride and demand generated to consider all of New England "In-State" for cable distribution purposes? 14 Million people looks and sounds better than 3.5 ish Million for Connecticut alone. Similar to proximity and culture playing a factor of getting RU and B1G into basic cable in NYC, I feel like the same logic should hold in getting UConn & B1G into New England.

 

[pj]

Is there enough regional pride and demand generated to consider all of New England "In-State" for cable distribution purposes? 14 Million people looks and sounds better than 3.5 ish Million for Connecticut alone. Similar to proximity and culture playing a factor of getting RU and B1G into basic cable in NYC, I feel like the same logic should hold in getting UConn & B1G into New England.

The B1G I've read gets $0.90 per month per subscriber in-state and $0.10 out of state in the Midwest. In Connecticut with UConn they could get $2.40 and in Massachusetts maybe $0.40 and the rest of New England $0.25. New York City might be raised from $0.15 with Rutgers to $0.30. It would be incremental money but in a lot of homes. I'm not worried about UConn meeting B1G revenue requirements. The problem is more a partner, AAU status, those kinds of criteria.

The B1G is so rich, it's impossible to bring in enough money to match average per team revenue plus an extra $28 million/year revenue to provide each team with a $2 mn sweetener. So any additions are financially marginal for the B1G. This means you really have to win on non-financial criteria.

 

[BoatShow]

If UNH or Maine were playing for an FCS National championship against a school from an other area.
90% of hardcore Conn football fans would be routing for them.
There is a natural regional pride.
If UConn is in the B1G it will be a source of regional pride for all New England football fans.Remember the bar is set pretty low ,all were asking is for them to tune in to watch a game. For instance you have Texas Tech playing Baylor or UConn vs Mich State. I would guess the rating for the later game will be 5 times the former.

Definitely, but I'm talking about straight up taking allegiance.

 

[woomba]

The B1G I've read gets $0.90 per month per subscriber in-state and $0.10 out of state in the Midwest. In Connecticut with UConn they could get $2.40 and in Massachusetts maybe $0.40 and the rest of New England $0.25. New York City might be raised from $0.15 with Rutgers to $0.30. It would be incremental money but in a lot of homes. I'm not worried about UConn meeting B1G revenue requirements. The problem is more a partner, AAU status, those kinds of criteria.

The B1G is so rich, it's impossible to bring in enough money to match average per team revenue plus an extra $28 million/year revenue to provide each team with a $2 mn sweetener. So any additions are financially marginal for the B1G. This means you really have to win on non-financial criteria.

Those carriage rates are generally accurate - but it's mostly due to the fact that the Big Ten signed those deals back in 2008. When the time comes to renegotiate, I expect those numbers to go up.

 

[BoatShow]

Interest in UConn pretty much ends at the CT state border. There is no one New England college team and there never will be. New England is too provincial and very fractured (too many colleges in such a small region) for this to ever occur.

The only reason UConn was on tv in VT was for CT residents vacationing there to watch. Any assertion that UConn could become New England's team is absurd. CT is the least New England state in all of New England.

 

[Hoophound]

Interest in UConn pretty much ends at the CT state border. There is no one New England college team and there never will be. New England is too provincial and very fractured (too many colleges in such a small region) for this to ever occur. The only reason UConn was on tv in VT was for CT residents vacationing there to watch. Any assertion that UConn could become New England's team is absurd. CT is the least New England state in all of New England.

New England was totally behind Doug Flutie and BC back in the day. New England is begging for a winner in football. The idea that UConn is only on in Vermont for CT residents visiting is ludicrous. The guy who built my house up there has three daughters that played basketball. Every time I saw them at least one of them had UConn gear on. They made the trip to several women's games each year and at least one men's game. My neighbor on the street is big hoops fan and when I was there in March he invited over to watch a game. He became a UConn fan because his son went to basketball camp there as a kid. He also went to several other camps but every summer, UConn camp was his "big treat". So basically, the two locals I talk to most are UConn fans. Coincidence? Maybe.

They are also huge Red Sox fans up there. The obnoxious passion for the Sox in Vermont among locals rivals any I've seen in South Boston or Revere. New England is up for grabs. I wear my UConn gear in VT and people talk to me about UConn everywhere I go. Northern New Eglanders have to watch a lot of tv in the winter months and UConn helps pass the time. The polls prove that New Englanders pull for UConn, even people in Massachusetts, which is almost surprising.

 

[NickyNewark]

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?

I don't consider Oregon or Washington states as areas where HSFB is as revered as it is even here in Connecticut just that their able to cash in on the Cali overflow of athletes and lure them there....in fact I'd almost think of the Pacific northwest as a wasteland w/o the imports ala Montana,Wyoming and the Dakotas..CFB has gone the way of the manufacturing jobs in the NE and midwest snowbirds...to the warmer weather climates bolstered by the relative newcomers..Reconstruction again in the south CFB style and this time the rebs are happy about carpetbagging(but wont admit it) yankee style lol!!

 

[billybud]

I have always thought that the ACC made a mistake taking BC and then Syracuse....Moving into the northeast was their Remagen bridge...a bridge too far. They should have left the northeast for the B1G.

The ACC, before these moves, was a southern-mid Atlantic conference with most of the teams coming out of the old southern conference.

It is difficult to build border rivalries when you have BC and Cuse in a division with FSU, Virginia and Clemson...and it added more geographic diversity to a conference already too diverse (basketball first schools and football first....private schools and public....large schools and very small schools....)

I do understand that in the Darwinesque feeling of the times that it was either adapt or die....but the conference has become so disparate that natural rivalries have been diluted and there are few match ups of national interest.

It would make much more sense to have Cuse, BC, UConn, Rutgers all playing one another.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

People here are delusional if they think UConn is or will become New England's team. New England has far too many colleges for any one to dominate. Furthermore, people in other states are not going to make the state university of another state their #1 team.

Every time something difficult is attempted there are those happily proclaiming someone delusional. Congratulations for finding your niche. Now, isn't there some other parade you need to rain on?

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't consider Oregon or Washington states as areas where HSFB is as revered as it is even here in Connecticut just that their able to cash in on the Cali overflow of athletes and lure them there....in fact I'd almost think of the Pacific northwest as a wasteland w/o the imports ala Montana,Wyoming and the Dakotas..CFB has gone the way of the manufacturing jobs in the NE and midwest snowbirds...to the warmer weather climates bolstered by the relative newcomers..Reconstruction again in the south CFB style and this time the rebs are happy about carpetbagging(but wont admit it) yankee style lol!!

True, but college sports is bigger in the PAC NW, than it is in the NE.

 

[ZooCougar]

People here are delusional if they think UConn is or will become New England's team. New England has far too many colleges for any one to dominate. Furthermore, people in other states are not going to make the state university of another state their #1 team.

Yes because people up in Maine would rather pull for Bowdoin.

 

[NickyNewark]

True, but college sports is bigger in the PAC NW, than it is in the NE.

Yes it is probably because like in MANY areas in the south theres nothing else to rally around like we have in the Philly/ NYC/Boston corrider(culture) they've found 1M ways to get our dollars and the dollars are here....thats why I'm so confident UConn goes in the next move in musical chairs(CR)!

 

[06029]

If UNH or Maine were playing for an FCS National championship against a school from an other area.
90% of hardcore Conn football fans would be routing for them.
There is a natural regional pride.
If UConn is in the B1G it will be a source of regional pride for all New England football fans.Remember the bar is set pretty low ,all were asking is for them to tune in to watch a game. For instance you have Texas Tech playing Baylor or UConn vs Mich State. I would guess the rating for the later game will be 5 times the former.

Do you remember rooting for UMass a few years back when they were in it? Were you all over Victor Cruz when he was at Umass?
How about Nova in the championship when both schools were part of the BE?

I do not care for anything below Div 1 BCS quality football. You can not tell me that watching an FCS championship or Div II or III championship is must see TV or check your phone for the score kind of event. Given the choice, I watch a replay of the Beef O'Brady Bowl over any regional school in a lower level championship game.

As stated above, if a major school in the region is winning, they get eyeballs and support. No school in NE has enough die hard alumni to make a difference in the ratings so they need to grab the casual fan. And that only happens with winning against major competition.

Your example of competing games is interesting because that is what BC does in Boston and most of NE when they play major opponents (FSU, Clemson, USC, ND). Those games are the regional telecast in New England on the Disney networks. Their ratings outdraw other less compelling regional games at the same time. Uconn against any major B1g, ACC, SEC, Big 12 or Pac12 school outdraws Tech-Baylor in New England. A better example would be does Uconn-Ind or Uconn-Ill outdraw Tech-Baylor? Or does that kind of match up outdraw BC-Wake Forest or BC-Duke? That is the kind of matchup of competing games that you need to win big in New England to be considered the regions team. I'm not sure if Uconn has that much FB interest to end up better than a draw in the ratings across New England today.

Uconn needs the big name opponents on the schedule to start building that regional draw and support and have ratings reflect any build up in support. Actual evidence is better than hope. The AAC schedule is not going to do it. Time to play any one in the country in their stadium or venue of choice. Or just accept being lost in the nether world of the G5.

 

[Pudge]

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.

Crazy talk

You took over the Garden? What freaking planet are you on? You have no concept of what a good atmosphere is with a college basketball game. This is delusional.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Sorry for the dose of reality. It would seem many here prefer to live in Fantasyland.

Everybody dreams (although you might be the exception). Progress is built on them. When asked about failing 1000 times before inventing the electric light, Edison informed the questioner (RF0 perhaps?) that the light bulb was a 1001 step process. Some things take many years and many steps before success arrives. That doesn't make those who brought them about less realistic than you. You either lack vision or lack the stomach for the fight. In your "reality," the pyramids don't exist.

 

[Pudge]

Interest in UConn pretty much ends at the CT state border. There is no one New England college team and there never will be. New England is too provincial and very fractured (too many colleges in such a small region) for this to ever occur.

The only reason UConn was on tv in VT was for CT residents vacationing there to watch. Any assertion that UConn could become New England's team is absurd. CT is the least New England state in all of New England.

Funny.

I don't see this at all. In Vermont, it also is Burlington & Rutland ... not just the ski resorts. I have been in sports bars when UConn has been on. But ... it's really marginal - if that's your point, I agree. But, if the system carries throughout NE, more will watch & the UConn is New England brand will grow. (Are you going to watch Maine vrs Albany? Are you going to watch Arkansas vrs Mississippi? OR ... will you watch UConn versus Michigan or Iowa? I'd argue it will skew to the latter. )

 

[JayRU09]

Crazy talk

You took over the Garden? What freaking planet are you on? You have no concept of what a good atmosphere is with a college basketball game. This is delusional.

Um........watch the game.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yes it is probably because like in MANY areas in the south theres nothing else to rally around like we have in the Philly/ NYC/Boston corrider(culture) they've found 1M ways to get our dollars and the dollars are here....thats why I'm so confident UConn goes in the next move in musical chairs(CR)!

CT is an exception within New England. For some reason we evolved a love for the local State U. I never went to UConn, never even considered attending UConn... when alums here talk about places on campus I have no idea what they are talking about. But watching Tate George make that shot is one of my earliest memories in sports, that "Husky Hoops on Channel" song still is in my brain. We have a brand that was really succesful in state, and without a doubt it has permeated and established itself in some other parts of New England.

 

[BoatShow]

Um...watch the game.

RU's crowning achievement- A bunch of people hopped on a train for a game they lost.

 

[UConnDan97]

Yes because people up in Maine would rather pull for Bowdoin.

You beat me to the punch. I was going to make my joke about Colby, but Bowdoin works fine...

 

[JayRU09]

Oh I forgot we were discussing wins now when the original discussion was over travelling to the friggin' Garden.

Keep moving them goal posts.

 

[Pudge]

Traveling to the friggin' Garden ... for an NIT game?

We are going to pull out pictures of 1988 for UConn. Guys had short shorts and NIKE & ESPN were barely breathing. I would say that UConn has 50 more significant games than Rutgers since then. We get it: you're in because of cable boxes; you never showed more than a smidge of Bigtime College Sports capability. (fan base or athletes)

 

[ZooCougar]

Traveling to the friggin' Garden ... for an NIT game?

We are going to pull out pictures of 1988 for UConn. Guys had short shorts and NIKE & ESPN were barely breathing. I would say that UConn has 50 more significant games than Rutgers since then. We get it: you're in because of cable boxes; you never showed more than a smidge of Bigtime College Sports capability. (fan base or athletes)

Rutgers goes to MSG for big games about as often as I go to Australia. The only people that attend Rutgers basketball games are family members of players on the team.

Everyone knows that there are only two schools that will pack that place. One simply does not discuss college basketball in MSG without mentioning UConn and Syracuse. Rutgers doesn't even figure into the equation.