Frank the Tank's take on CSNBBS:
"At the same time, I think it’s far from crazy compared to what we’ve seen up to this point in conference realignment. It’s actually what a lot of people are begging for overall: UConn would place its football program in a league that is the best (or maybe only) option for them as of now, but keep basketball and all of their other sports with their traditional rivals and within their home region.
We’ve been talking about places like UTSA on this forum as if they’re predestined to be powers (e.g. a UCF-like trajectory), but that’s not exactly a guarantee at all. For as poor as UConn has performed on-the-field over the years, they still have enough pull as an athletic department to regularly get multiple power conference teams per year to visit their stadium. Even brands like Boise State haven’t been able to do that. It’s not just a function of UConn being able to schedule more games as an independent, either (as you can compare their schedules to UMass). UConn likely has enough wherewithal to schedule 2-3 P4 opponents per year, which would give UConn 1-2 P4 home games per year. That’s pretty immediate value to a non-power conference TV contract.
It’s also the least disruptive move from a geographic standpoint. Yes, we will make fun of UConn somehow being in both the Big East and Pac-12 at the same time, but football-only for UConn is honestly a way easier geographic situation than, say, USF joining the Pac-12 for all-sports.
I would say that Memphis all-sports is more valuable than UConn football-only, but if you take a step back, are Tulane, USF and UTSA really any more valuable brand-wise than UConn football-only, particularly when UConn is probably adding 1-2 P4 home games per year to the TV package? Everyone needs to put aside their image of on-the-field UConn football performance and look at the branding and TV metrics."
This guy is smart.
Things I think many people are missing:
1) there is no financial ramification to adding UConn outside a media/CFP split, which you have to pay any new member. No exit fees, no travel subsidy, etc
2) the average casual fan is not going to significantly decouple UConn's football brand from the basketball brand, especially if we continue our upward trajectory in football
3) the PAC would presumably get the football media rights for our non-con home games, which over the next 5 years include Ole Miss, UNC, Indiana, Maryland, Duke, Cuse, Pitt, JMU, etc. Sure some may go away due to the new conference schedule, butw e have shown we can schedule big time home and homes at UConn, and that will only grow with a solid conference home. We had a H+H with Michigan in the AAC, what's to say we can't do that again after a few years of winning in the PAC?
4) currently the PAC has no way to offer a 12pm EST time slot to a media partner outside a Colorado St or Utah St home game starting at 10am local - obviously there's some value in at least having an option there
5) this is the most geographically sensible move left, despite it seeming kind of silly, because non-rev sports travel to Spokane instead of the eastern seaboard
