OT: Realignment?

[MJ1]

It’s all about the money, Texas makes around 33 million from football in Big 12 and will make in excess of 50 million (projected) in SEC and then there is the Longhorn network on ESPN and the SEC contract is moving from CBS to ESPN. Perfect storm. $$$$

 

[djct1999]

The Big 12's decisions resulted in catastrophic failure for those schools. So I would be careful about using it as justification for anything.

Define failure. The big 12 was doomed since the first round. The fact they were able to last this long is a victory onto itself. There was never a real chance Texas was going to stay beyond 2025.

 

[Jbirdp5]

The Big 12's decisions resulted in catastrophic failure for those schools. So I would be careful about using it as justification for anything.

So if they had added Cincinnati and another school last time around they would not have lost Texas and Oklahoma?

 

[aburks41]

Big 10 will move to 16 teams looking to add Virginia from ACC and possibly Kansas from Big 12. It just keeps getting crazier.

If UVA leaves the ACC that means a spot is open. I will lose it if some undeserving Big 12 team gets that spot and we don’t. I’m happy in the Big East, but if we have a shot to get into one of the 4 power conferences, we have to do it. Who knows what will happen if 10 years down the road those conferences ditch the NCAA and suddenly UConn doesn’t even exist in the college basketball market anymore.

 

[Jbirdp5]

If UVA leaves the ACC that means a spot is open. I will lose it if some undeserving Big 12 team gets that spot and we don’t. I’m happy in the Big East, but if we have a shot to get into one of the 4 power conferences, we have to do it. Who knows what will happen if 10 years down the road those conferences ditch the NCAA and suddenly UConn doesn’t even exist in the college basketball market anymore.

While I share many of your concerns, I would make the argument that college basketball will still exist because the ncaa tournament is such a money maker abs people love the mid majors and that adds to it. Basketball is always going to have an avenue to the tournament, the overall health of the athletic department being outside of the power 5 is a different story.

 

[djct1999]

While I share many of your concerns, I would make the argument that college basketball will still exist because the ncaa tournament is such a money maker abs people love the mid majors and that adds to it. Basketball is always going to have an avenue to the tournament, the overall health of the athletic department being outside of the power 5 is a different story.

I agree. Besides, the g league already exists. There is g league for football is the SEC.

 

[Chuck]

If UVA leaves the ACC that means a spot is open. I will lose it if some undeserving Big 12 team gets that spot and we don’t. I’m happy in the Big East, but if we have a shot to get into one of the 4 power conferences, we have to do it. Who knows what will happen if 10 years down the road those conferences ditch the NCAA and suddenly UConn doesn’t even exist in the college basketball market anymore.

During the past expansions, I checked this and other boards constantly hoping for the best. This time, I'm watching with interest, but not stress. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of confidence in UConn's chances of getting into a P4. Our best chance would probably be the ACC, but they are on record as making it clear that they need to concentrate on football. Their basketball has struggled a bit, but is still strong enough and our former Big East mates have brought nothing to the table on the whole, and especially in football. It looks like RE is righting the ship a bit on the recruiting side, but we still suck and there are much better options out there than UConn.

If we can't get a seat at the table, I'm hoping that the big guys all start eating their young and you wind up with a couple hands full of teams that get the lion's share. They either start their own mega-league for football only, or tell their conference bottom feeders that they are only getting a small share going forward. That would make the Big East a perfectly viable place for UConn to excel in everything that isn't football, and football could probably do fine as an independent.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If UVA leaves the ACC that means a spot is open. I will lose it if some undeserving Big 12 team gets that spot and we don’t. I’m happy in the Big East, but if we have a shot to get into one of the 4 power conferences, we have to do it. Who knows what will happen if 10 years down the road those conferences ditch the NCAA and suddenly UConn doesn’t even exist in the college basketball market anymore.

There is a scenario where this ends up with just 30-40 schools playing big time college sports and everyone else is D2 or maybe college athletics simply ends for all other schools because there is no point in competing with the SEC+.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

If UVA leaves the ACC that means a spot is open. I will lose it if some undeserving Big 12 team gets that spot and we don’t. I’m happy in the Big East, but if we have a shot to get into one of the 4 power conferences, we have to do it. Who knows what will happen if 10 years down the road those conferences ditch the NCAA and suddenly UConn doesn’t even exist in the college basketball market anymore.

Uva and unc to big 10 has come up before and is extremely unlikely...$50m is a bit of an issue.

Clemson and FSU to SEC was the last concern that helped with the increased exit fee, but I don't see the ACC losing anyone at this point

UVA board is adamant ACC wouldn't add a school like WVU and someone responded "we took louisville and VT"...good stuff

 

[tcf15]

The case for the AAC to go on the conference realignment offensive with the Big 12 in flux

Back in May, prior to news of a potential 12-team College Football Playoff that would include access for all 10 FBS leagues, the AAC’s Board of Directors sent an eight-page letter to the Autonomy 5 (the official name of the Power 5) conferences to request that the AAC be included as an autonomy conference, a designation which it felt it was “unreasonably” excluded from.

 

[CL82]

The case for the AAC to go on the conference realignment offensive with the Big 12 in flux

Back in May, prior to news of a potential 12-team College Football Playoff that would include access for all 10 FBS leagues, the AAC’s Board of Directors sent an eight-page letter to the Autonomy 5 (the official name of the Power 5) conferences to request that the AAC be included as an autonomy conference, a designation which it felt it was “unreasonably” excluded from.

Well, if they sent an eight page letter it’s obvious that they should be taken seriously.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I wonder how long until the conferences realize that they don’t need to be splitting their revenue with the wake forrrests, vanderbilts and northwesterns of the world. Media markets mean nothing anymore, it’s all about fan bases.

FWIW, Nashville is one of the largest media markets in the SEC footprint (only Atlanta and Gainesville/Orlando are bigger). But No one here in Nashville watches Vanderbilt football, this city only cares about University of Tennessee. The Vandy stadium is filled with 80% of visiting fans every game. Not going to be long until Bama and LSU realize that they shouldn’t be getting the same revenue split as them and cut the cord on them.

I'd say there is a difference between Vandy, Wake and Northwestern and say, I don't know, BCU?

SEC fans like Vandy, even before the city blew up as an entertainment destination, because it was an easy trip for many of them, they could buy cheap tickets and the football game is usually an easy win. Plus, outside football Vandy is competitive in plenty of other sports. I think the same is true for Wake and Northwestern. Fans in the ACC and B1G are accustomed to easy trips for away games and not much competition. Those three small privates are geographically centralized too. Now, starting from scratch in 2021, they probably don't fit as well. But, they aren't going anywhere.

BCU brings nothing to the ACC. Same could probably be said for Pitt. They are geographic outliers who don't bring any excitement to the fan base and don't give the conferences anything close compared to what they take.

Same for Kansas St, Wash St. and a few others.

 

[Chin Diesel]

In other news, water is wet.

Of course the remaining 8 shcools would rather be attached with USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington...... than bringing in Cincy and Houston.

Again, I'll have more faith in this when I hear the PAC is reaching out to the remaining 8.

 

[Rico444]

I'm just glad we don't have to stress about this (at least for this go-around). There's no chance we're looking for a new conference after just having moved to the Big East.

 

[Northbound]

They were actually good when I was there. The Glen Mason era. But yes, they have mostly been bad. I'm simply saying, they aren't going to go independent in football and would have no interest in playing in an east coast based league, whether Big East or ACC. The few middling midwestern terms in the Big East aren't of interest to those fans. Creighton is close and they've played only 16 times, before last year the last time was 1974, also in the tournament. Kansas fans view them the way we view Memphis. Not interesting.

The Mangino era was the peak - KU’s football highs have been higher than UConn football’s highs, sadly.

Now Mangino isn’t a great guy - but he left KU with more W’a than L’s.

 

[UofCT]

I'm just glad we don't have to stress about this (at least for this go-around). There's no chance we're looking for a new conference after just having moved to the Big East.

We might not be looking but if the Big10 needs to respond to the Super SEC I’m sure we pick up that phone call

 

[Fatroony5]

I'm just glad we don't have to stress about this (at least for this go-around). There's no chance we're looking for a new conference after just having moved to the Big East.

If UConn had the chance to join the ACC or Big 10 somehow throughout this whole process, they would do it. Football is the driving force behind every decision, it pains me to say it, but basketball is irrelevant. I mean look at Baylor, they just won a title and their future is very uncertain. Who knows how it’ll all shake out, but everyone is scrambling and looking over their shoulder. The fallout could be monstrous and I wouldn’t rule anything out in terms of what these power conferences do next so every school wants to get in to ensure it’s place going forward.

 

[Rico444]

We might not be looking but if the Big10 needs to respond to the Super SEC I’m sure we pick up that phone call

If UConn had the chance to join the ACC or Big 10 somehow throughout this whole process, they would do it. Football is the driving force behind every decision, it pains me to say it, but basketball is irrelevant. I mean look at Baylor, they just won a title and their future is very uncertain. Who knows how it’ll all shake out, but everyone is scrambling and looking over their shoulder. The fallout could be monstrous and I wouldn’t rule anything out in terms of what these power conferences do next so every school wants to get in to ensure it’s place going forward.

I agree it would be great to end up in the ACC/B1G, but I would be surprised if that happens. We've had our chances and weren't deemed valuable enough. I can't imagine anything has changed, and now that we're in a great basketball conference and football seems to be making scheduling work as an independent, I'm not as desperate to find a new home as I was 3 years ago. If it happens, great! I just have my doubts it will.

 

[CL82]

I'm just glad we don't have to stress about this (at least for this go-around). There's no chance we're looking for a new conference after just having moved to the Big East.

If we are not looking for a seat at the big boy Benedict isn’t doing his job.

But I agree it is good to be in a stable conference situation for a change.

 

[Rico444]

If we are not looking for a seat at the big boy Benedict isn’t doing his job.

But I agree it is good to be in a stable conference situation for a change.

Yeah, I meant more 'we' as fans.

 

[SoFla Steve]

It looks to me like the ACC is turning into the old BE. Football-first schools vs hoops-first schools may yet tear that conference apart.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree it would be great to end up in the ACC/B1G, but I would be surprised if that happens. We've had our chances and weren't deemed valuable enough. I can't imagine anything has changed, and now that we're in a great basketball conference and football seems to be making scheduling work as an independent, I'm not as desperate to find a new home as I was 3 years ago. If it happens, great! I just have my doubts it will.

A lot has changed. As I posted on a different thread, cable markets are now nearly irrelevant. Those metrics are out the window. Now it is size of fanbase and brand recognition. We are very much more interesting now. And yes, even WBB matters, because it drives the brand and eyeballs. Football is king of course but filling out your streaming services with stuff people will watch is now more important than it was.

You can look at a school like Cinci that has a decent football team and basketball, but their brand recognition sucks. Nobody outside Cincinnati cares about them.

 

[aburks41]

It looks to me like the ACC is turning into the old BE. Football-first schools vs hoops-first schools may yet tear that conference apart.

Unless the CFP format changes, Clemson and FSU (when they don’t suck) have zero reason to move. Why would they go to a loaded SEC and battle 5 teams for 1 spot when they can walk through the ACC and basically be guaranteed a spot every single year.
Now if the SEC and Big 10 try to strong arm the NCAA and create their own thing, then that would obviously be the next step.

Realistically, conferences need to be split up for basketball and football. They would make way more money having super conferences in football and separate super conferences in basketball

 

[auror]

A lot has changed. As I posted on a different thread, cable markets are now nearly irrelevant. Those metrics are out the window. Now it is size of fanbase and brand recognition. We are very much more interesting now. And yes, even WBB matters, because it drives the brand and eyeballs. Football is king of course but filling out your streaming services with stuff people will watch is now more important than it was.

You can look at a school like Cinci that has a decent football team and basketball, but their brand recognition sucks. Nobody outside Cincinnati cares about them.

I don't think this scenario improves our chances. We were in the 33rd largest DMA and within possible influencing distance of #1 and #9.

Now we have to rely on size of our brand and alumni base. We aren't in the top 50 for largest public universities. Casual fans are more likely to turn into a women's game if it's UConn, but they're not going to buy an app or sign up for a streaming service to watch them. We have the 17th most basketball fans on KenPom (a decent proxy of niche/hardcore fandom numbers). You need hardcore fans to move the needle, and those are much more likely to be football fans. And our football brand is toilet.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don't think this scenario improves our chances. We were in the 33rd largest DMA and within possible influencing distance of #1 and #9.

Now we have to rely on size of our brand and alumni base. We aren't in the top 50 for largest public universities. Casual fans are more likely to turn into a women's game if it's UConn, but they're not going to buy an app or sign up for a streaming service to watch them. You need hardcore fans to move the needle, and those are much more likely to be football fans. And our football brand is toilet.

I get that, but Hartford is perceived as smaller than it is. And it’s tough to sell the NYC reach via Fairfield even if it exists.

Play Family Feud with these questions.
Name a college football team
Name a college basketball team
Name a women’s college basketball team

The mean have a shot at being on the end of the second list. The women are #1 with a bullet on the third. Moreso than Alabama is for question 1. Wake Forest? Not in the top 50 on any of those three. BC? Nope. Iowa State? Yes the alumni size is weak for UConn. But the brand is not.