OT: Realignment?

[metsfan2323]

You need hardcore fans to move the needle, and those are much more likely to be football fans. And our football brand is toilet.

Football would spring back to life fast with an upgrade, Fan interest would spark literally overnight, 2003 on steroids. The hard part that takes time is the infrastructure for football and we already have that.

 

[SoFla Steve]

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

Oddly, from most of what I'm reading, it isn't Clemson and FSU being discussed. It's Virginia and UNC! Doesn't make sense to me.

As others had said, at least it's nice to watch this madness from the sidelines this time.

 

[auror]

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.

Your premise is off, because the measurement of concern is not national brand recognition, it's size of hardcore fanbase. The two are nominally linked insofar as you can convert some number of fringe aware people into hardcore fans, but local culture plays a much bigger role than casual recognition.

It's also not that our DMA was great, it's that our hardcore fanbase is almost assuredly ranked even worse since our football program generates us basically 0 additional fans.

 

[bendm]

Baylor’s statement - “For our state, it is critical to our economy and Texas’ overall reputation to maintain five “Power Five” institutions, reinforcing the Lone Star State’s athletic preeminence.”

Like rats clinging to driftwood after a shipwreck yet they don’t miss an opportunity to try and exclude houston and smu from a future power conference they might not even be a part of. I love the nerve on display.

 

[aburks41]

Oddly, from most of what I'm reading, it isn't Clemson and FSU being discussed. It's Virginia and UNC! Doesn't make sense to me.

As others had said, at least it's nice to watch this madness from the sidelines this time.

UNC and UVA are in the Big 10 talks. They would never ever ever go to the SEC. Academics are too important for them. Vanderbilt and UF are the outliers, not the norm.

 

[Ha Who]

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

Years ago I read an article I can’t find. They followed SEC football players years after “graduation”. The gist was they wasted an opportunity to take an advantage of their college education and were broke. I wish I could find it. Perhaps the NIL will change that

 

[CL82]

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

Arguably though, we were pretty interesting then with the 33rd largest market in the country and a foothold in the largest cable market in the country.

 

[Tiamat7]

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.

The fundamental problem is that your 3rd question about Women's College Basketball, is not even on the radar of most people in the country. So no matter how tremendous UConn women are, the market size simply doesn't move the needle.

 

[bendm]

Texas Lawmakers File Bill to Block Longhorns From Leaving Big 12 for SEC

 

[uconnfan68]

Texas Lawmakers File Bill to Block Longhorns From Leaving Big 12 for SEC

Imagine being 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) fiddle to Alabama. I feel for true Texans… not.

 

[UCDaveD]

Texas Lawmakers File Bill to Block Longhorns From Leaving Big 12 for SEC

“House Bill 298 — filed by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock— has more than 30 co-authors but is effectively a symbolic move to express the lawmakers’ displeasure. The bill is unrelated to any of the topics placed on Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session agenda, which means it’s ineligible to be passed into law”

 

[aburks41]

The fundamental problem is that your 3rd question about Women's College Basketball, is not even on the radar of most people in the country. So no matter how tremendous UConn women are, the market size simply doesn't move the needle.

College hockey (on average) brings in more money than womens basketball. And even the most dominant hockey program in the country does nothing in terms of leveraging an offer from a power conference.

 

[superjohn]

College hockey (on average) brings in more money than womens basketball. And even the most dominant hockey program in the country does nothing in terms of leveraging an offer from a power conference.

Neither move the needle but UConn women's basketball has a much larger fanbase than any hockey program in the country.

 

[huskymedic]

Texas Lawmakers File Bill to Block Longhorns From Leaving Big 12 for SEC

 

[B1GEast]

All of a sudden, the ACC feals like the original Big East and I'm loving it. What goes around cones around and their original members like UVA and UNC are all looking out for themselves.

I think Uconn to the ACC, if they get raided, might make sense as strangely enough, we'll be reunited with the schools that didn't want us. BC, Pitt and Syracuse.

This is all very ironic and weird. Of course, it's also possible that we go no where, but that's what poor leadership gets you.

They had plenty of time to fix football and hiring Paul Pasqualoni and his exhaustive playbook put Uconn back 10 years.

 

[wheelerdog]

We’re not going anywhere

 

[Adios]

Disco's recruiting set the program back. We can easily have a competitive football program again. Done it before.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

I hope we stay in the Big East and we most likely will anyway. Big East is the only conference who actually wanted us. F the ACC.

 

[WestHartHusk]

I hope we stay in the Big East and we most likely will anyway. Big East is the only conference who actually wanted us. F the ACC.

I’d love to go somewhere else, but am also fine in the Big East.

Big East should at least contact a few Big12 schools and try to sell our model. KU and WVU would probably be the only ones I’d reach out to.

 

[UCDaveD]

Nobody wants UConn football. None of these rumors change that.

 

[CL82]

The fundamental problem is that your 3rd question about Women's College Basketball, is not even on the radar of most people in the country. So no matter how tremendous UConn women are, the market size simply doesn't move the needle.

And yet the UConn women have out drawn other major sporting events including many men’s games and some pro games. Someone must be watching it.

 

[The Viking]

Ummmm yes. Did the SEC add Texas because they have been a .500 football team the past decade or because they have one of the best fan bases in CFB? Fan bases = money. All that matters is money. WVU would add more eyeballs to the Big10 or ACC product than the bottom tier of either conference currently bring them.

Would ESPN rather show WVU vs Pittsburgh in primetime or Wake Forrest vs Pittsburgh? Would FOX rather show WVU vs Penn State or Illinois vs Penn State? WVU totally increases the interest level in any match-up they get put into which means more eyeballs, which means more money for the league to get next time media contracts are negotiated.

The Big 10 will add UConn before it adds WVU. And believe me I'm not suggesting they will add UConn.

 

[HuskyHawk]

And yet the UConn women have out drawn other major sporting events including many men’s games and some pro games. Someone must be watching it.

The argument that it’s irrelevant is as outdated as worrying about cable media markets. A colleague of mine moved to the Boston area from Austin. Her 11 year old daughter is a huge UConn basketball fan. From Texas. First thing she wanted to do was go to Storrs to see them. I really don’t think there is a college sports team aside from maybe Notre Dame football that has a broader fan base. Are they rabid? No, they are casual and that’s the downfall. But in a national streaming format, which is where we are headed, the sheer volume matters. The UConn women would outdraw over half the men’s teams nationally. Easy.

No idea how this shakes out. But I think they are a relevant advantage in this climate. Need football to be semi ok and need Hurley to get us into the top 25.

 

[BigTenFan]

The Big 10 will add UConn before it adds WVU. And believe me I'm not suggesting they will add UConn.

Big Ten will look to Barry Alvarez for guidance- one of the sharpest minds on College Football

 

[Salty Dog]

I hope we stay in the Big East and we most likely will anyway. Big East is the only conference who actually wanted us. F the ACC.

ACC is getting raided next.