Report: Big 12 Would Take Cincinnati/UConn Before Others

[NYUConn]

Um, considering we drew twice UCONN's crowd multiple times this year, I don't think you want to have this discussion.

The fact that your stadium had so many empty seats during The American title game was an unbelievable embarrassment.

 

[Sportsman5]

Why do so many people not get this. Oklahoma wants to recruit students not football players, and they see New England as the top recruiting ground in the country for students (which it is). They want to bump their academic profile nationally. That's the pitch here. UConn brings a national brand and access to much better TV markets and a strong pipeline of kids who will be exposed to those schools. Houston does nothing for them. Nothing.

As someone who came from CT (and UConn) to Kansas University Law School, I can tell you they viewed that as a win for them. Northeastern kids readily look to Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, North Carolina, UVA etc., but don't look at Big 12 schools.

thank you for reinforcing this. The presidents of universities are making the realignment decisions and they care about marketing their school and cash-flow. Football matters because good football teams generate money and good football matchups generate exposure for the schools playing in the game.

However, there are a lot of other factors that generate money and exposure to potential students. Getting out-of-state students to come and pay out-of-state tuition is huge for the bottom line of state schools and attracting students from the wealthiest and best educated population in the country is enormously important for them.

Cable box subscriptions and exposure to lots of new eyeballs with high household incomes will lead to lots of additional cash for a conference and it's member schools.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

True fans show up no matter the opponent. That's nothing more than an excuse that anybody can use.

Which most schools use.

 

[Redding Husky]

Geography is our Achille's heel. He said UConn is closer to Iceland.

Maybe he's getting us confused with Yukon. We should move the main campus to Avery Point and call it "South Beach". That would be better for marketing purposes. Image is everything.

 

[Cougar Hippy]

The fact that your stadium had so many empty seats during The American title game was an unbelievable embarrassment.

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

 

[uconndogs]

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

Good lord! This again.

Yawkee Way out of Dixie.............

 

[4in16]

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

Do a search for images of the crowd for that game and come on back.

 

[SAMCRO]

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

Yup, it was such an embarrassment that UConn's opponent that game seems to be the one advocating the most for UConn to join the league.

 

[NYUConn]

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

Dude it was your home stadium on campus.

We had more fans show up 2600 miles away in Arizona.

 

[BoatShow]

 

[BoatShow]

Saying "You guys stunk at the Fiesta Bowl" is like saying " Your model wife isn't that hot"

 

[pick6s]

I have no inside knowledge but have done some significant research on this topic. Here are my conclusions:

-UConn's best chance at a Power-5 invitation will come within the next 18 months or so. That's because the Big Ten's tv contract will expire at the end of the next basketball season (spring 2017). They will probably be interested in expanding prior to the new contract. Maryland and Rutgers have been a massive success for the conference financially (see link at the bottom) and that's what expansion is really about. It has very little to do with athletic success, including football.

-The Big Ten Network's president has said, "We're looking west of Nebraska to make sure people can see the kind of games we can offer". The only candidate I see west of Nebraska is Colorado. None of the other Big 12 schools are really west of Nebraska, with the exception of Texas Tech which has no shot. Other PAC-12 schools are too far away. Grant of Rights/Exit Fees could be an issue.

-Top candidates for expansion include UVA and UNC. The fallout could be massive (or might not be) and might doom the ACC and/or Big 12 (or it might just be a minor shakeup depending on what UNC and others decide).

-Why would legislators in Virginia let UVA split from VA Tech? Because the Hokies will get into the SEC, and thus each school's revenue will substantially increase. The same can be said for UNC and NC State.

-Where does UConn stand? UConn is in a good-but-not-great position. The good? Our location. The bad? Not being in the AAU.

-Our biggest issue will be that we are not part of the AAU. All current Big Ten schools are part of the AAU (except Nebraska which had been part of the AAU at the time of its invitation). Rutgers and Maryland are AAU members and that reportedly helped convince certain Big Ten members to take them. Possible expansion candidates that are in the AAU include UVA, UNC, Duke, GA Tech, Kansas, and Colorado. In my opinion, the only non-AAU schools who have a chance of getting into the Big Ten are Notre Dame and UConn. Notre Dame is known as a very strong academic school. UConn isn't bad either though it isn't on the same level as Notre Dame.

-Our biggest strength is that we bring a chunk of the New York market and we are also close to Boston. Adding UConn would cement NYC as Big Ten territory. It would also draw interest from folks in Boston- one of the biggest media-markets in the country- and depending on the fate of the ACC, Boston might even partially become Big Ten territory (especially if the ACC falls apart and BC gets relegated to the American or a similar conference). As a bonus, Hartford-New Haven is the 30th largest media-market in the country.

-Assuming the conference expands, 16, 18, and 20 teams would could work. You could make a schedule where you play every team at least once every three years.

interesting article: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/20...t-ohio-state-big-ten-network-maryland-rutgers

 

[rich1122]

Home attendance won't be a problem if we end up in the B12 (or any P5 conference).

Home attendance will always be a problem.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Home attendance will always be a problem.

No it won't--we have the data to prove it. When we've played home games against meaningful opponents, we've sold out the Rent. From 2007-2010 you couldn't get a ticket to a home game.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

No it won't--we have the data to prove it. When we've played home games against meaningful opponents, we've sold out the Rent. From 2007-2010 you couldn't get a ticket to a home game.

2005 & 2006 were tough tickets and we were terrible. Thankfully rich is wrong with just about everything.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

2005 & 2006 were tough tickets and we were terrible. Thankfully rich is wrong with just about everything.

I could have paid for my entire UConn 2013 season ticket package by selling my two tickets for the Michigan game. Gut is that Texas/Oklahoma or Ohio St/Michigan/Michigan St would have the same result.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Home attendance will always be a problem.

Nah, I imagine if we end up with schools like Texas & Oklahoma or (if we end up in the B!1G) Michigan & Ohio St we should come close to filling our 25k seat stadium.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I have no inside knowledge but have done some significant research on this topic. Here are my conclusions:

-UConn's best chance at a Power-5 invitation will come within the next 18 months or so. That's because the Big Ten's tv contract will expire at the end of the next basketball season (spring 2017). They will probably be interested in expanding prior to the new contract. Maryland and Rutgers have been a massive success for the conference financially (see link at the bottom) and that's what expansion is really about. It has very little to do with athletic success, including football.

-The Big Ten Network's president has said, "We're looking west of Nebraska to make sure people can see the kind of games we can offer". The only candidate I see west of Nebraska is Colorado. None of the other Big 12 schools are really west of Nebraska, with the exception of Texas Tech which has no shot. Other PAC-12 schools are too far away. Grant of Rights/Exit Fees could be an issue.

-Top candidates for expansion include UVA and UNC. The fallout could be massive (or might not be) and might doom the ACC and/or Big 12 (or it might just be a minor shakeup depending on what UNC and others decide).

-Why would legislators in Virginia let UVA split from VA Tech? Because the Hokies will get into the SEC, and thus each school's revenue will substantially increase. The same can be said for UNC and NC State.

-Where does UConn stand? UConn is in a good-but-not-great position. The good? Our location. The bad? Not being in the AAU.

-Our biggest issue will be that we are not part of the AAU. All current Big Ten schools are part of the AAU (except Nebraska which had been part of the AAU at the time of its invitation). Rutgers and Maryland are AAU members and that reportedly helped convince certain Big Ten members to take them. Possible expansion candidates that are in the AAU include UVA, UNC, Duke, GA Tech, Kansas, and Colorado. In my opinion, the only non-AAU schools who have a chance of getting into the Big Ten are Notre Dame and UConn. Notre Dame is known as a very strong academic school. UConn isn't bad either though it isn't on the same level as Notre Dame.

-Our biggest strength is that we bring a chunk of the New York market and we are also close to Boston. Adding UConn would cement NYC as Big Ten territory. It would also draw interest from folks in Boston- one of the biggest media-markets in the country- and depending on the fate of the ACC, Boston might even partially become Big Ten territory (especially if the ACC falls apart and BC gets relegated to the American or a similar conference). As a bonus, Hartford-New Haven is the 30th largest media-market in the country.

-Assuming the conference expands, 16, 18, and 20 teams would could work. You could make a schedule where you play every team at least once every three years.

interesting article: http://www.landgrantholyland.com/20...t-ohio-state-big-ten-network-maryland-rutgers

It has been my belief for nearly half a decade that the B1G's end game is to land UVA and us (UConn) to tie up the DC-Boston corridor. It would make zero sense to pass this up. That stretch of land holds 17% of the nation's population, four exceptionally large, distinct media markets, many high wealth urban/suburban districts ad the financial/advertising/media capital of the world.

Academics have been postulating the importance of the northeast corridor for decades (I recently began a book written nearly 55 years ago; 'Megalopolis' by a geographic economist;Jean Gottman discussing the DC-Boston region and theorizing that in time it will develop into one discrete urban region, basically a mega-city.)

The future will not look kindly on the moves Swofford made during ACC expansion as he could have easily tied up the entire eastern seaboard but instead let every major flagship university north of the Mason-Dixon line slip through his fingers. If he loses Virginia his conference will be crushed.

 

[Jerry1714]

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

You broke 30k, which is 75% of your capacity 3 times in 2014, and you could not sell out every game in the best season in your programs history. Its a school with over 40k students in a city with almost 7 mill in the metro area, those attendance numbers are down right pathetic.

 

[J187Money]

The fact that your stadium had so many empty seats during The American title game was an unbelievable embarrassment.

Any empty seats.

 

[rich1122]

Nah, I imagine if we end up with schools like Texas & Oklahoma or (if we end up in the B!1G) Michigan & Ohio St we should come close to filling our 25k seat stadium.

Yes we may break 20K for Season's Tickets. Like the MI game. 50% will be Big1G fans.

 

[BoatShow]

Yes we may break 20K for Season's Tickets. Like the MI game. 50% will be Big1G fans.

OH GREAT LET US DISCUSS THIS AGAIN

 

[CL82]

Not as big of an embarrassment as UCONN's representation at the Fiesta Bowl.

Cough, cough, scoreboard.

 

[CL82]

Home attendance will always be a problem.

I could not disagree more. As we've seen against a quality opponent it is not a problem to #Filltherent.