Rumor- UCONN Pursuing ACC Membership?

[Bongo Fury]

You should convince UMass fans to care before bothering us. They are averaging like 3500 fans per game this year, and haven't been over 50% capacity since 2013.

With success will come fans. Many still talk of the Calipari Camby days as if it were recent times. They were selling out. Kinda like UConn football.

 

[UCFBfan]

Teams are moving conferences right now so it wouldn't surprise me if UConn was knocking on some doors to see if there is any interest. I could be wrong, but I don't see the ACC adding schools in the near future. All that said, I really can't see the ACC holding together when the GORs expire or if someone successfully challenges them. Some schools would get a lifeline from the Big 10 or SEC, but there might not be room in the Big 12 down the road, the next best option. Could be a tough conference future for schools like S thense, BC, Louisville, Pitt, VT,... Would they be proactive?

My only thought on this is if the Big 12 adds the 4 corner schools from the PAC 12. It would now light leave a P4 (still really a P2) and only the ACC would not be at 16. One would think that they'd want to at least keep up with size and I'm going to think ESPN would want to keep FSU and Clemson happy and increase per team amounts

 

[dayooper]

My only thought on this is if the Big 12 adds the 4 corner schools from the PAC 12. It would now light leave a P4 (still really a P2) and only the ACC would not be at 16. One would think that they'd want to at least keep up with size and I'm going to think ESPN would want to keep FSU and Clemson happy and increase per team amounts

Why does ESPN want to keep FSU and Clemson happy? The GOR keeps them in the ACC and no network will pay enough for other conferences to expand with them. FSU and Clemson are stuck in the ACC. It doesn’t matter whether they are happy or not. ESPN won’t give any more money to the ACC.

 

[Viet Vet]

Expansion is not about TV sets anymore, it is about brands. Why? Your conference has to be ready for streaming and the number of TV sets in your state will not matter but the number of fans willing to subscribe to view your games will.

Unfortunately, UMass does not register at all in the Boston area. Then again, no college team registers in the Boston area.

On a side note, UConn is closer to Boston and an easier drive than Amherst.

Boston is a “pro” town. College sports are all but ignored, EXCEPT hockey.

 

[metsfan2323]

Boston is a “pro” town. College sports are all but ignored, EXCEPT hockey.

Please, Mass fans are no different than CT fans, they come out in droves when you are good and spend their money elsewhere when you stink. UMASS basketball had a huge following when Calipari was there and they had that huge following in a lame mid major conference.

 

[CL82]

Please, Mass fans are no different than CT fans, they come out in droves when you are good and spend their money elsewhere when you stink. UMASS basketball had a huge following when Calipari was there and they had that huge following in a lame mid major conference.

Lol, the Squid isn’t coming back to Amherst. If the best argument you have about a UMass having fan support is from nearly 30 years ago, you really don’t have one.

That said, maybe the effort of talking about it here is misplaced. The people you need to convince that UMass has the potential to be a big-time team are in Massachusetts not in Connecticut. I wish you luck.

 

[Hoophound]

Lol, the Squid isn’t coming back to Amherst. If the best argument you have about a UMass having fan support is from nearly 30 years ago, you really don’t have one.

That said, maybe the effort of talking about it here is misplaced. The people you need to convince that UMass has the potential to be a big-time team are in Massachusetts not in Connecticut. I wish you luck.

Atlantic 10 basketball is pretty good. UMass should draw better. I don’t think it helps that UConn and PC are good. It just makes it harder for them to get support. New Englanders are front runners. You gotta win to get support.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Please, Mass fans are no different than CT fans, they come out in droves when you are good and spend their money elsewhere when you stink. UMASS basketball had a huge following when Calipari was there and they had that huge following in a lame mid major conference.

Just stop - they "came out" for like 3 years twenty years ago.

 

[noeynox]

Atlantic 10 basketball is pretty good. UMass should draw better. I don’t think it helps that UConn and PC are good. It just makes it harder for them to get support. New Englanders are front runners. You gotta win to get support.

I don't think people going to UConn and PC games now would go to UMass games if those programs were struggling and UMass got hot. Fan bases just don't overlap like that. I'm with the guys saying if you have to point to Camby and Cal, that was a long time ago. Much longer ago than our than when our football beat ND. Singular events like that our virtually meaningless today.

 

[CL82]

Atlantic 10 basketball is pretty good. UMass should draw better. I don’t think it helps that UConn and PC are good. It just makes it harder for them to get support. New Englanders are front runners. You gotta win to get support.

On the other hand, are UMass fans driving the Storrs and Providence to support those teams? Probably not. The issue isn’t that they are enamored with Connecticut and Providence; the issue is that they don’t care about UMass.

Fully agree about the front running thing though. Job one for Massachusetts is to have some success on the court. If you can’t do that, nothing else matters.

 

[Hoophound]

I don't think people going to UConn and PC games now would go to UMass games if those programs were struggling and UMass got hot. Fan bases just don't overlap like that. I'm with the guys saying if you have to point to Camby and Cal, that was a long time ago. Much longer ago than our than when our football beat ND. Singular events like that our virtually meaningless today.

On the other hand, are UMass fans driving the Storrs and Providence to support those teams? Probably not. The issue isn’t that they are enamored with Connecticut and Providence; the issue is that they don’t care about UMass.

Fully agree about the front running thing though. Job one for Massachusetts is to have some success on the court. If you can’t do that, nothing else matters.

My point is more about being front runners. Massachusetts people aren’t going to go hard for a lousy UMass team. That would be embarrassing as UConn and PC run circles around them. They’d rather just hide or cheer for some other team somewhere. No fun to be a fan of a loser, especially when your successful enemies live right down the street. New Englanders are shameless. They’ll drop their team like it’s nothing when it stinks.

 

[CL82]

My point is more about being front runners. Massachusetts people aren’t going to go hard for a lousy UMass team. That would be embarrassing as UConn and PC run circles around them. They’d rather just hide or cheer for some other team somewhere. No fun to be a fan of a loser, especially when your successful enemies live right down the street. New Englanders are shameless. They’ll drop their team like it’s nothing when it stinks.

Shrugs. I’m a native New Englander and I support UConn through the bad times, as well as the good.

Regardless, the whole oh golly if UMass was a better team, they would have more support point always seems an empty one to me. Job one is that UMass needs to improve. All the talk about how they can be conference realignment, superstars or fill their stadium is meaningless before that happens.

 

[hardcorehusky]

UMass somehow still gets about 8K to McGuirk for a football game and they have been terrible for a long time. They have a hardcore base - just like UConn. However, they need to upgrade facilities and get better on the field just to get into any conversation. If the bones aren't there, no conference would look at them to fill a spot.

 

[Kolumbo]

I don't even try to understand CR but anyway.

If it pleased espn, would the ACC be in a position to rise to the level of the P2? If so, espn could open its wallet to make the ACC one of the top 3 destinations and everyone would be happy. It would need some more programs so which programs would make sense.

Otherwise it seems espn will just hold the ACC hostage on the "cheap." Even that doesn't make sense though because the programs in the ACC would most likely perform better if they knew everyone was all in instead of trying to get out of a GOR.

Meanwhile, espn destroyed the Big East only to park programs in a doomed ACC.

Only explanation I see is short term profits.

 

[Ldandy]

ESPN is in no way compelled to do anything with The ACC at this point in time. They own them lock, stock, and barrel for the next decade+. When their GOR is close to its end they'll work to move their most valuable pieces to The SEC while sacrificing a handful of others to Fox/CBS/NBC. The leftovers will likely reform a new ACC padded with a handful of G5 Schools that are all under a new contract paying them pennies on the dollar of what was available in media rights a decade prior. It sucks for the teams with actual value now like Clemson, FSU, and UNC who are grossly underpaid, and it will suck for the leftovers a decade from now when they are treated like ESPN's new and improved AAC.

 

[UCFBfan]

ESPN is in no way compelled to do anything with The ACC at this point in time. They own them lock, stock, and barrel for the next decade+. When their GOR is close to its end they'll work to move their most valuable pieces to The SEC while sacrificing a handful of others to Fox/CBS/NBC. The leftovers will likely reform a new ACC padded with a handful of G5 Schools that are all under a new contract paying them pennies on the dollar of what was available in media rights a decade prior. It sucks for the teams with actual value now like Clemson, FSU, and UNC who are grossly underpaid, and it will suck for the leftovers a decade from now when they are treated like ESPN's new and improved AAC.

There's no way some of those schools stick for a decade at the price they are being paid versus the current market rate. No way Clemson stays happy with making closer to what Tulane makes than what Rutgers makes. ESPN can sit around with the ACC as is and think their GOR will keep it all together but something is going to give. There's just no way some of those big name schools will continue to sit by as they watch their SEC and B1G neighbors triple or quadruple the ACC schools income in a two/three year span.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

UConn continues to be an excellent fit for the ACC, let's see it happen!

 

[Ldandy]

There's no way some of those schools stick for a decade at the price they are being paid versus the current market rate. No way Clemson stays happy with making closer to what Tulane makes than what Rutgers makes. ESPN can sit around with the ACC as is and think their GOR will keep it all together but something is going to give. There's just no way some of those big name schools will continue to sit by as they watch their SEC and B1G neighbors triple or quadruple the ACC schools income in a two/three year span.

Clemson can be as unhappy as they want. At the end of the day they signed the same deal that everyone else in the conference did and they’re bound by the same terms.

Sure, they can leave to the tune of several hundred million dollars, but where are they going to go? It might be a bit tricky getting into their dream conference when those media rights are completely controlled by ESPN as well.

You’re right that it’s completely ridiculous that FSU makes roughly a third of what Rutgers or Missouri do, but that’s their problem not the bottom feeders of The B1G and SEC.

 

[ZooCougar]

LOL at the idea of exit fees stopping us.

With our luck we get into the ACC as it is falling apart.

 

[CL82]

UMass somehow still gets about 8K to McGuirk for a football game and they have been terrible for a long time. They have a hardcore base - just like UConn. However, they need to upgrade facilities and get better on the field just to get into any conversation. If the bones aren't there, no conference would look at them to fill a spot.

Wow, 8K for football?! I’m surprised the SEC hasn’t snapped them up.

 

[shizzle787]

There is a rumor on CSNBBS that us and UMass are contemplating joining the MAC for football-only. I don't buy it, and I think it would be a terrible idea.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

LOL at the idea of exit fees stopping us.

With our luck we get into the ACC as it is falling apart.

We'd get into the ACC BECAUSE it is falling apart.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

it's kind of scary to continually read here the silliness on acc's ills, as they don't exist.
i've always believed that it would be our best possible move as we would go upscale, they may find a business reason to do it, and it doesn't feel forced or artificial for either party.
here's an example of how truly bad the 'acc est morte' thinking is.
Conference revenues vary in '20-21 amid COVID

it's all aboot money, football money. the big east is a revenue rounding error as to the money league that the acc is.

the 'south' is the number one population region of the country, and it's shifting into overdrive. from the looks of the money and covid thing in the article, the people there (customers) also don't seem to worry much, either.
very attractive.
acc-bringing in the jingle to a tune of around $600m per year.
good thing we're an Atlantic coast state.

 

[Kolumbo]

Rumor? Really? Here's a rumor:

Folks smoked weed at woodstock
Kids like $2 brewskis at basketball games

 

[WestHartHusk]

Rumor? Really? Here's a rumor:

Folks smoked weed at woodstock
Kids like $2 brewskis at basketball games

So…we are in the ACC then?