Should ESPN tell the American to make a football only deal with UConn?

[noeynox]

I can see that. But it does not mean fans will think it is the "big time."

I get that, but there is likely more interest in seeing that among locals than most of the AAC opponents we have no history with. I think our best bet is to embrace anything that may get fans to the stadium.

 

[Hoophound]

The SOS argument is always kind of silly. We should be better so Houston can beat a better team and get a major bowl bid? That doesn’t always work out so well, it was just a few years ago they came to the Rent and we spoiled their season. At that time, UCF was a winless doormat. Sports programs come and go.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I get that, but there is likely more interest in seeing that among locals than most of the AAC opponents we have no history with. I think our best bet is to embrace anything that may get fans to the stadium.

It's not even so much the AAC as it is the AAC West. I always liked playing Cincinnati and USF in the Big East, and Temple was always a decent out of conference matchup that was local. I don't have any interest in ECU or UCF, but at least the latter has been very good as of late. The AAC West teams just bring nothing to the table for me as a football fan.

I think in a perfect would, we would stay in the AAC, Randy starts to turn the ship, and OOC we get UMass, 2 P5, and a local FCS (Nova, Maine, UNH, URI, etc.) ever year.

I do think that we could be in this league for 30 years and nobody will care about Houston, Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, Memphis or ECU.

 

[Guapo]

I do think that we could be in this league for 30 years and nobody will care about Houston, Tulsa, SMU, Tulane, Memphis or ECU.

Nor should we care

 

[jibsey]

The AAC is a good or at least decent football league right? Maybe we can recruit better players to compete in this league. We’re not independent Norte Dame where the players will come because recruits come to be on a national stage like the B1G or the SEC. it matters not if at this point we don’t like the teams we play and we would be lucky to stay in the AAC for football. Didn’t Aresco already announce no way? What if we agree to have a few more sports in the AAC like curling and badminton? That’s the ticket.

 

[Fishy]

The AAC has to show they will extract maximum pain from anyone leaving as a warning to other members thinking of leaving.

Meaningless.

No one else is leaving for anything but the P5 and there’s nothing the American can do to scare anyone away from that.

 

[auror]

They move the needle more than most AAC teams

That's not really the question, though. It's about moving the needle more than any other possible replacement.

Not a comprehensive measurement by any means, but teams outside of AAC and P5 with more Reddit CFB subreddit flairs than UConn:
Notre Dame
BYU
Army
UAB
Boise St
Appalachian St
Georgia Southern

On the same tier (but slightly below UConn) for flairs:
Western Michigan
North Texas
Ohio
San Diego St
North Dakota St.

Since the question is "Who will have more hardcore football fans to sign up and pay money for an online/app streaming service for the games", CFB subreddit self-identifying flairs is a pretty good proxy. Casual fans are unlikely to pay and subscribe unless the team is very good. A few of these schools are definitely not options for the AAC, but this at least lines up with the seemingly-random Georgia Southern talk.

For reference and context, every single P5 team has more than us, and we're 7th in the AAC behind (in order) UCF, Houston, Cincy, USF, Navy, and Temple. Memphis is behind, but has been steadily gaining on us over the last 3 years and will likely pass us shortly.

 

[upstater]

Meaningless.

No one else is leaving for anything but the P5 and there’s nothing the American can do to scare anyone away from that.

I don't see the P5 knocking on their doors, but I do wonder how long a school like Temple can hold out.

 

[pj]

Is any human being that selfish?

Yes.

 

[noeynox]

I don't see the P5 knocking on their doors, but I do wonder how long a school like Temple can hold out.

For what?

 

[Hoophound]

That's not really the question, though. It's about moving the needle more than any other possible replacement.

Not a comprehensive measurement by any means, but teams outside of AAC and P5 with more Reddit CFB subreddit flairs than UConn:
Notre Dame
BYU
Army
UAB
Boise St
Appalachian St
Georgia Southern

On the same tier (but slightly below UConn) for flairs:
Western Michigan
North Texas
Ohio
San Diego St
North Dakota St.

Since the question is "Who will have more hardcore football fans to sign up and pay money for an online/app streaming service for the games", CFB subreddit self-identifying flairs is a pretty good proxy. Casual fans are unlikely to pay and subscribe unless the team is very good. A few of these schools are definitely not options for the AAC, but this at least lines up with the seemingly-random Georgia Southern talk.

For reference and context, every single P5 team has more than us, and we're 7th in the AAC behind (in order) UCF, Houston, Cincy, USF, Navy, and Temple. Memphis is behind, but has been steadily gaining on us over the last 3 years and will likely pass us shortly.

Good info and definitely relevant. However, this is not exactly a great time for that experiment. Memphis is gaining because they are good. The other schools above us have been consistently good. If we started a season 3-0 our numbers would begin to climb dramatically. We just don’t have our average fans engaged right now. That happens when you are horrible. When Memphis was horrible they had about 2500 people at their games.

 

[upstater]

For what?

Before they cry uncle.

 

[huskyinfl]

The SOS argument is always kind of silly. We should be better so Houston can beat a better team and get a major bowl bid? That doesn’t always work out so well, it was just a few years ago they came to the Rent and we spoiled their season. At that time, UCF was a winless doormat. Sports programs come and go.

It would be silly if our last season wasn't such a statistical outlier on being one of the worst performances of all time. Since empirical data backs this thesis up it is less silly. Sure it's really not important but we complain in b ball about the tulsa and ecu being a drag but they are not setting records on being the worst.

 

[Hoophound]

I get what you are saying but my point is, every conference has an easy win or two at all times. It is cyclical. If we get better, another team will be a dog. Fortunes change quickly. We beat UCF 40-13 in 2015.

 

[noeynox]

Before they cry uncle.

Temple has a long history of FBS. These schools all accept losing money in FB. Truth is, to Temple, the AAC is like a glass of water in the dessert.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Is any human being that selfish?

I've been witnessing the boundary-pushing of human selfishness too long to find the addition of this question necessary or sensible.

 

[Slasher]

If the American wants to pay us the full $7m for just our football team then sure. Otherwise we will make more $ going independent assuming SNY steps in

This comment is just absurd, I'm sorry. You expect as an independent to get >$1M per home game? Especially when you consider that at least one of them is very likely to be against an FCS team? The reason a conference can extract more than an independent (Notre Dame and BYU not withstanding) is because for conference games they get the game regardless of where it's played. You only have rights to your home games. If you look at the likely schedule for UConn at home, it's maybe 2 quality games, an FCS game, and probably a MAC level game or two. No one is paying an average of $1.2M for those games. BYU gets around $1M per home game, but they have a national following in football and puts together a pretty darn good schedule.

 

[storrsroars]

This comment is just absurd, I'm sorry. You expect as an independent to get >$1M per home game? Especially when you consider that at least one of them is very likely to be against an FCS team? The reason a conference can extract more than an independent (Notre Dame and BYU not withstanding) is because for conference games they get the game regardless of where it's played. You only have rights to your home games. If you look at the likely schedule for UConn at home, it's maybe 2 quality games, an FCS game, and probably a MAC level game or two. No one is paying an average of $1.2M for those games. BYU gets around $1M per home game, but they have a national following in football and puts together a pretty darn good schedule.

Keep in mind that UConn is starting from a $4 mill base, not zero. Our administration is already estimating a $2 mill savings in travel across all sports. If SNY is involved, that would likely reduce outlays for production that the AAC deal would involve. So what UConn would need to make per football game is significantly less than $1.2 million to make the NBE deal a financial positive.

 

[Slasher]

Keep in mind that UConn is starting from a $4 mill base, not zero. Our administration is already estimating a $2 mill savings in travel across all sports. If SNY is involved, that would likely reduce outlays for production that the AAC deal would involve. So what UConn would need to make per football game is significantly less than $1.2 million to make the NBE deal a financial positive.

I know that, but that's not what @aburks41 was saying. He said we need full $7M from AAC or FB only isn't worth it.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Meaningless.

No one else is leaving for anything but the P5 and there’s nothing the American can do to scare anyone away from that.

Yeah the big problem is the contract is like 12 or 13 years. Even if the conference ranked up there and won 3 national titles, the money is almost nothing. This defection is 99 percent on Aresco.

 

[upstater]

Temple has a long history of FBS. These schools all accept losing money in FB. Truth is, to Temple, the AAC is like a glass of water in the dessert.

These schools have never ever lost as much money as they are losing now; it is exponential. Even the Ivy Leagues lose $7-10m. But $30-$40m in an environment in which tax subsidies are slashed and in which tuition outpaces incomes? You simply can't hold out for long, especially if you're a northeastern school.

 

[noeynox]

These schools have never ever lost as much money as they are losing now; it is exponential. Even the Ivy Leagues lose $7-10m. But $30-$40m in an environment in which tax subsidies are slashed and in which tuition outpaces incomes? You simply can't hold out for long, especially if you're a northeastern school.

Are schools losing 30 to 40 million on football alone? That doesn't seem right.

 

[Husk1881]

As far as football goes, they are going to hate what's coming even more. I mean, Liberty and UMass do nothing for me.

But did UCF and Houston do it for you? If we are gonna play teams we don’t care about we might as well win.

 

[blue93]

But did UCF and Houston do it for you? If we are gonna play teams we don’t care about we might as well win.

For the record I’m fine with football staying independent, but this is a bad take. We’ve beaten both of those schools and they’ve been ranked a lot which generates interest in itself.

If you want to make that point, I wouldn’t use the two schools that were arguably the biggest wins in the past 5 years.

 

[upstater]

But did UCF and Houston do it for you? If we are gonna play teams we don’t care about we might as well win.

Yes, actually. These teams had top end NFL talent and they were highly ranked. It is UConn's failing that these games didn't do it for the fanbase.

I remember games against Baylor and USF that were packed to the gills. This was back when UConn had a chance of winning.

What ailed UConn? Was it unexciting games against UCF and Houston? Or was it bad coaching and losing?

 

[upstater]

Are schools losing 30 to 40 million on football alone? That doesn't seem right.

Not on football alone.

But travel for all teams works into it.

Plus, I do think a really huge chunk is football.

Buffalo used to have a $10m deficit a decade ago. Then it ramped up football and the deficit ballooned to $35m.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...........

 

[kobe]

View attachment 44703

Shut up kobe.

 

[UconnU]

I don’t think ESPN cares about UConn fans but they definitely care about the *~1 billion dollar investment*~ they just made in the conference.

Imagine investing 1 billion dollars into a conference with no following at all? Terrible decision.

 

[businesslawyer]

But did UCF and Houston do it for you? If we are gonna play teams we don’t care about we might as well win.

The last year we didn't totally suck, and Houston came in undefeated and we beat them (with both teams playing backup QBs), the Rent was pretty electric. I think that was the last time that it was actually fun being in the stadium.

It is very hard to separate the lack of enthusiasm caused by the OBE splitting up versus the lack of enthusiasm caused by sucking too much for too long. I tend to think it has far more to do with the latter than the former, but I don't know of any way to prove that.

 

[businesslawyer]

Thousands of Cuse grads

Yes, Syracuse grads are disproportionately represented in on air jobs. But the thought that thousands of announcers, producers, lawyers, suits, HR folk, etc. are overwhelmingly Syracuse grads is fairly stupid.

And, even if what you say is true, so what? The State of Connecticut is supposed to protect or not protect in-state jobs based on the college from which the employees have their undergraduate degree? That's not fairly stupid. That's in an entirely different class.