Should ESPN tell the American to make a football only deal with UConn? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

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

kobe said:
god please no
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44703


Shut up kobe.
 
Guapo said:
You’re giving way to much credit to Mike Aresco (not mad)
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I would agree if he said it once right after but this has been a 2 week campaign for Aresco. ESPN would have put a stop to it earlier if they had any intentions of allowing UConn to stay. They know more than anybody UConns value. It would seem ESPN has already decided to cut bait.

Hope I am wrong because it would be the best of both worlds in my opinion.
 
CL82 said:
Stay with me; it's not a dumb as it sounds at first blush.
  • This last media deal for the American was built to get ESPN + subscribers.
  • Keeping UConn in the American means that UConn football fans will still need to sign up to see games.
  • Since the bulk of media contract is based upon football, ESPN could reduce the contract less if UConn stays put.
  • Down the road there would less resistance for UConn fans toward + because fans would have already have been using it.
  • Finally it earns ESPN some goodwill in their state of residence. Not a stand alone reason for making a deal but definitely a plus.
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Think you're overrating how much ESPN cares about UConn football fans.
 
auror said:
Think you're overrating how much ESPN cares about UConn football fans.
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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.
 
auror said:
Think you're overrating how much ESPN cares about UConn football fans.
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They don't give a rat's patootie about UConn football fans. They do care about subscribers though. If they feel Connecticut is a good source for them they'd tell Aresco to reverse himself without a second thought of how bad it would make him look.
 
Thing is, it would seem to me the only one that doesn't want us to stay is Aresco (not mad). Everyone else is probably indifferent to slightly favorable for us to stay for Football only....because its easy and less messy.
 
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Exit 4 said:
Thing is, it would seem to me the only one that doesn't want us to stay is Aresco (not mad). Everyone else is probably indifferent to slightly favorable for us to stay for Football only....because its easy and less messy.
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I could picture the Florida schools being (not mad) about it, since they probably view our absence as a way to strengthen their overall SOS. But otherwise, yeah, you’re probably right.
 
CL82 said:
They don't give a rat's patootie about UConn football fans. They do care about subscribers though. If they feel Connecticut is a good source for them they'd tell Aresco to reverse himself without a second thought of how bad it would make him look.
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That's the same thing though. We won't move the needle with subscribers because we have comparatively no football fans.
 
Remember the Big12 expansion hoax when fans of places like UCF or Houston were whining like “you just know ESPN is going to force the Big12 to take their buddies UConn” (or they probably spelt it Uconn). Why would ESPN ever help UConn?
 
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auror said:
That's the same thing though. We won't move the needle with subscribers because we have comparatively no football fans.
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But the football fans we do have are influential in a sizable cable market, so ESPN might want to own the content. As opposed to SNY, their competitor, owning it.

UConn football is kind of a funny beast, more valuable to a regional cable sports channel like SNY than to a cable network that has to show nationally or a streaming service that depends on number of fans.
 
auror said:
That's the same thing though. We won't move the needle with subscribers because we have comparatively no football fans.
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They move the needle more than most AAC teams
 
There is a lot of soft analysis that will go into the decision here from ESPN and the fellow AAC University Presidents. In the end, just like we dont know the exact math behind the $1B media deal, we wont know the exact math (same hard, some soft) used to decide our AAC exit.

For myself, I dont know if I want to stay or go. I think I can make myself happy with either.

My issue today is that nobody should be scoffing at the notion that UConn just might pull off the Navy deal and stay as a football only member with a partial split of the media $$. Its certainly possible despite any of the public posturing we read. Again, the reason is because its so simple to keep us and actually more cumbersome to jettison us.

I think we win either way, as a football only member or as an independent. I'm ready for either....but dont want the former if the partial $$ deal isn't reasonably on par with what we could do as an independent.
 
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Kenny11 said:
Not a full switch, but they have been investing heavily in it. I have had espn+ since it came out, mostly because I am a big boxing fan and I am very happy with it. They have added more content but definitely need to add more.
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It's a platform for the future that the have to build out and make profitable in advance of that future. The AAC deal was important to ESPN because they need to build that ESPN+ subscriber base to offset what will be a massive decrease in cable revenue. It looks like double dipping now, but eventually it will be the primary platform, probably with offshoots like the ACC Network as add-ons.
 
noeynox said:
I look forward to the UMass game. No FBS schools in New England have a longer history playing against one another.
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I can see that. But it does not mean fans will think it is the "big time."
 
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Guapo said:
Yesss!!

I said this on the football forum the night the big east move was announced;

If you walk into Rentschler and you don’t see the AAC logo on the field; if you squint and believe hard enough it’ll almost feel big time.

The AAC will always make people in CT think “mid-major” and “relegated”; the brand was an anchor around the entire athletic department’s neck.
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Calling UConn football a "mid-major" is a massive compliment for the program at this point lol
 
businesslawyer said:
Yes. Great idea. Let's make ourselves feel better by pushing out a corporation that employs thousands of Connecticut residents. We can afford to do that because it will make you feel better.
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You realize that "pushing out" is different than "not subsidizing" right?
 
businesslawyer said:
Yes. Great idea. Let's make ourselves feel better by pushing out a corporation that employs thousands of Connecticut residents. We can afford to do that because it will make you feel better.
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Thousands of Cuse grads
 
CL82 said:
You realize that "pushing out" is different than "not subsidizing" right?
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I'm not a fan of corporate welfare myself. But if we are providing it because it's in the best interests of the State and we thought it might be necessary to keep jobs here, risking the jobs because ESPN isn't doing our state university's athletic department an unrelated favor is absurd. If they leave, are you going to tell families of laid off workers that it was the right thing to do because you favored a better football schedule? Is any human being that selfish?
 
businesslawyer said:
I'm not a fan of corporate welfare myself. But if we are providing it because it's in the best interests of the State and we thought it might be necessary to keep jobs here, risking the jobs because ESPN isn't doing our state university's athletic department an unrelated favor is absurd. If they leave, are you going to tell families of laid off workers that it was the right thing to do because you favored a better football schedule? Is any human being that selfish?
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Who made you some kind of expert on the litigious workings of a company?
 
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businesslawyer said:
I'm not a fan of corporate welfare myself. But if we are providing it because it's in the best interests of the State and we thought it might be necessary to keep jobs here, risking the jobs because ESPN isn't doing our state university's athletic department an unrelated favor is absurd. If they leave, are you going to tell families of laid off workers that it was the right thing to do because you favored a better football schedule? Is any human being that selfish?
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Lol, "absurd" is it? Well then you surely must be right. Easy there drama queen, that doesn't advance your argument. Again, not subsidizing a business enterprise is not "pushing them out."

So by your logic, must the state of Connecticut subsidize every employer under the fear that they'd leave if they didn't? If you have done this work then you understand that these types of arrangements fall under two general groupings. The first is statutory. That typically is reserved for enterprise zones. The second I'd call "political" as they need to be approved. In the first case if meet the standard, you'll receive the break, but in the second case the entity's citizenship" is a part of the review.

ESPN's decision to fund the evisceration of the Big East has cost UConn, and thus the state of Connecticut 100s of millions of dollars. It is "absurd" to ask Connecticut residents to subsidize a business that caused that level of loss. I'm not particularly worried about ESPN abandoning their facilities in a huff over that because it makes no economic sense to do that.
 
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CL82 said:
ESPN's decision to fund the evisceration of the Big East has cost UConn, and thus the state of Connecticut 100s of millions of dollars. It is "absurd" to ask Connecticut residents to subsidize a business that caused that level of loss. I'm not particularly worried about ESPN abandoning their facilities in a huff over that because it makes no economic sense to do that.
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Makes perfect sense. They have not been good citizens.
I would love to know what discussions, if any, have occurred over time since the dissolution of the original BE between ESPN and CT politicians. Has there been any tough talk or do campaign contributions make it all better? Just wondering.
 
I don't believe for one second that UConn football would equate to any significantly larger # of subscribers for ESPN+. Everything is moving to screens anyway. About the only demo ESPN+ may not get is cranky old men who post on BY.
 
Unless we get good fast the AAC wants us gone. We hurt The strength of schedule of every school we play in our conference IE UCF USF Houston all feel the pain by being dragged down by playing us
 
huskyinfl said:
Unless we get good fast the AAC wants us gone. We hurt The strength of schedule of every school we play in our conference IE UCF USF Houston all feel the pain by being dragged down by playing us
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This is true - we have been a drag on SOS and that is certainly fodder for twitter takes.

However, its not like the P5 bowl opportunities will suddenly open up if any AAC school's SOS improves.
  • The bowl committees want to see direct wins against P5 programs to steer rankings and bowl assignments. UCF, Cincy, UH, Memphis have to win those P5 OOC games and that wont change one scintilla whether we are in or out of this conference.
  • Bowl access is gated. The AAC has access to certain bowls - relationships set up years in advance. Doors to better bowls wont open because of SOS as those doors are guarded by the P5 cartel. The AAC and fellow G5 schools get the scraps we are assigned....SOS be damned.
Its actually BB that is more influenced by SOS than football. Conference and team SOS is more meaningful in filling out the final tournament slots because that is a wide open system. NCAAFB bowls are a semi closed system where SOS really just influences the debate for the rare undefeated G5 team that might (but wont because the cartel has the doors shut) get into the NCAA football playoff.
 
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