So is this the conundrum?

[ctchamps]

In order to get any new "significant football members" into the BE conference the BE football members will have to make a commitment to the BE conference.

But no commitment short of giving up all media revenue for x number of years can realistically keep the football members from leaving to greener pastures before x number of years elapses. Any other action would be recognized as insignificant.

The BE football partners don't want to sign up to that because they are not sure if adding any of the "significant members" are significant enough to keep the BCS AQ. And if that were to occur and they agreed to give up media revenue, they would be eliminating any possibility of getting into other conferences because no other conference will agree to take a university without media rights.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Great synopsis of the problem.

You could always build into the media rights grant an ability to leave if the league lost its BCS bid.

 

[ctchamps]

Great synopsis of the problem.

You could always build into the media rights grant an ability to leave if the league lost its BCS bid.

Your best suggestion to date. I would love to see it employed particularly if the rumors of Boise and Temple are true.

 

[The Funster]

Great synopsis of the problem.

You could always build into the media rights grant an ability to leave if the league lost its BCS bid.

That's fair.

 

[upstater]

No, this doesn't work, and it's not fair.

If you're not allowed to leave, and the super conferences start filling up, what happens if suddenly the BCS rug is pulled out from under you and there are no spots open?

You're stuck in hell.

Spots come open as they come open, not when the BE loses its AQ bid.

 

[The Funster]

If the superconferences come, all bets are off. My question to that would be: when are they coming? Based on the fact that no one looks like they want to move to 16, they aren't coming any time soon.

 

[noeynox]

Triple the exit fee to 15 million, but do not in any way sign anything relinquishing media rights. Doing so is slitting your own wrist. A 15 million exit fee is prohibitive enough to show potential new members, all of which are coming from non BCS status, that joining the Big East is worth their while.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If the superconferences come, all bets are off. My question to that would be: when are they coming? Based on the fact that no one looks like they want to move to 16, they aren't coming any time soon.

We think that's the case, but we are a bunch of Sergeant Shultz's and Hogan is running the show. We know nothing. The B1G could announce a round of invites on Friday. The SEC could do the same, as could the Big XII. Notre Dame could finally join a conference. Did anyone see the Nebraska invite coming? Two months ago, did you think Pitt and Cuse were about to receive invites to the ACC?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

No, this doesn't work, and it's not fair.

If you're not allowed to leave, and the super conferences start filling up, what happens if suddenly the BCS rug is pulled out from under you and there are no spots open?

You're stuck in hell.

Spots come open as they come open, not when the BE loses its AQ bid.

In your fantasy world, can UConn just maintain the status quo for however long it needs to without any commitment to anyone else, waiting for an ACC invitation?

 

[ctchamps]

No, this doesn't work, and it's not fair.

If you're not allowed to leave, and the super conferences start filling up, what happens if suddenly the BCS rug is pulled out from under you and there are no spots open?

You're stuck in hell.

Spots come open as they come open, not when the BE loses its AQ bid.

That's why I love this forum. I forgot about this scenario and it was not more than an hour ago I considered it. This is another important consideration of any of the remaining BE football schools - they do not want to block their options in exiting the conference. It is the conundrum. Committing to the BE in a meaningful manner prohibits them from making moves to the other conferences if the AQ still exists but is threatened by the development of four super conferences.

So there are two options:

1)inaction (waiting until someone comes calling) with no guarantees anyone comes calling and the 27 month timeline runs out ending the BE football conference.
2)action (taking in new football members) with no guarantees the BCS AQ will be available short term and/or long term and potentially not allowing the move to a better situation once this path is taken.

So if both choices have pitfalls because no one can predict all the events of the future, then I'm of the opinion you take action. I think the conference needs to see how Missouri plays out because this development should happen soon. If Missouri leaves then the BE is screwed if the rest of the B12 can come to terms with Texas. If Missouri stays in the B12 you go for Boise and Houston. This will show which way the B12 is heading. Depending how the B12 responds to this offer, then the BE can decide on which of the remaining schools they want to include in the NBE. I'm not sure if they are legally restricted, but I would be contacting Comcast and getting some insight as to what a contract might look like under different scenarios.

I'm not sure the BE can afford to wait too long and see how the SEC handles things. They will have to decide a date, that when it is reached they all make the commitment to one another. The BE may have to finally go all in and take this path of getting the best option for their conference and hope this translates into football success and a decent media contract.

 

[HuskyHawk]

In your fantasy world, can UConn just maintain the status quo for however long it needs to without any commitment to anyone else, waiting for an ACC invitation?

If you can't find any girl to marry, you stay single. I think the conundrum is correctly described.

It comes down to this, does the newly constructed BE have real appeal to the UConn President and Board? Can it last? No. Will it assure that the conference has AQ status in 2014? No. So what does it bring us? We have AQ status through 2013. So add Boise if we must, but don't marry the conference just so we have a date to the prom.

 

[ctchamps]

If you can't find any girl to marry, you stay single. I think the conundrum is correctly described.

It comes down to this, does the newly constructed BE have real appeal to the UConn President and Board? Can it last? No. Will it assure that the conference has AQ status in 2014? No. So what does it bring us? We have AQ status through 2013. So add Boise if we must, but don't marry the conference just so we have a date to the prom.

I took this argument for the longest time. But I'm not sure if no substantive action is taken by the BE UConn and some or all of its football partners will be wallflowers at the dance. That is the conundrum. We can be screwed with either choice or it could work with either choice. We have no way of knowing.

 

[upstater]

In your fantasy world, can UConn just maintain the status quo for however long it needs to without any commitment to anyone else, waiting for an ACC invitation?

I can't even figure out what this means. Can UConn maintain the status quo without any commitment, huh? Yes, of course UConn can play football without signing over its TV rights for a decade. You're the only one here who believes it can't, and shortly it will be proven to you that not only can UConn play BE football without reliquishing it TV rights, but it will!

 

[upstater]

I took this argument for the longest time. But I'm not sure if no substantive action is taken by the BE UConn and some or all of its football partners will be wallflowers at the dance. That is the conundrum. We can be screwed with either choice or it could work with either choice. We have no way of knowing.

The BE will lose its BCS bid after the next contract. Believe it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I can't even figure out what this means. Can UConn maintain the status quo without any commitment, huh? Yes, of course UConn can play football without signing over its TV rights for a decade. You're the only one here who believes it can't, and shortly it will be proven to you that not only can UConn play BE football without reliquishing it TV rights, but it will!

Straw man, so I will ignore it. Navy will set the level of commitment, not me. I know that $5MM is not enough. You are against any additional commitment. Maybe I am wrong, and all these schools will join without any additional commitment. But what if they don't?

Are you saying we should go independent or join the MAC, just so we leave our options open? Because I can promise you our options will disappear in that situation.

 

[Northbound]

The BE will lose its BCS bid after the next contract. Believe it.

Tell me something I don't know.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The BE will lose its BCS bid after the next contract. Believe it.

Then the Big East schools can walk away. Do you think the ACC will raid CUSA or the MAC instead of waiting for the Big East exit fee window (whatever it may be) to expire?

Edit: If the Big East loses its AQ bid, UConn is probably not getting added to another league anyway.

 

[gars44]

If you can't find any girl to marry, you stay single. I think the conundrum is correctly described.

It comes down to this, does the newly constructed BE have real appeal to the UConn President and Board? Can it last? No. Will it assure that the conference has AQ status in 2014? No. So what does it bring us? We have AQ status through 2013. So add Boise if we must, but don't marry the conference just so we have a date to the prom.

I hate all these girlfriend analogies.

But anyway, sign away the media rights. This is the big east, remember? How much are they going to be worth? If you leave, you pay for the media rights that you signed away. Simple.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If you can't find any girl to marry, you stay single. I think the conundrum is correctly described.

It comes down to this, does the newly constructed BE have real appeal to the UConn President and Board? Can it last? No. Will it assure that the conference has AQ status in 2014? No. So what does it bring us? We have AQ status through 2013. So add Boise if we must, but don't marry the conference just so we have a date to the prom.

In your scenario, it is already over. No matter what we do in this situation as you have described it, UConn will not be in an AQ league. If it refuses to commit and let's the Big East run off, UConn is no longer in an AQ league and not attractive for expansion. If it reconstitutes the Big East and it loses its AQ bid, it is not longer in an AQ league and is not attractive for expansion. So the "game" is already over in your world.

I disagree with your underlying assumption in that I think the Big East can maintain its AQ, making all of its members appealing to other conferences and at the very least making them viable as nationally competitive programs.

 

[upstater]

Straw man, so I will ignore it. Navy will set the level of commitment, not me. I know that $5MM is not enough. You are against any additional commitment. Maybe I am wrong, and all these schools will join without any additional commitment. But what if they don't?

Are you saying we should go independent or join the MAC, just so we leave our options open? Because I can promise you our options will disappear in that situation.

Navy, Army, MAC, Temple, MAC, all the same.
Navy doesn't want to come? F'em. Bring in whoever. Doesn't make a difference. You're the only loon that thinks this conference has a chance to keep the BCS bid.

 

[upstater]

I hate all these girlfriend analogies.

But anyway, sign away the media rights. This is the big east, remember? How much are they going to be worth? If you leave, you pay for the media rights that you signed away. Simple.

$7 million for 10 years = $70 million.

But then the other conferences won't take you because games shown at your home field against their teams go to your old conference.

 

[epperson]

The BE will lose its BCS bid after the next contract. Believe it.

I believe and I look forward to watching Blumenthal's crusade against the big bad super conferences flop.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The BE will lose its BCS bid after the next contract. Believe it.

How?

Using the numbers in place, we're fine. If they make it a numbers game, it's the ACC that needs to worry. So the number angle isn't an argument. To boot, there's no provisions currently to kick members out, there is only guidelines to add members.

If you're argument is that the ACC, Big12, SEC, Big10 and Pac12 will somehow 'vote out' the Big East, I just don't see that happening. I choose to believe that with all the anti-BCS sentiment out there, the other power 5 conferences would not willingly bring more controversy (legal threats) to their front door. Plus, how can the power 5 justify kicking out the Big East, when in fact, it's been a better rated conference then the ACC?

 

[gars44]

$7 million for 10 years = $70 million.

But then the other conferences won't take you because games shown at your home field against their teams go to your old conference.

And come out of your pocket. The new league is unaffected. If the jump is such a good thing at the time, then make the jump and take the lump.

 

[upstater]

And come out of your pocket. The new league is unaffected. If the jump is such a good thing at the time, then make the jump and take the lump.

Out of what pocket? Got $70 mill?