So what's next?

[MattMang23]

B1G: Texas, Oklahoma. Kansas. ISU is a close call.

In a vacuum ISU vs. UConn is a tough call. But with Iowa in the conference, UConn would get the nod (provided AAU status can be achieved or overlooked) I would imagine.

Pac: all of them, but Pac wouldn't want anyone but: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas maybe TCU. It would take TT if that meant getting UT.

Disagree on TCU. No religious schools in Pac. That is the conference of the counter-culture. They have a school in that league with people living in trees. No chance they accept a conservative religious school.

 

[HuskyHawk]

In a vacuum ISU vs. UConn is a tough call. But with Iowa in the conference, UConn would get the nod (provided AAU status can be achieved or overlooked) I would imagine.
Probably..maybe. But I'm not willing to count on it. UConn way more valuable to the BTN.

Disagree on TCU. No religious schools in Pac. That is the conference of the counter-culture. They have a school in that league with people living in trees. No chance they accept a conservative religious school.

I said it was pretty iffy. Agree, but it's the strongest program.

 

[RedStickHusky]

What's next is we get to rate threads!

I bet the P5 threads get higher ratings.

 

[TerryD]

Maybe so. But Here are the schools I think each league would rate ahead of UConn.

ACC: Texas. Oklahoma.
B1G: Texas, Oklahoma. Kansas. ISU is a close call.
Pac: all of them, but Pac wouldn't want anyone but: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas maybe TCU. It would take TT if that meant getting UT.
SEC. all of them, but SEC wouldn't want anyone but: Texas, Oklahoma, OK State, KU, K-State maybe TCU.

TT goes P5 only if linked to Texas.
Baylor is hosed.
ISU, OK State, TCU and K State are probably hosed.

There is no feeding frenzy ready to happen for those 7 schools.

WVU might be added to the ACC list.

 

[HuskyHawk]

WVU might be added to the ACC list.

Yes I tried to edit it, but time ran out. WVU is a maybe on ACC list, probably behind UConn, but who knows. It's a maybe for the SEC too. The B1G or Pac would never touch them under any circumstances.

 

[NYUConn]

Maybe so. But Here are the schools I think each league would rate ahead of UConn.

ACC: Texas. Oklahoma.
B1G: Texas, Oklahoma. Kansas. ISU is a close call.
Pac: all of them, but Pac wouldn't want anyone but: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas maybe TCU. It would take TT if that meant getting UT.
SEC. all of them, but SEC wouldn't want anyone but: Texas, Oklahoma, OK State, KU, K-State maybe TCU.

TT goes P5 only if linked to Texas.
Baylor is hosed.
ISU, OK State, TCU and K State are probably hosed.

There is no feeding frenzy ready to happen for those 7 schools.

WVU?

And I agree with this assessment.

 

[Jae-VT]

WVU might be added to the ACC list.

Yea, NO!

 

[Jae-VT]

Yea, NO!

I'm sorry, let me elaborate. Both the SEC and the ACC passed on WVU. Not all of the football schools in the ACC wanted WVU and none of the academic schools wanted WVU. Same with the SEC. Until WVU fans lose their reputation for rowdiness and thuggishness, WVU is not only a "No, but a Hell No!"

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'm sorry, let me elaborate. Both the SEC and the ACC passed on WVU. Not all of the football schools in the ACC wanted WVU and none of the academic schools wanted WVU. Same with the SEC. Until WVU fans lose their reputation for rowdiness and thuggishness, WVU is not only a "No, but a Hell No!"

Since that happened, the ACC has added Louisville, who make WVU look like Princeton by comparison...or at least like Pitt or something that doesn't make you want to heave.

SEC can afford to be picky.

 

[D/$$$]

Unless UConn makes a statement by becoming a winning football team dareh I say even somewhat of a Boise type success we are doomed.
If we can do that we become much more attractive than many B12 schools , football success is the only possible positive outcome for our long term success.
I think the leaders at UConn understand that even if some on this board are stuck in the old contentment paridym.

Beat SinCGnatty (gotta start somewhere)

 

[1husky]

I would not be surprised if most of the AAC, and MWC for that matter, are in the same boat as we are when it comes to T3. They are looking at BYU and Boise's separate deals, and figure that they all have local markets and should be able to do the same. Once they control it, they can always sell it nationally if they happen to have a good season.

The traditional conference model is breaking down. Conferences exist for two reasons: 1) to provide a schedule, and 2) to sell media rights. The first reason is easily solvable with a little cooperation among schools, and the second is only relevant if the market thinks the media rights are more valuable at the conference level than they are at the school level. I would argue that we have the answer on #2, and it is that the media rights are more valuable at the school level. The mid-major conferences do not have a lot of national appeal, so their media rights don't have a lot of value to national networks. Why even have traditional conferences, especially for football?

To better monetize the T1+T2 and T3 while cutting costs, we need a schedule that is more relevant for a mid-major program like UConn. We need games that are more attractive locally (think more regional rivalries) plus better national content. We need less Tulane and Tulsa on the schedule, and I suspect they would be happy to have less of us.

Unfortunately, this is why Benedict was hired

 

[Jae-VT]

Since that happened, the ACC has added Louisville, who make WVU look like Princeton by comparison...or at least like Pitt or something that doesn't make you want to heave.

SEC can afford to be picky.

Assuming that was true, which is debatable; the ACC is not going to invite WVU. Many members of the ACC have had bad experiences with the WVU Faithful. And as I've said before, the ACC is a sports conference. The ACC does not have a research consortium like the B1G. The ACC does have an academic consortium, but that is geared towards undergraduate education, not collective scientific research. If and when that happens in the ACC, then academics may become a more prominent factor in the decision making process for new ACC members, but even then, UL will still be a member of the ACC and WVU can, well, need I say more?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Here is the loose concept of an idea I posted about 5 months ago. Let's start with the AAC and MWC. Split it into 6 pods instead of 4 divisions.

Southeast: USF, UCF, ECU, Memphis
Southwest: Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU
Northeast: UConn, Temple, Navy, Cincinnati

Pacific: Hawaii, SDSU, Fresno, SJSU
Mountain: Nevada, UNLV, Boise, Utah State
High Plains: New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming, Air Force

Play own pod every year. Play 1 team from other adjacent pod every year. Then set up tiers for the entire grouping, and play similar strata teams for 2 or 3 games every year. Or just play own pod plus 4 strata games. This works better if BYU, Army and UMass are in it, but I don't want to burn a lot of brain cells on the pods, just want to talk about the idea.

So let's say UConn is good (Diaco learns what that thing with numbers that is counting down is for), UConn's schedule could be:

Pod: Temple, Navy, Cincinnati - these become our rivalry games
SMU
USF
Strata Games: BYU, Houston, SDSU
4 OOC

If UConn was not as good, those strata games may be ECU, Colorado State and Nevada. In that case, we are no worse off than we are now.

You could even leave the last two dates of the season open for each team, 1 home, 1 away, that would be filled with the strata matchups once they were set, say 11/1 every season.

If you take this scheduling philosophy, you could theoretically pull in all the G5 conferences. Unless UConn sucked, it would never play a Sun Belt school, but if a Sun Belt school had a monster year, it could provide a good late season matchup of two teams receiving votes or maybe even ranked. This would also provide a Top 15 G5 school a way to get a late season win over a ranked opponent, and give them a better chance at a playoff bid.

This combined affiliation would sell maybe 6 games per team as Tier 1 and Tier 2 content, and leave half the schedule to the individual schools to sell on their own.

 

[Pudge]

WVU might be added to the ACC list.

Only if they don't count the votes of the Universities with real academic credentials. i.e. Another Louisville.

 

[Pudge]

Here is the loose concept of an idea I posted about 5 months ago. Let's start with the AAC and MWC. Split it into 6 pods instead of 4 divisions.

Southeast: USF, UCF, ECU, Memphis
Southwest: Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU
Northeast: UConn, Temple, Navy, Cincinnati

Pacific: Hawaii, SDSU, Fresno, SJSU
Mountain: Nevada, UNLV, Boise, Utah State
High Plains: New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming, Air Force

Play own pod every year. Play 1 team from other adjacent pod every year. Then set up tiers for the entire grouping, and play similar strata teams for 2 or 3 games every year. Or just play own pod plus 4 strata games. This works better if BYU, Army and UMass are in it, but I don't want to burn a lot of brain cells on the pods, just want to talk about the idea.

So let's say UConn is good (Diaco learns what that thing with numbers that is counting down is for), UConn's schedule could be:

Pod: Temple, Navy, Cincinnati - these become our rivalry games
SMU
USF
Strata Games: BYU, Houston, SDSU
4 OOC

If UConn was not as good, those strata games may be ECU, Colorado State and Nevada. In that case, we are no worse off than we are now.

You could even leave the last two dates of the season open for each team, 1 home, 1 away, that would be filled with the strata matchups once they were set, say 11/1 every season.

If you take this scheduling philosophy, you could theoretically pull in all the G5 conferences. Unless UConn sucked, it would never play a Sun Belt school, but if a Sun Belt school had a monster year, it could provide a good late season matchup of two teams receiving votes or maybe even ranked. This would also provide a Top 15 G5 school a way to get a late season win over a ranked opponent, and give them a better chance at a playoff bid.

This combined affiliation would sell maybe 6 games per team as Tier 1 and Tier 2 content, and leave half the schedule to the individual schools to sell on their own.

I hate when you do this.

What is missing - for the UConn fan - is we want to play basketball at the highest level. Inclusion of even more schools that have no prayer in playing hoop at our level discourages me going forward. If Iowa State & Baylor & Jamie Dixon TCU are in, then we start to feel like we have a decent hybrid that can keep us near the highest levels - no Football Powerhouse - category.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I hate when you do this.

What is missing - for the UConn fan - is we want to play basketball at the highest level. Inclusion of even more schools that have no prayer in playing hoop at our level discourages me going forward. If Iowa State & Baylor & Jamie Dixon TCU are in, then we start to feel like we have a decent hybrid that can keep us near the highest levels - no Football Powerhouse - category.

What does basketball have to do with my proposal? I would put UConn in the Big East. Why pine for the Big 12 or some other P5 when those leagues are never inviting us. We need to solve our football program in a way that helps the other schools too.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What does basketball have to do with my proposal? I would put UConn in the Big East. Why pine for the Big 12 or some other P5 when those leagues are never inviting us. We need to solve our football program in a way that helps the other schools too.

There is no possibility of a big football only conference. It can't happen. It won't happen. As an all sports league this league would blow. Stop it, please.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

When your talking survival
which every G5 school is: you might just have to step out of the box

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There is no possibility of a big football only conference. It can't happen. It won't happen. As an all sports league this league would blow. Stop it, please.

It would suck as an all sports conference, which is why it won't work.

The AAC has virtually no chance of survival in its current form. If you have a better idea, I am all ears.

 

[Adios]

What happened to thread ratings?? Were some THAT bad?!?

 

[shizzle787]

What happened to thread ratings?? Were some THAT bad?!?

Must have been. I saw the posting when I logged on, yet I couldn't see any thread ratings anywhere seconds later.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

It would suck as an all sports conference, which is why it won't work.

The AAC has virtually no chance of survival in its current form. If you have a better idea, I am all ears.

The issue I see is that while UConn could find a home in the New Big East for basketball, I'm not sure where a Cincinnati, Temple or San Diego State would put their hoops programs.

At that point if say Cincinnati and Temple are stuck in the AAC for everything, why would they allow UConn's football program to be a part of their scheduling arrangement.

The best and most realistic thing that UConn can do is to try and get out Tier 3 rights back and continue to schedule attractive out of conference matchups in football and basketball.

I don't think there is a perfect solution to this mess and I would rather prolong the inevitable than to just burn it all down sooner than need be.

 

[whaler11]

There is no Jedi mind trick that will convince all these other schools to do what's best for UConn.

You have two real choices:

1. Keep football and remain in the AAC. If the school doesn't mind sticking the student body with $30+ million - there really isn't a reason to change course. If you can shake some t3 rights loose in the next AAC negotiation that is great - but that isn't going to be easy and you better have many games on a legitimate national network or you can't recruit at all.

2. Drop football. This makes you attractive to the ACC as basketball #16 and would give ESPN exactly what they want as they roll out the ACC network (they aren't going to 20 conf basketball games for no reason). It also makes you attractive to the Big East if the ACC is really that stupid.

If tbe school is comfortable sticking the student with the tab (and it clearly hasn't cut down applications) then you may as well stick it out in the AAC and see what happens in the next 5-7 years in television.

I personally don't see how anyone is going to generate the revenue in any future model better than the cable model does today. This is why I don't think any of the leagues with networks are even thinking about expanding. There is no upside in adding more mouths to feed when there is this much uncertainty in the revenue model.

Understanding I have no business sense... somehow I knew the ACC wasn't doomed and the Big 12 wasn't expanding... the next trend is that television revenue is going to decline in future contracts.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There is no Jedi mind trick that will convince all these other schools to do what's best for UConn.

You have two real choices:

1. Keep football and remain in the AAC. If the school doesn't mind sticking the student body with $30+ million - there really isn't a reason to change course. If you can shake some t3 rights loose in the next AAC negotiation that is great - but that isn't going to be easy and you better have many games on a legitimate national network or you can't recruit at all.

2. Drop football. This makes you attractive to the ACC as basketball #16 and would give ESPN exactly what they want as they roll out the ACC network (they aren't going to 20 conf basketball games for no reason). It also makes you attractive to the Big East if the ACC is really that stupid.

If tbe school is comfortable sticking the student with the tab (and it clearly hasn't cut down applications) then you may as well stick it out in the AAC and see what happens in the next 5-7 years in television.

I personally don't see how anyone is going to generate the revenue in any future model better than the cable model does today. This is why I don't think any of the leagues with networks are even thinking about expanding. There is no upside in adding more mouths to feed when there is this much uncertainty in the revenue model.

Understanding I have no business sense... somehow I knew the ACC wasn't doomed and the Big 12 wasn't expanding... the next trend is that television revenue is going to decline in future contracts.

I think almost all the AAC schools would be better off holding and expanding their Tier 3 rights than selling them they way they do now. The value of the whole is much less than the sum of the parts.

In a world where everything is on demand, live TV will hold its value to viewers, it is just a question of finding the right distribution mechanism.

 

[whaler11]

I think almost all the AAC schools would be better off holding and expanding their Tier 3 rights than selling them they way they do now. The value of the whole is much less than the sum of the parts.

In a world where everything is on demand, live TV will hold its value to viewers, it is just a question of finding the right distribution mechanism.

That part is potentially realistic - but there are plenty of schools in the AAC where the tier 3 value is
just about zero.

Piecing together conferences of the schools you want to invite to a football only confederation not so much.

 

[Pudge]

There is no Jedi mind trick that will convince all these other schools to do what's best for UConn.

You have two real choices:

1. Keep football and remain in the AAC. If the school doesn't mind sticking the student body with $30+ million - there really isn't a reason to change course. If you can shake some t3 rights loose in the next AAC negotiation that is great - but that isn't going to be easy and you better have many games on a legitimate national network or you can't recruit at all.

2. Drop football. This makes you attractive to the ACC as basketball #16 and would give ESPN exactly what they want as they roll out the ACC network (they aren't going to 20 conf basketball games for no reason). It also makes you attractive to the Big East if the ACC is really that stupid.

If tbe school is comfortable sticking the student with the tab (and it clearly hasn't cut down applications) then you may as well stick it out in the AAC and see what happens in the next 5-7 years in television.

I personally don't see how anyone is going to generate the revenue in any future model better than the cable model does today. This is why I don't think any of the leagues with networks are even thinking about expanding. There is no upside in adding more mouths to feed when there is this much uncertainty in the revenue model.

Understanding I have no business sense... somehow I knew the ACC wasn't doomed and the Big 12 wasn't expanding... the next trend is that television revenue is going to decline in future contracts.

Doesn't this cable cutting/no model like the current cable modle thinking ... lead to the fundamental: the recently inked deals with the ACC are stupid. How can you go out to 2035 on that?

 

[whaler11]

Doesn't this cable cutting/no model like the current cable modle thinking ... lead to the fundamental: the recently inked deals with the ACC are stupid. How can you go out to 2035 on that?

The only reason I can see them signing the GOR/ESPN until 2035 is to look stable in comparison to their conference peers. Ends the Clemson/FSU to Big 12 nonsense and ends speculation of UVa and UNC to the Big 10.

If ESPN is insolvent everyone is probably screwed anyway. If they are insolvent may as well let some other lawyers deal with it 15 years from now.

When Disney spent a billion on MLBAM - with their resources I don't see how ESPN isn't the best bet to monetize streaming sports in a real way.

Is someone going to crack the code and end up with more money than the current model? That seems pretty unlikely to me - getting people to pay for your product who don't even use it is going to be tough to beat.

Culture wise it doesn't seem to me that the millenials and younger are anywhere near as invested in college sports as the older generations. Throw in how mobile people are today and how schools are recruiting their students nationally and internationally... direct to consumer is going to be really difficult at these revenue levels.

 

[pepband99]

Doesn't this cable cutting/no model like the current cable modle thinking ... lead to the fundamental: the recently inked deals with the ACC are stupid. How can you go out to 2035 on that?

The conference goes out to 2035. If they move, they ALL move, but even that is too simplistic, given that opening the contract to move probably makes 2035 moot anyway.

Best comparison is an NFL long-term contract - it works great, until you're cut.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The only reason I can see them signing the GOR/ESPN until 2035 is to look stable in comparison to their conference peers. Ends the Clemson/FSU to Big 12 nonsense and ends speculation of UVa and UNC to the Big 10.

If ESPN is insolvent everyone is probably screwed anyway. If they are insolvent may as well let some other lawyers deal with it 15 years from now.

When Disney spent a billion on MLBAM - with their resources I don't see how ESPN isn't the best bet to monetize streaming sports in a real way.

Is someone going to crack the code and end up with more money than the current model? That seems pretty unlikely to me - getting people to pay for your product who don't even use it is going to be tough to beat.

Culture wise it doesn't seem to me that the millenials and younger are anywhere near as invested in college sports as the older generations. Throw in how mobile people are today and how schools are recruiting their students nationally and internationally... direct to consumer is going to be really difficult at these revenue levels.

I agree with your points regarding riding it out in the AAC and seeing what happens the next decade or so and then looking into Big East or ACC hoops. I think the school has spent too much on football to drop it at this point. I don't think it's a sunk cost just yet.

Regarding the uncertainty of the cable model and schools selling their games through other platforms if somewhere down the line the P5 league revenues end up decreasing a bit and UConn's ends up increasing if we can sell our content through a different medium.

I think our penetration into NYC is overstated (so is every other school aside from ND) and even in CT our football ratings are poor but I do believe we have a pretty captive fan base over 3 sports that could be monetized.

Who knows tbough. The loose confederation of football only won't work but at least appreciate Nelson giving an actual plan for once.

 

[TRest]

I agree with your points regarding riding it out in the AAC and seeing what happens the next decade or so and then looking into Big East or ACC hoops. I think the school has spent too much on football to drop it at this point. I don't think it's a sunk cost just yet.

Regarding the uncertainty of the cable model and schools selling their games through other platforms if somewhere down the line the P5 league revenues end up decreasing a bit and UConn's ends up increasing if we can sell our content through a different medium.

I think our penetration into NYC is overstated (so is every other school aside from ND) and even in CT our football ratings are poor but I do believe we have a pretty captive fan base over 3 sports that could be monetized.

Who knows tbough. The loose confederation of football only won't work but at least appreciate Nelson giving an actual plan for once.

The real white elephant of UConn football is actually owned by the state, the Rent. The on-campus facilities were paid partially by donors and can be re-purposed to other sports training. Good luck telling the legislature thanks for building the football stadium, but we will no longer be competing there.