So what's next?

[dayooper]

Multiple the 80 cents a month by the millions of cable subscribers in the NYC DMA who don't watch or want the BTN as it is a substantial amount. Add advertising losses as well, and the ballgame changes. I ask again, does anyone know how many people on average in the NYC DMA watch the BTN on a regular basis?

Why don't you start a grass roots organization to get it off the air, then. Use your own money or start a go fund me account. Take the time to get rid of that 80 cents off of your bill. It will be well worth your money to do so.

I'll get you started - Take an ad out in the NYT or channels 2,4,5 and 7 and start the campaign. Get the word out there. Fire up a web site. You will need buy a host and a domain, start a social media blitz (you will need to purchase a monthly subscription to a social media scheduler of course) and write two to three blogs a week (hire a blog writer if you aren't a writer). You will need to get your Klout social media score up to about 45 to really make an impact. Don't forget your website security. Grassroots organizations are targets for overseas hackers (they normally don't have very good security on their sites). If you don't have time to do all of this (I assume you have a job), you may want to hire a virtual assistant. Good US based VA's run around $50 and hour.

The campaign will consist of you trying to convince millions of people to cancel their cable subscriptions over an 80 cent fee on their bill. Getting rid of ESPN, Fox News or any other channel they enjoy watching over 80 cents seems like an easy thing. Just let them know you want to get UConn in the Big10 and it will work like a charm.

Remember:

There needs to be a grassroots effort to remove the BTN from sports packages in New England, and NYC. No need for anyone to pay for something they never watch. Then, and only then, the B1G might look at UConn. Otherwise forget it. That they even tolerate Rutgers shows that the B1G administrators are bigger whores than anyone could imagine.

You are doing this to get UConn in the Big10.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Assuming you are in CT, you are payining ten cents a month. At that ten cents a month that you are paying, no one notices either way. If you are in the NYC DMA, than you are paying about 80 cents a month.

Figures I live in the part of CT that is in the NYC DMA... 80 cents/month for me.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Buddy, relax man. Enjoy UConn athletics for the next few years, because after that it'll begin to decline due to lack of funding. Eventually all but maybe 20-30 schools will be in the same boat as us when football and perhaps men's basketball break away from the NCAA and traditional conference structure. Sooner rather than later the money schools will grow impatient with sharing the pie with freeloaders once their revenues stop growing.

 

[Dibbie]

Multiple the 80 cents a month by the millions of cable subscribers in the NYC DMA who don't watch or want the BTN as it is a substantial amount. Add advertising losses as well, and the ballgame changes. I ask again, does anyone know how many people on average in the NYC DMA watch the BTN on a regular basis?

Family and I watch BTN so we can watch college baseball, softball and volleyball. Those are sports my kids play in high school, and hopefully college, so they like to watch and learn from

 

[buddy]

Why don't you start a grass roots organization to get it off the air, then. Use your own money or start a go fund me account. Take the time to get rid of that 80 cents off of your bill. It will be well worth your money to do so.

I'll get you started - Take an ad out in the NYT or channels 2,4,5 and 7 and start the campaign. Get the word out there. Fire up a web site. You will need buy a host and a domain, start a social media blitz (you will need to purchase a monthly subscription to a social media scheduler of course) and write two to three blogs a week (hire a blog writer if you aren't a writer). You will need to get your Klout social media score up to about 45 to really make an impact. Don't forget your website security. Grassroots organizations are targets for overseas hackers (they normally don't have very good security on their sites). If you don't have time to do all of this (I assume you have a job), you may want to hire a virtual assistant. Good US based VA's run around $50 and hour.

The campaign will consist of you trying to convince millions of people to cancel their cable subscriptions over an 80 cent fee on their bill. Getting rid of ESPN, Fox News or any other channel they enjoy watching over 80 cents seems like an easy thing. Just let them know you want to get UConn in the Big10 and it will work like a charm.

Remember:


You are doing this to get UConn in the Big10.[/QUOTE
I think you have really offered some great suggestions. Thank you, I see what I can do.

 

[buddy]

Family and I watch BTN so we can watch college baseball, softball and volleyball. Those are sports my kids play in high school, and hopefully college, so they like to watch and learn from

I am so happy for you and your family. Just be sure to tell them when Rutgers is playing not to do what they do.

 

[buddy]

Buddy, relax man. Enjoy UConn athletics for the next few years, because after that it'll begin to decline due to lack of funding. Eventually all but maybe 20-30 schools will be in the same boat as us when football and perhaps men's basketball break away from the NCAA and traditional conference structure. Sooner rather than later the money schools will grow impatient with sharing the pie with freeloaders once their revenues stop growing.

Thank you. I got head start on drinking today and thus the banter.

 

[Yawkey Way]

Assuming you are in CT, you are payining ten cents a month. At that ten cents a month that you are paying, no one notices either way. .

Any quest to rally citizenry support that dropping a station... any station... from a bundled TV package that would only save the citizenry approx. 2 and a half cents a week, will be met with a collective yawn. Unless someone is a TV junkie, most people have never watched the vast majority of the TV stations on their TV package..... even once.

 

[Redding Husky]

Really? You actually think that the grassroots effort will be able to break the contract with the cable companies? The only thing you can do is cancel your cable and stream or try one of the skinny bundles the satillite companies are promoting. Making a big stink about the issue surely will "force" the Big10 into taking UConn. It is a sure fire way to get what you want, just ask Blumenthal how forcing the issue worked for UConn.

As far as Rutgers goes, they are in the NYC DMA (the only FBS school that is) and they give plenty of money to the Big10. If you call that whoring, then go right a head. The Big10 Presidents couldn't give two poops about their athletic prowess. All they care about is the money and exposure in NYC. Rutgers give them both.

While I try to be empathetic toward your position, it gets really hard when I see crap like this.

It just gets a little frustrating when we do literally everything better than Rutgers (academics, athletics, etc.) and Rutgers gets the golden ticket. They're morons.

 

[Sea Goat]

Really? You actually think that the grassroots effort will be able to break the contract with the cable companies? The only thing you can do is cancel your cable and stream or try one of the skinny bundles the satillite companies are promoting. Making a big stink about the issue surely will "force" the Big10 into taking UConn. It is a sure fire way to get what you want, just ask Blumenthal how forcing the issue worked for UConn.

As far as Rutgers goes, they are in the NYC DMA (the only FBS school that is) and they give plenty of money to the Big10. If you call that whoring, then go right a head. The Big10 Presidents couldn't give two poops about their athletic prowess. All they care about is the money and exposure in NYC. Rutgers give them both.

While I try to be empathetic toward your position, it gets really hard when I see crap like this.

They also like having what essentially amounts to a "bye week" when any of them play Rutgers. They like the opportunity to rest up and heal for the real competitive games in conference.

 

[Dibbie]

It just gets a little frustrating when we do literally everything better than Rutgers (academics, athletics, etc.) and Rutgers gets the golden ticket. They're morons.

Sorry but UConn only became relevant with the creation of the Big East, which was a cozy northeast power conference, which perfectly fit the cozy state of CT. We're now trying to play with the big boys, when we're still a postage stamp market. Rutgers is awful and may always be that way, but they pull in a much larger market than we will ever will.

Sorry, again, but I lived in MA and they could care less about UConn, same with Fairfield County. UConn is really just a Hartford thing and the P5 knows it.

Bash away....

 

[Ewekon]

Sorry but UConn only became relevant with the creation of the Big East, which was a cozy northeast power conference, which perfectly fit the cozy state of CT. We're now trying to play with the big boys, when we're still a postage stamp market. Rutgers is awful and may always be that way, but they pull in a much larger market than we will ever will.

Sorry, again, but I lived in MA and they could care less about UConn, same with Fairfield County. UConn is really just a Hartford thing and the P5 knows it.

Bash away....

I live in lower Fairfield County and I see UConn gear all over the place on men and women of all ages. We probably lean more toward pro football in this part of the state but Husky basketball is very well followed.

 

[jfuchs91]

Sorry but UConn only became relevant with the creation of the Big East, which was a cozy northeast power conference, which perfectly fit the cozy state of CT. We're now trying to play with the big boys, when we're still a postage stamp market. Rutgers is awful and may always be that way, but they pull in a much larger market than we will ever will.

Sorry, again, but I lived in MA and they could care less about UConn, same with Fairfield County. UConn is really just a Hartford thing and the P5 knows it.

Bash away....

So your premise is UConn flourished into a national brand that achieved major athletic success when given a level playing field.

Gee, why would a power conference ever want a school like that?

 

[Stinger92860]

Sorry but UConn only became relevant with the creation of the Big East, which was a cozy northeast power conference, which perfectly fit the cozy state of CT. We're now trying to play with the big boys, when we're still a postage stamp market. Rutgers is awful and may always be that way, but they pull in a much larger market than we will ever will.

Sorry, again, but I lived in MA and they could care less about UConn, same with Fairfield County. UConn is really just a Hartford thing and the P5 knows it.

Bash away....

Define a postage stamp market? Are you talking DMA?

 

[MattMang23]

Is that you, Gresh?

 

[HoopsFan21]

Sorry but UConn only became relevant with the creation of the Big East, which was a cozy northeast power conference, which perfectly fit the cozy state of CT. We're now trying to play with the big boys, when we're still a postage stamp market. Rutgers is awful and may always be that way, but they pull in a much larger market than we will ever will.

Sorry, again, but I lived in MA and they could care less about UConn, same with Fairfield County. UConn is really just a Hartford thing and the P5 knows it.

Bash away....

That postage stamp market you speak of is the 30th largest market in the country which means UConn's market is larger than most of the P5 schools' including the media markets that house Ohio State (#31), Texas (#39), and Alabama (#45) to name a few CFB name brands. In addition to its own media market, UConn has some penetration into the adjoining markets like NYC (#1), Boston (#8), and Providence (#52). UConn's market also covers some of the wealthiest in the nation. All in all there aren't too many flagship state universities, P5 or otherwise, that can offer the unique market that UConn does when you consider all of these factors.

 

[Ldandy]

The easy suggestion is simply to cut the chord and stream only the channels you watch. The issue with that is content providers will eventually get wise and jack the rates up for these stand alone offerings. Every channel currently subsidizes every other one. If everyone decides to go this way, in the future you will be paying nearly the same amount of money per month for a 5th of the content you used to get in your cable package. Not to mention that in many instances your cable company may also be your ISP. What do you think happens to the price of your internet package when everyone starts dropping cable and streaming everything they watch online? Profits have to come from somewhere.

 

[Ldandy]

Rutgers is like that neighbor kid you "played" with when you were little because your parents made you. You felt kind of bad about why you were doing it, and honestly you were embarrassed that your friends might find out that you were hanging with the kid who pees his pants and eats his own boogers. It is what it is. Delany found a way to monetize the college athletics equivalent of Screech. They in turn get a nice paycheck and the honor of getting beat 78-0 by Michigan. They understood the deal and they took it. The majority of us don't like it, as we would greatly prefer to be watching Uconn Men/Women's Basketball, Ice Hockey and quite honestly Football. Money talks and unfortnately we are stuck with what we got.

 

[Sea Goat]

That postage stamp market you speak of is the 30th largest market in the country which means UConn's market is larger than most of the P5 schools' including the media markets that house Ohio State (#31), Texas (#39), and Alabama (#45) to name a few CFB name brands. In addition to its own media market, UConn has some penetration into the adjoining markets like NYC (#1), Boston (#8), and Providence (#52). UConn's market also covers some of the wealthiest in the nation. All in all there aren't too many flagship state universities, P5 or otherwise, that can offer the unique market that UConn does when you consider all of these factors.

Nice job, Hoops Fan. But don't get drawn into an argument with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

 

[dayooper]

It just gets a little frustrating when we do literally everything better than Rutgers (academics, athletics, etc.) and Rutgers gets the golden ticket. They're morons.

I somewhat understand the frustration. When the Big10 Hockey started, it destroyed the CCHA, where my alma mater Northern Michigan University played. They would go against Michigan, MSU, Notre Dame and the like. It was awesome! Now that the CCHA has folded and WCHA has been relegated to junior status in D1 hockey, NMU is basically now a MAC level program. NMU has a national championship (1991), three frozen four appearances and eight tournament appearances. Not a junior status team.

That being said, the 80 cents a month is so small that the process of getting it removed would cost thousands more than actually paying for the network. If you are against it, than just don't watch it. The ad dollars add up and it cost nothing to turn the channel.

 

[Redding Husky]

Sorry but UConn only became relevant with the creation of the Big East, which was a cozy northeast power conference, which perfectly fit the cozy state of CT. We're now trying to play with the big boys, when we're still a postage stamp market. Rutgers is awful and may always be that way, but they pull in a much larger market than we will ever will.

Sorry, again, but I lived in MA and they could care less about UConn, same with Fairfield County. UConn is really just a Hartford thing and the P5 knows it.

Bash away....

I'm from Fairfield County and UConn is extremely popular there.

As far as being a small market, these are the states that have P5 football with smaller markets:

West Virginia
Arkansas
Nebraska
Kansas
Iowa
Utah
Mississippi

And Oklahoma & Oregon are just slightly larger than Connecticut in population.

 

[Redding Husky]

I live in lower Fairfield County and I see UConn gear all over the place on men and women of all ages. We probably lean more toward pro football in this part of the state but Husky basketball is very well followed.

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[Dibbie]

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

I presume, then, that you have a good explanation why they can't put butts in seats for either basketball or football?

 

[BlueDogs]

I still believe that the B12 option will occur, ..... but....if it becomes apparent that neither the B12 nor ACC will not happen then I believe that a call should be made to the Big East to see if UConn and BYU can be added as a package.

The Big East + UConn and BYU = first class basketball conference.

Maybe in the old days. In the new world, we ultimately die in a nonFB, BB only conference. We simply can't compete over the long term. The revenue disparity has grown so big between P5 and non-P5 it's not sustainable.

 

[whaler11]

Yes an east coast and midwest CATHOLIC basketball league is going to invite BYU.

Providence, St. John's, Villanova and Georgetown are dying for regular season trips to Utah.

They are struggling so bad off a national championship they have to move swiftly.

 

[EastCoast2]

I'm from Fairfield County and UConn is extremely popular there.

As far as being a small market, these are the states that have P5 football with smaller markets:

West Virginia
Arkansas
Nebraska
Kansas
Iowa
Utah
Mississippi

And Oklahoma & Oregon are just slightly larger than Connecticut in population.

I live and work in Greenwich/Stamford/Norwalk and almost never see UConn gear. I go to Boston often, and same thing, almost no UConn gear.

All of those states you mentioned get more eyeballs on TVs. Hartford may be larger than Lincoln, NE, but there are far more Nebraskans, and people in neighboring states, watching Nebraska sports than Hartford residents watching UConn. UConn is a Hartford County fanbase.

 

[4in16]

I live and work in Greenwich/Stamford/Norwalk and almost never see UConn gear. I go to Boston often, and same thing, almost no UConn gear.

All of those states you mentioned get more eyeballs on TVs. Hartford may be larger than Lincoln, NE, but there are far more Nebraskans, and people in neighboring states, watching Nebraska sports than Hartford residents watching UConn. UConn is a Hartford County fanbase.

Main campus is in Tolland County, if you are going to insinuate we have no fan base outside of one county at least get it right. There's only 8 in the state.

 

[nhHusky]

I live and work in Greenwich/Stamford/Norwalk and almost never see UConn gear. I go to Boston often, and same thing, almost no UConn gear.

My son, a 27 year old BC alum, lives and works in NYC. He's at the gym daily. He has said many times that, perhaps with exception of NYU, he sees more apparel for UConn than for any other university. The same is true on the streets. So take heart.

 

[FDNY99]

I live and work in Greenwich/Stamford/Norwalk and almost never see UConn gear. I go to Boston often, and same thing, almost no UConn gear.

All of those states you mentioned get more eyeballs on TVs. Hartford may be larger than Lincoln, NE, but there are far more Nebraskans, and people in neighboring states, watching Nebraska sports than Hartford residents watching UConn. UConn is a Hartford County fanbase.

Keep your eyes open be cause I live in Port Chester right near the CT border and I'm in Greenwich all the time. Between hats, t-shirts, and sweatshirts I have UConn gear on all the time. I also call bulls**t on the statement you don't see UConn gear in the Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk area as well!

 

[Drumguy]

Keep your eyes open be cause I live in Port Chester right near the CT border and I'm in Greenwich all the time. Between hats, t-shirts, and sweatshirts I have UConn gear on all the time. I also call bulls**t on the statement you don't see UConn gear in the Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk area as well!

I had my UConn hoodie on last Saturday and had 2 strangers say "good win" and another fist bump me in Barnes and noble - " can't wait for basketball to start". That was in Westport.