Funny that you would mention the perception of an ACC school, since the ACC is one of the few college conferences that seems to give a damn about women's basketball (UNC, Duke, Maryland). I'm not saying that football is left out of the equation, since as I stated before, "Football is king." However, having a good football team and a crap women's program is NOT greater than having a good football team and a championship women's program. Period. You should know better than that.
And it's not just the SNY money, my friend. It's also the UConn brand being viewed as excellent in every avenue we take. Men's basketball. Women's basketball. Both soccer teams. Hockey. There are a great many ACC teams that actually give a damn about the performance of the olympic sports. There are also a great many B1G teams that give a damn about it as well. So should you....
Sure. Once you point out a single conference realignment move that had anything to do with anything other than football or cable television subscribers I'll make sure to grab season tickets for field hockey. UConn has excellent teams in a lot of non-revenue sports, yet you've watched Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia, TCU and Louisville land on their feet.
Please - the brand being about excellence, like anyone is paying attention to these things: Without looking it up tell me what non-revenue sports TCU, Missouri or Texas A&M are good at.
I think sometimes people who follow this stuff lose sight of the tiny niche it inhabits. If you were in downtown Hartford on Wednesday morning the 3rd and asked the first 500 people who walked past you to name one team who made the men's soccer final four in 2012 how many do you think could come up with one? 3% would be 15 - do you think you'd get more than 15?
Pudge, I'm not dinging UConn's women's basketball - the success has created a set of circumstances though:
A: Some of the money that is spent on women's basketball is not spent on football or men's basketball. Now it's probably not a huge percentage but there is some.
B: The success of the women's basketball program has led to a portion of the fanbase who can't comprehend that level of success is impossible in men's sports.
C: It's further spoiled the fanbase - fickle to start - why support a 5-7, 5-7 football team when the 'girls' may run off 80 in a row at any point.
D: You know how we think people that watch bass fishing or NASCAR on TV are nuts - well the southerners who control college football think the same thing about people watching women's college basketball