Stay in the Big East: UConn/UMass Football Only to the MAC and have 6 home games | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Stay in the Big East: UConn/UMass Football Only to the MAC and have 6 home games

Ultimately UConn has yet to run into challenges in scheduling; they have a tv deal for football on par with what a football only share from the MAC would offer and recruits have cited the schedule as a benefit.

Now should they run into issues scheduling or revenue benefits of a move are too good to say no, they'll make the move, but there are very few people here, given the current state that would pick moving to the MAC. Right now?, the revenue just isn't a significant difference and the home schedule is a step down and less attractive to a fan base that is still just barely a decade removed from averaging 35k a game.

This would make complete sense for UMass whose experience has been different and whose stated goal is conference membership in any conference that will have them. Unfortunately C-USA wasn't interested in them alone and the MAC would need a football only partner to join with the Minutemen for it to work without having to leave the A-10. I think the MAC would take a UMass & Delaware pairing for all-sports in a second.
 
metsfan2323 said:
If it involves a significant bump in TV payout I could see it happening. 500K per year from CBS is abysmal.

The upside:
-Larger TV payout
-Access to the auto-playoff bid.
-Much easier schedule and scheduling. With Mora maybe 8, 9, 10 wins per year. The FIU win last year was 1000 times more enjoyable than the Michigan game.
-Meaningful games late season if we are competing for a conference championship and potential access to playoffs
- Hopefully no more dreadful body-bag games.

The downside:
-A couple mid-week games. With one being a home game
-Disappointing the delusional fanbase that thinks being independent makes us BYU. BTW most BYU fans hated being independent and are thrilled to be part of a conference again.


I'm hoping we get a similar, more desirable offer from the AAC and of course the goal is still a P5 conference.
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I'll take the visibility over a small pay bump.
 
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shizzle787 said:
I'll take the visibility over a small pay bump.
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Wins is the only thing that creates visibility for G5 schools. Tulane received a ton of visibility last year even though they were stuck on ESPN + for a good portion of the season. Wins gets you ranked and being ranked brings visibility.

Also being in a conference creates viewership interest in a team from fans of competing conference schools. We get zero crossover viewership as an independent.

Being on CBSN just means being on TV at the same time as 20 other games, it brings very little national viewership. Our fans watch and fans of the team we are playing watch and that's about it. It wouldn't be much different on ESPN+
 
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Current 2024 schedule:

@maryland
Army
@Duke
FAU
Buffalo
Temple
@ Wake Forest
Georgia State
@UAB
@UMass
@ Syracuse neutral site
FCS opponent TBD

Converted 2024 Hypothetical MAC schedule:

@maryland
Army
@ Toledo
Ohio
Buffalo
Temple (non conference)
@ Miami Ohio
Western Michigan
@Kent State
@UMass
@ Syracuse neutral site
NIU

The home schedule actually improves, I'm eliminating the FCS opponent. What this really shows is how much we overrate our independent scheduling.
 
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metsfan2323 said:
Current 2024 schedule:

@maryland
Army
@Duke
FAU
Buffalo
Temple
@ Wake Forest
Georgia State
@UAB
@UMass
@ Syracuse neutral site
FCS opponent TBD

Converted 2024 Hypothetical MAC schedule:

@maryland
Army
@ Toledo
Ohio
Buffalo
Temple (non conference)
@ Miami Ohio
Western Michigan
@Kent State
@UMass
@ Syracuse neutral site
NIU

The home schedule actually improves, I'm eliminating the FCS opponent. What this really shows is how much we overrate our independent scheduling.
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Independent is much better than a MAC schedule.

P5 games by year:

2022: Home: Syracuse, BC. Away: Michigan, NC St.
2023: Home: NC State. Away: BC, Tennessee
2024: Home: none. Away: Maryland, Duke, Wake Forest. Neutral: Syracuse?
2025: Home: none. Away: Syracuse, Purdue, Ohio St.
2026: Home: Maryland, Indiana. Away: UNC, Syracuse
2027: Home: Ole Miss, UNC, Syracuse. Away: none

So, there are 8 P5 home games, 12 P5 away games, and 1 P5 neutral game. Plus UConn plays Army 4x, UMass every year and a sampling of schools from the MWC, AAC, MAC, SBC, and CUSA. Much more exciting than a MAC schedule and no Tuesday or Wednesday nights!
 
UConnJim said:
Independent is much better than a MAC schedule.

P5 games by year:

2022: Home: Syracuse, BC. Away: Michigan, NC St.
2023: Home: NC State. Away: BC, Tennessee
2024: Home: none. Away: Maryland, Duke, Wake Forest. Neutral: Syracuse?
2025: Home: none. Away: Syracuse, Purdue, Ohio St.
2026: Home: Maryland, Indiana. Away: UNC, Syracuse
2027: Home: Ole Miss, UNC, Syracuse. Away: none

So, there are 8 P5 home games, 12 P5 away games, and 1 P5 neutral game. Plus UConn plays Army 4x, UMass every year and a sampling of schools from the MWC, AAC, MAC, SBC, and CUSA. Much more exciting than a MAC schedule and no Tuesday or Wednesday nights!
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Agreed - the MAC is a non-starter for UConn. Let's not waste any more brain power on this. :)
 
I wonder what espn would pay the mac… adding Army, Uconn and Umass…. They contract ends in 2026… I could see a eastern division of Army Uconn Umass and Buffalo
 
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Beachview said:
I wonder what espn would pay the mac… adding Army, Uconn and Umass…. They contract ends in 2026… I could see a eastern division of Army Uconn Umass and Buffalo
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Nah.
 
Exit 4 said:
It seems the only reason to ever do this is because the new expanded CFB playoff mandates all eligible schools must have a conference affiliation. Should that come to pass- I would still lean towards remaining independent if we can keep scheduling 3 to 5 power conf games a year and forget the playoff for now.
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Really, the college football playoff will not take Notre Dame unless they are in a conference for football?
 
Gburyhusky said:
If this is such a no-brainer then why hasn't UMass already done it?
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I thought the MAC wanted them all in or not at all
it’s their conference they make the rules
UMass wanted to keep basketball in the A10
Possibly the AAC will take them for all sports doubtful as a football only .
 
Forget about the MAC, the ACC may soon be an option, the B10 is a longer term option. Worse comes to worse, put football in Pac12 if they need us, and rest of teams can stay in Big East
 
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Hoophound said:
Our coach didn’t take this job to be in the MAC. Some of you guys just do not get it. Look up not down, that’s where we are going.
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It's a matter of perception, you view joining a G5 conference as a step down from independence, I see it as an improvement. We wanted to keep football in the AAC but they told us to get lost.

We could be the Big Fish in the MAC, as an independent we are beggars on the street for games and scheduling is getting tougher not easier.

I bet Mora would be very interested in competing for that G5 auto-bid vs the alternative of having no shot at it. Willie Fritz received a ton of publicity this year.

Willie Fritz also turned down Gtech to stay at Tulane, winning games has its reward.
 
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Steve1981 said:
Hi All, Know you guys were P5 and desire to get back there. Looked around and notice, WTF, year and year out 5 home games and your media contract is expiring after this season. So there should be rumors as your AD should be doing due diligence and checking every possibility.

A rumor surfaced on the CSNbbs realignment board by a MAC poster saying the MAC is in talks with UConn and UMass.

What I do know is that our 2 AD's do talk frequently and anything is possible and the new 6 garaurantee P5 with 6 at-large expanded CFP play-offs will help the already highly successful CFP. That UConn, UMass, and Army have requested an increase in the CFP payout as we all split 0.5%. or 0.016667% per team.

Know most of you will piss all over the idea and playing 6 games with the MAC. However think a few would like the idea of have 6, not 5, home games every year. Guessing your schedule would be 3 P5 games ( 2 buy games and 1 home and home), 1 FCS team and and 4 MAC teams. The east would be Buffalo, UMass, Ohio, UConn, Miami, Akron and Kent State. Yes some of you are feeling sick to your stomach at this moment.

However it would give UConn and UMass a very stable home, with the rivalry game, preserving our desired home conferences, Big East and A10. The additional home game revenue and about 1M in additional CFP playoff money from the MAC would offset the 1 P5 buy game. The reduced travel cost would be nice. The most important thing is the MAC has had several teams in the BCS playoffs and UConn and perhaps one of those teams could be in the CFP 12 team field. The MAC supports member teams in bowl games so the risk for eating a large ticket allocation will be gone.

To summarize it comes down if there is a benefit to have 6 home games instead of 5, perhaps a slight recruiting lift being in a conference, being able to play for a conference championship and more bowl game possibilities. The MAC did pretty good in bowl game wins this year.
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I think independence is working out well for UConn.

I think the MAC is a good conference…and honestly, Temple and UMass should be there in all sports.
 
metsfan2323 said:
]

It's a matter of perception, you view joining a G5 conference as a step down from independence, I see it as an improvement. We wanted to keep football in the AAC but they told us to get lost.

We could be the Big Fish in the MAC, as an independent we are beggars on the street for games and scheduling is getting tougher not easier.

I bet Mora would be very interested in competing for that G5 auto-bid vs the alternative of having no shot at it. Willie Fritz received a ton of publicity this year.

Willie Fritz also turned down Gtech to stay at Tulane, winning games has its reward.
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The AAC was a much better conference than the MAC then. It made sense to stay if they’d allow it. I don’t think their decision to force our hand was at all unexpected.
 
Beachview said:
I wonder what espn would pay the mac… adding Army, Uconn and Umass…. They contract ends in 2026… I could see a eastern division of Army Uconn Umass and Buffalo
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If the MAC somehow got Army and UConn on board, it would seem to imply $$ was decent. In that case the conference would seemingly also have their pick of Temple, Marshall, ODU, Delaware, etc to fill out an eastern division.... But hard to imagine a world where UConn says yes unless Big 12 and ACC fully cement their memberships.
 
XStorrsion said:
If the MAC somehow got Army and UConn on board, it would seem to imply $$ was decent. In that case the conference would seemingly also have their pick of Temple, Marshall, ODU, Delaware, etc to fill out an eastern division.... But hard to imagine a world where UConn says yes unless Big 12 and ACC fully cement their memberships.
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Mora has said that because we are not playing for a conference championship… that he must find a different way to motivate the team…i agree … that a lot of things would have to fall in place for us to join the mac… the money would have to be a lot better and eastern teams would have to be added… but with those things added… that wouldn’t be that bad of deal
 
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metsfan2323 said:
The home schedule actually improves, I'm eliminating the FCS opponent. What this really shows is how much we overrate our independent scheduling.
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Except this isn't the case overall....

1) No program eliminates it's gimme win against an FCS opponent.
2) The schedule you posted eliminates @Duke and @ Wake so you just killed P5 home games in future seasons (well actually the Duke home game is this year, so you just cost UConn the buy out and any chance of scheduling them home/home in the future; as well as risking the kind of distrust that you really can't have if you ever hope to get your home game first (and/or not canceled) in a future home/home)

You can't knock out the P5 road games without knocking out future, desirable games at home in the future or the revenue from the buy game. It's not that simple.
 
Beachview said:
Mora has said that because we are not playing for a conference championship… that he must find a different way to motivate the team…i agree … that a lot of things would have to fall in place for us to join the mac… the money would have to be a lot better and eastern teams would have to be added… but with those things added… that wouldn’t be that bad of deal
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That's a lot of conditions but to play along (first if you hated the FIU broadcast.. well MAC Football is also an on campus production, so you're looking at those costs for UConn to build out the production of the non-network games and that level of TV quality on road matchups):

1.) How much more do you think that UConn & UMass add to the value of the MAC conference deal? The current MAC deal that runs through 2027 pays each school ~$670k for all sports. They'll likely get a bump (C-USA's new deal is around $800k for all sports) // UConn currently makes $500k for football alone. The current MAC deal or even an expanded one is unlikely to provide that kind of material increase in payment to make up for losing a Saturday game to Tuesday night or sacrificing P5 home/homes.

2.) What better or Eastern teams do you see available to the MAC? Currently they sit 10th on an 11 conference pecking order. The teams they were interested in aren't interested in them. WKU & MTSU almost happened, MTSU eventually decided to stay in C-USA just in case the AAC comes calling. Those teams aren't going to materially increase the payout either.


It's like saying a lot of things would have to fall in place to marry <insert supermodel name here> I'd have to make a lot more money and have a much nicer home.. but if that happened it wouldn't be a bad deal.
 
ScottVib said:
That's a lot of conditions but to play along (first if you hated the FIU broadcast.. well MAC Football is also an on campus production, so you're looking at those costs for UConn to build out the production of the non-network games and that level of TV quality on road matchups):

1.) How much more do you think that UConn & UMass add to the value of the MAC conference deal? The current MAC deal that runs through 2027 pays each school ~$670k for all sports. They'll likely get a bump (C-USA's new deal is around $800k for all sports) // UConn currently makes $500k for football alone. The current MAC deal or even an expanded one is unlikely to provide that kind of material increase in payment to make up for losing a Saturday game to Tuesday night or sacrificing P5 home/homes.

2.) What better or Eastern teams do you see available to the MAC? Currently they sit 10th on an 11 conference pecking order. The teams they were interested in aren't interested in them. WKU & MTSU almost happened, MTSU eventually decided to stay in C-USA just in case the AAC comes calling. Those teams aren't going to materially increase the payout either.


It's like saying a lot of things would have to fall in place to marry <insert supermodel name here> I'd have to make a lot more money and have a much nicer home.. but if that happened it wouldn't be a bad deal.
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Ok, came back and took a look at the comments and mostly as expected. Yes the main thing is access to the CFP, but as others have mentioned is much too early as need to see the PAC12 and the ripple shakeout. Forget about the media deal as that 10M is for full members and would think there could be a like increase so the per MAC team would not take a hit. Remember, the MAC cares more about stability and finances. The bump up in media money would help offset some of the losses with sharing the CFP money with 2 additional teams.

CFP money and access to the championship and to some extent other little things as playing for a championship, being the big dog and winning are worth mentioning. The teams that are weak in football do have a very solid reputation in basketball as talking about Kent State and Akron. The other teams are not bad G5 teams with reduced travel expenses for 100 players, coaches, analyst, medical etc staff. (UMass, Buffalo, Ohio, and Miami - other teams in the east). Ya the west, like Toledo and a random Michigan team that changes with the rise and fall of teams as coaches move on. The others very indifferent and understand the prefer for some P5 challenges, so get it. (The west teams and depending who would be that 1 or 2 P5 teams that would be missed being in the MAC.)

This late spring summer shakeout needs to happen. Take care and as said early will occasionally stop by.

PS> Like your views of playing P5 teams being rock steady, for the same reason down play the possibility of the AAC and ACC. You left the AAC and sure they are butt hurt over it and you did sue the ACC when Boston College was poached. Those two are probably a little butt hurt over that as well.

The key question has a few different thoughts, will you ever be good enough to make the CFP but denied being an Indy and is playing the P5 mostly on the road or as Syracuse on a neutral site more consistently a ok? My gut tells me the later is yes, but not sure about the administration and coaching staff present and future.
 
Granted I haven't read all of the comments, but is this even a realistic proposition or a waste of bandwidth?

Has the fact that UMass was already a Football-only in the MAC and chose to kick rocks when the conference gave them the, "all sports or nothing," ultimatum?
 
UConn football in 2023 being undefeated going to Tennesse will change the narrative as to who wants UConn football.
 
Husky25 said:
Granted I haven't read all of the comments, but is this even a realistic proposition or a waste of bandwidth?

Has the fact that UMass was already a Football-only in the MAC and chose to kick rocks when the conference gave them the, "all sports or nothing," ultimatum?
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Will say it's very possible with UConn and no without UConn.

Their tune has been evolving and did do a heavy pimp job. What seems to impress them the most is our long standing rivalry with 76 games and counting. Here is a link where I stated most of the changes since 2015 on our exit from the MAC and the thread continues and will quote a few.
Mac Board Thread on Subject

Basically in the next page of the thread said, if ESPN thinks their is value and bumps up the contract, they could understand why the MAC might speak to UConn and UMass. It is not about preconceived value but real value assessed by ESPN.

Liked this quote and have to think with ESPN HQ in Conn they would like a piece of the UConn sports.
Agree with you here it's fun to speculate on who we think will be best but end of the day we answer to daddy ESPN
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