There is one thing that is certain.
More of the same monitoring the situation and doing NOTHING was going to be the death of the entire athletic department.
This. We were between a rock and a hard place. No matter what we did, stay or go, it wasn't going to be a great choice. Losing the SNY contract really hurt our visibility significantly. It forced our hand.
I'm worried about football and the long term prospects of athletic department, but there is a lot to like about the move. Driveable games; opponents we know and have a history with; better presence in our targeted recruiting grounds; reduced travel costs (and travel fatigue for our athletes) and reclaiming the Big East/UConn brand that drove us to national prominence. If we can cobble together a decent football schedule and get decent side deals with SNY we create a unique brand for ourselves. I like the possibilities from that.
Of course this may be the first step in athletic irrelevance for us, but again, Aresco forced our hands. Here's to hoping we can use it to our advantage and it ends up biting him in the butt.