Texas & OK ask to join SEC?

[nelsonmuntz]

There's almost no way the PAC is grabbing UNLV. This is a conference that turned down Oklahoma and Texas because they didn't want to take OSU and Tech on academic grounds.

The Pac 12 turned down Texas and Oklahoma because they didn't want to deal with the drama. Texas Tech and OSU were not particularly popular, but that was not the main issue with the Pac 12 walking away from that situation.

 

[History Geek]

I have not really focused on this the last few months, but I hope that UConn had someone working Madison Avenue and Wall Street the last few months. Whichever school establishes itself as THE New York college sports program will have a massive advantage.

I don’t think anyonewill become the dominant college team. Too many transplants, including UConn alums. I can see us being top of a long plurality list though.

 

[CL82]

Very few of those billionaires have ties to UConn. They have ties to Ivy League, etc. It’s not a location issue, it’s relationships.

Yeah, but we need to actively develop those relationships. UConn can and should provide a better bang for the buck than the Ivies. Whether is promoting the company or recognizing the individual. For those seeking that, UConn can and should be more attractive.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don’t think anyonewill become the dominant college team. Too many transplants, including UConn alums. I can see us being top of a long plurality list though.

There is so much NIL money sitting in NYC. It is the advertising capital of the world. Any meaningful percentage to UConn would give UConn a huge advantage.

To the other posts about Connecticut billionaires. I don't think we need to look at the UConn relationship with Connecticut's business community through the lens of big boosters any more. Think of it more as a mutually beneficial marketing relationship with the flagship state school and the only major sports teams Connecticut will ever have.

Furthermore, in a world where social media influencing will be critically important, having the most valuable women's athletic program in the country (by a mile) gives UConn a huge advantage.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Storrs South]

 

[CL82]

Interesting Texas and A&M are in different pods when the rest seem geographicaly based. Maybe to give more teams a Texas presence? (Or more likely acknowledging that the two schools don't like each other?) Otherwise flip A&M and Missouri?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Isn’t that what UConn Stamford is for…

No, UConn has never tapped into the big money in the state like they should have. CT. is the wealthiest state per capita with hedge fund billionaires littered throughout Fairfield County and they've never tapped into that.

It is what Stamford was supposed to be for- establish a footprint in Fairfield County. The university actually utilizing it efficiently is a different story. So far answer is no.

 

[Chin Diesel]

In others news, water is wet. A&M had to make a public statement for its fan base but by no means are they holding up this move.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Interesting Texas and A&M are in different pods when the rest seem geographicaly based. Maybe to give more teams a Texas presence? (Or more likely acknowledging that the two schools don't like each other?) Otherwise flip A&M and Missouri?

Yes, you spread the Texas love to all schools.

 

[Stinger92860]

Maybe the BIG would want UConn for our research too…..

Largest Research Grant in UConn History Awarded by the National Science Foundation - UConn Today

The largest grant in UConn’s history awarded to the UConn School of Medicine will create a Network for Advanced NMR, a powerful method for analyzing molecules.

today.uconn.edu

 

[hoopsfan22]

I've been thinking this for a while that the ultimate goal is just one big super conference or a collection of two or three super conferences with a total of 30-ish teams that breakaway for football and maybe men's basketball and keep all the money to themselves and basically turn into a pro league for colleges. This would involve consolidation (bye bye Big 12), and contraction (bye bye to the Purdues of the world) to dump the relative non-contributors and pool more and more of the money among fewer and fewer schools.

 

[Vowelguy]

Interesting Texas and A&M are in different pods when the rest seem geographicaly based. Maybe to give more teams a Texas presence? (Or more likely acknowledging that the two schools don't like each other?) Otherwise flip A&M and Missouri?

Splits up TX and also doesn’t put all the new schools in one pod. And puts Ar with OK snd MO which makes sense geographically.

 

[UCFBfan]

You realize BE schools media rights are like 10 cents on the dollar of P5 schools. We don't have to worry about the imminent collapse of the BE, but it is still is the island of misfit toys, just a much nicer island.

Oh I know this. However, I don't feel the same sinking feeling like we have in the past. I feel confident in our current set up. Our bball is in a good spot and we are proving that we can schedule good opponents and recruit well as an independent.

I can sit here and not feel dress that we might end up in the AAC or some other horrible conference with teams that I don't care about for all sports.

I no longer expect a P5 invite and have resigned myself to our current status.

 

[SoFla Steve]

I absolutely believe this will be the next step. We will get ever closer to the Knight Commission recommendation that the elite college football programs will leave the rest of their less successful P5 conference rivals to form a super league that is independent of the NCAA. With the football money out of the NCAA, basketball becomes king of the NCAA. Also, there will be a lot of football games available to schedule since the remaining P5 football programs have to replace opponents that left for the new super league.

I'm sure this will happen. I just don't know how quickly it will occur.

 

[CTBballfan243]

So who has leverage if this happens? AAC? Big 12 leftovers? Simple merger? Would a merger constitute a P5 Conference?

There won’t be a P5 anymore. Just a P4

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There won’t be a P5 anymore. Just a P4

There will just be a P1 if the Pac 12, ACC and Big 10 are not careful.

 

[Hoophound]

There will just be a P1 if the Pac 12, ACC and Big 10 are not careful.

There is an issue with this though. In the long run, do people in places like New York, Boston, Phoenix and Charlotte want to watch Florida play Alabama and Texas? We do now because our local teams are in the same division. There is the hope among BC, Temple and Cincinnati fans that one day, they might put a great team together and make a run at a National Championship. You take that away from them and I’m not so sure they give a damn about what’s going on in the SEC. I know I won’t. I’ll go right back to my 90’s self and be a college basketball fan and an NFL football fan.

 

[The Funster]

There will just be a P1 if the Pac 12, ACC and Big 10 are not careful.

my thoughts exactly

 

[The Funster]

There is an issue with this though. In the long run, do people in places like New York, Boston, Phoenix and Charlotte want to watch Florida play Alabama and Texas? We do now because our local teams are in the same division. There is the hope among BC, Temple and Cincinnati fans that one day, they might put a great team together and make a run at a National Championship. You take that away from them and I’m not so sure they give a damn about what’s going on in the SEC. I know I won’t. I’ll go right back to my 90’s self and be a college basketball fan and an NFL football fan.

The SEC with Texas will be a world unto itself.

 

[Eavesdrop]

It is what Stamford was supposed to be for- establish a footprint in Fairfield County. The university actually utilizing it efficiently is a different story. So far answer is no.

Too bad that there hasn't been/are not venues for UConn's basketball and football programs to occasionally play home games on/near the Stamford campus.

 

[Stinger92860]

The SEC with Texas will be a world unto itself.

When they play each other, one team has to lose. There will be teams with losing records.

 

[JohnFSilver]

They can’t.



They have less than no chance. They have a negative change.



Kansas is in a pickle. Nothing they do will affect UConn - most likely, they remain in a reconstituted Big 12.



The AAC was killing the basketball program. It kinda starts and ends there.

The AAC hammered men's hoops, soccer etc. Baseball prospered and the Olympics and non-low revenue sports spent a fortune.

But, there was no interest in UConn playing any of the AAC schools in football or basketball. Maybe Wichita State had a little juice, but mainly nothing. Fans didn't even come out to watch top 20 Houston program or UCF. They seriously didn't care in football.

For football, AAC's biggest issue is it is a good football league with absolutely zero appeal. For basketball, it was half decent teams and 6 abominable teams.

It absolutely annihilated UConn as a brand to be in there, much worse than I thought initially.

How nice is it to not worry. We don't have to get the let's get the table scraps. No one at UConn wants to get into a BIg 12 with Texas and Oklahoma. And TBH, fans would probably prefer current situation than even an invite to Big 12.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There is an issue with this though. In the long run, do people in places like New York, Boston, Phoenix and Charlotte want to watch Florida play Alabama and Texas? We do now because our local teams are in the same division. There is the hope among BC, Temple and Cincinnati fans that one day, they might put a great team together and make a run at a National Championship. You take that away from them and I’m not so sure they give a damn about what’s going on in the SEC. I know I won’t. I’ll go right back to my 90’s self and be a college basketball fan and an NFL football fan.

There are 4 (+1) forces all hitting at once.

1) Consolidation of top programs in the SEC driven by television and streaming.

2) NIL turning the recruiting dynamic on its head and likely fragmenting talent because kids got to play to get paid.

3) Anti-trust enforcement risk hanging over everything that any conference does now. The Alston decision is the law of the land, and that has implications beyond just NIL income.

4) Some groups appreciating that college athletics risks becoming regional if one league emerges victorious.

5) Not to be forgotten, football faces an existential threat from CTE.


I do not how anyone can be an expert in how college sports will turn out with these large and conflicting trends.