Thread/post counts on the various BY forums

[alexrgct]

As of right now, the thread/post count for the UConn sports-specific forums are as follows:

Men's BB- 5,349/72,148
Women's BB- 4,266/67,069
Football- 2,708/43,634
Baseball and soccer- 1,104/2,416

Now, although we've completed one season of each of the "big three" sports since the BY moved to this site, I would expect an uptick of football chatter headed into the sesason. Thus, it's possible football will get closer to WBB by the time this incarnation of the BY has been in existence for a full year.

Even so, those numbers, if they're to be considered reasonably reflective of overall interest in the various UConn sports, are staggering. And something of a concern as the conference realignment process continues. You won't find too many schools with BCS football programs where the women's basketball board crushes the FB board in terms of participation, even if the football program isn't a powerhouse and is still relatively new to FBS.

The positive way of looking at it is that it's awesome that WBB has such a foothold at UConn. Additionally, the women's BB program has so far been the least impacted by the changes. The Big East has been relatively weak in football, so any losses are big problems. Meanwhile, Syracuse, West Virginia, and Pitt have all fielded very successful MBB programs. However, the schools the Big East is losing don't hurt UConn WBB program that much. Still penty of competition in the Big East, still plenty of marquee OOC games, and now trips to Texas, potentially fertile recruiting grounds, with the additions of SMU and Houston.

There is nevertheless a negative way of looking at it. Football is driving the conference realignment, and if UConn football is perceived as not a valuable asset with little interest, well, who knows where UConn ends up? Yes, UConn WBB will still have Geno, a ton of tradition and brand equity, etc. However, if the resulting conference affiliation, TV revenue, and overall athletic department profitability drop, there are all kinds of possible negative impacts to the WBB program. Lack of investment in facilities and other resources, increased parking fees at Gampel, ticket prices, etc.

Anyway, I don't really have a solution here, but those thread/post numbers were rather eye-popping to me. And while it's great to be part of a robust online community for WBB, I worry that those numbers underscore more sinister problems UConn faces going forward.

 

[EricLA]

well i used to check on the "conference realignment board" somewhat frequently, but there's been really no movement or news of note the past several months. Most fans do understand that UCONN is a bit of a fledgling football program - we didn't make the jump to Division 1 all that long ago. and as a relatively small school... well actually i just looked it up. 2009-2010, total enrollment was just over 30,000, but 4,500 were undergraduates at regional campuses. i always thought our attendance was in the 17,000 range, but that's only undergrads. there were over 6,700 grad students that year. not sure how many were "on campus" but i'd assume at Storrs the total "student enrollment" is close to 25,000?

anyway back to your point, that is impressive. there are very few programs that have the kind of following UCONN does for WCBB. Just for example... Tennessee has...

594,000 football posts
237,000 MCBB posts
216,000 WCBB posts

the football is no surprise to me, but the men's hoops over the women's hoops is. they've never really had a good men's hoops program. anyway, UCONN is strong in most sports. baseball, soccer, field hockey, even polo are all sports UCONN has been ranked in the top 25 in recent years. and we are not only the best public institution in New England, but we are one of the top 20 public schools in the nation (impressive considering all the UC schools like Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, etc are public too) and #58 for all schools. i still believe UCONN is a great program for any conference and i remain somewhat confident that we will end up in a good place. if there is another string of raids and conference changes, UCONN is well positioned to end up strong, at least i hope so...

 

[DaddyChoc]

number of games played and drama of a game or news may give views/thread count a boost

 

[Adios]

Most fans do understand that UCONN is a bit of a fledgling football program - we didn't make the jump to Division 1 all that long ago. and as a relatively small school... well actually i just looked it up.

We've actually been playing Division 1 colleges since 1915, at least. Just took a while to get into the upper tier of Division 1.

Tennessee has...

594,000 football posts
237,000 MCBB posts
216,000 WCBB posts

I would attribute that to cultural differences there. I am not too surprised that men's bball is bigger than women's bball there. The Northeast has quite a different cultural mindset than the Deep South.

 

[Icebear]

As of right now, the thread/post count for the UConn sports-specific forums are as follows:

Men's BB- 5,349/72,148
Women's BB- 4,266/67,069
Football- 2,708/43,634
Baseball and soccer- 1,104/2,416

Now, although we've completed one season of each of the "big three" sports since the BY moved to this site, I would expect an uptick of football chatter headed into the sesason. Thus, it's possible football will get closer to WBB by the time this incarnation of the BY has been in existence for a full year.

Even so, those numbers, if they're to be considered reasonably reflective of overall interest in the various UConn sports, are staggering. And something of a concern as the conference realignment process continues. You won't find too many schools with BCS football programs where the women's basketball board crushes the FB board in terms of participation, even if the football program isn't a powerhouse and is still relatively new to FBS.

The positive way of looking at it is that it's awesome that WBB has such a foothold at UConn. Additionally, the women's BB program has so far been the least impacted by the changes. The Big East has been relatively weak in football, so any losses are big problems. Meanwhile, Syracuse, West Virginia, and Pitt have all fielded very successful MBB programs. However, the schools the Big East is losing don't hurt UConn WBB program that much. Still penty of competition in the Big East, still plenty of marquee OOC games, and now trips to Texas, potentially fertile recruiting grounds, with the additions of SMU and Houston.

There is nevertheless a negative way of looking at it. Football is driving the conference realignment, and if UConn football is perceived as not a valuable asset with little interest, well, who knows where UConn ends up? Yes, UConn WBB will still have Geno, a ton of tradition and brand equity, etc. However, if the resulting conference affiliation, TV revenue, and overall athletic department profitability drop, there are all kinds of possible negative impacts to the WBB program. Lack of investment in facilities and other resources, increased parking fees at Gampel, ticket prices, etc.

Anyway, I don't really have a solution here, but those thread/post numbers were rather eye-popping to me. And while it's great to be part of a robust online community for WBB, I worry that those numbers underscore more sinister problems UConn faces going forward.

Of course, such assessment by entities considering a team with numbers like UConn's fanbase is a choice about how to see the meaning of those numbers. One can see them as a deficiency of support for football or as a market and area that may have insights in how to grow other aspects of the sports economic pie. What is it that one wants to see? This becomes the question, "why should I see it this way or that way.