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The AAC already is holding in escrow this past year’s year-end distribution of approximately $5.1 million to UConn. The AAC will hold next year’s distribution, too. There’s no way of knowing an exact figure. Some of it depends on how successful the league is, especially in football. If the AAC lands a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl, as it has the last few years, and Geno Auriemma gets the UConn women into the Final Four (a direct $500,000 bonus), that will mean a payout in the $5 million to $6 million range.
The hope is UConn is around the $11 million mark by next year. UConn negotiated the balance and each year for the following six years the school would give the AAC about $1 million. That’s tenable.
With the move, the school also looks at saving upward of $2 million a year in travel and believes there will be at least a $2 million increase in revenue related to men’s basketball. If those figures reach fruition, the entire $17 million exit and $3.5 million Big East entry fees would be covered in five years.<<