UConn’s next move.

[shizzle787]

With all the news about Gonzaga, I think we need to think outside the box. We need to pitch the ACC on Olympic sports membership. They have 15 members; it makes sense to go to 16. As part of the deal, I would hope we can get 4 football games a year against the league. Miami, FSU, VaTech, and Clemson wouldn’t have to be in the rotation. We already regularly play the rest. Something to think about.

 

[NowInStorrs]

Do we really want to jump into a sinking ship ACC? UNC, FSU, Clemson, and Virginia are probably gone at some point. Potentially Miami, Louisville, and Duke as well.

ACC will be more like the early version of the AAC.

 

[fatlucy]

The ACC would be a temp situation. It’s BIG or SEC. And to do that we need football to be competitive. This years progress is promising.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Conference Realignment Board

www.the-boneyard.com

 

[HuskyHawk]

Do we really want to jump into a sinking ship ACC? UNC, FSU, Clemson, and Virginia are probably gone at some point. Potentially Miami, Louisville, and Duke as well.

ACC will be more like the early version of the AAC.

ACC is in better shape than the B12 or Pac12....by a lot. It will be fine. This whole "2 mega leagues" thing is a fantasy.

 

[Palatine]

Win at football and the world will be our oyster.

 

[gsmooth]

ACC is in better shape than the B12 or Pac12....by a lot. It will be fine. This whole "2 mega leagues" thing is a fantasy.

Now why do you say that? I am not disagreeing with you as I, like many others, have trouble wrapping their heads around conference realignment.

I know the B12 got a new contract that will pay each member more than the ACC currently gets as their GOR deal ends in 2036. Pac12 I would think Oregon and Washington are looking to bounce. But what about the ACC? Aren't UNC and VA prime targets for the B10 while FSU and Clemson for the SEC?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Now why do you say that? I am not disagreeing with you as I, like many others, have trouble wrapping their heads around conference realignment.

I know the B12 got a new contract that will pay each member more than the ACC currently gets as their GOR deal ends in 2036. Pac12 I would think Oregon and Washington are looking to bounce. But what about the ACC? Aren't UNC and prime targets for the B10 while FSU and Clemson for the SEC?

The reason the ACC is valuable is because it has those assets. It has, by far, the most valuable collection of schools outside of the SEC or B10. Will it be pillaged 14 years from now? Maybe...but that's 14 years away. What is the TV/Streaming landscape in 2036? More likely that the ACC expands and renegotiates its deal higher before then. The ACC is worth more than the B12 or Pac12. Do Fox or ESPN want to pay a full current share of what they pay the B1G or SEC for additional teams? I doubt it. Better to pay a bit more to the existing leagues.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

After years of having to watching the bouncing ball of Conference Realignment and think of potential scenarios of UConn, it is now very easy and straightforward for UConn and our fans to understand at this point--so don't over think it.

We are remaining in the Big East unless/until we get a full invite to the B1G, ACC, or SEC. It really is that simple.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

oh, look. another realignment thread. gotta be true here, anytime i see one of these, i knee-jerk into thinking 'dr boneyard, chiropractor' cuz of all the pretzel twisting. everytime.
i've always felt that the ACC would be a great fit for us, if they chose to invite us. operative phrase there 'if they chose to invite us.' two to tango, an all that.
i don't think some of youse have ever been south of Richmond, and east of Tulsa. if you had, u would better understand the culture.
ACC is fine as pecan pie, and ain't going anywhere. to even think otherwise, is to garantee another trip to dr, boneyard, chiropractor.
time for a tune:

'round and a round, and a round, and a round ....'
should be a big crowd at the waiting room, better get there early.
if ya don't, ya could miss out on the popcorn. i never liked that table he uses with the spring loaded center. he hops on ur back, ur stomach gets squished down, and he pretends that something is realigned. as if.
tried it once. never again. switched to being a situp doer - problem solved!
too funny. at the end, doctor guy starts holding his lower back.

 

[MrSec224]

The ACC at 14-17 mill a year is a good fall back option if we cant get into one of the Super Conferences

The more I think about it. The 4-6 mill a year we get from the Big East just isnt going to cut it. And being hoops only for tv I cant see a major raise coming relative to the other conferences

 

[metsfan2323]

We are remaining in the Big East unless/until we get a full invite to the B1G, ACC, or SEC. It really is that simple.

I also think it's highly unlikely we turn down a B12 invite if that ever came. Those schools are making good money.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The ACC at 14-17 mill a year is a good fall back option if we cant get into one of the Super Conferences

The more I think about it. The 4-6 mill a year we get from the Big East just isnt going to cut it. And being hoops only for tv I cant see a major raise coming relative to the other conferences

Where do those numbers come from? That's half what the ACC pays out. From The Athletic. "Schools received an average distribution of $36.1 million per institution, according to the conference"

 

[SubbaBub]

The next move is wait until an east coast based conference offer us $30M/yr for our FB program then say yes.

Until then, get better at FB and play better opponents.

 

[aburks41]

The reason the ACC is valuable is because it has those assets. It has, by far, the most valuable collection of schools outside of the SEC or B10. Will it be pillaged 14 years from now? Maybe...but that's 14 years away. What is the TV/Streaming landscape in 2036? More likely that the ACC expands and renegotiates its deal higher before then. The ACC is worth more than the B12 or Pac12. Do Fox or ESPN want to pay a full current share of what they pay the B1G or SEC for additional teams? I doubt it. Better to pay a bit more to the existing leagues.

The ACC has 14 years left to live. The GOR is the only thing keeping them alive. Clemson, FSU, Miami, UVA, and UNC all believe that they are worthy of that $80-$100M/yr payout that the B1G & SEC will be making by 2036. Once the GOR is over, goodbye ACC.

None of those schools will vote to re-up the deal unless they do unequal revenue sharing so schools like Georgia Tech, Vtech, BC, Wake, etc make peanuts compared to the Clemson/FSU types. There is very likely going to be one more major realignment in the future before this all comes to a halt, we just have to be doing everything in our power to make sure we get included in that next expansion round.

 

[uconndogs]

There are no doubt schools in the ACC that are enormously concerned with what the SEC and BiG are doing with Texas/Oklahoma and USC/UCLA. Those conferences are setting themselves up for huge paydays given the markets they have and continue to penetrate. I would not be surprised if some of the ACC members try to bring the conference and media partners to the table before their GOR expire to see if a deal can be cut to join either the SEC or BiG. I have to believe Florida State, Virginia and UNC would be highly desired by either the BiG or SEC and I am sure they would be happy to go.

I just don't see what UCONN brings to the table that would entice either the BiG or the SEC. I don't think the NYC market is a viable argument and without that it's just not a major market target. When the ACC splinters UCONN will find a home with whatever results from the remainder of the ACC.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Next moves: Football goes bowling, men's basketball makes the second weekend, women's basketball makes final four, hockey makes the tournament. We go from there

 

[Palatine]

There are no doubt schools in the ACC that are enormously concerned with what the SEC and BiG are doing with Texas/Oklahoma and USC/UCLA. Those conferences are setting themselves up for huge paydays given the markets they have and continue to penetrate. I would not be surprised if some of the ACC members try to bring the conference and media partners to the table before their GOR expire to see if a deal can be cut to join either the SEC or BiG. I have to believe Florida State, Virginia and UNC would be highly desired by either the BiG or SEC and I am sure they would be happy to go.

I just don't see what UCONN brings to the table that would entice either the BiG or the SEC. I don't think the NYC market is a viable argument and without that it's just not a major market target. When the ACC splinters UCONN will find a home with whatever results from the remainder of the ACC.

UConn delivers the New Haven/Hartford Market which is the 30th largest in the country. They also have the #5 market on one border and the #1market on the other. Don't diss the number of eyeballs UConn brings to the table. It would make a significant impact for the B10.

Now, UConn sucks at marketing and has for a long time. They have recently tried to leverage New York which is good. But they continue to ignore Boston which they shouldn't.

But even just focusing on the 3.5 million folks in Connecticut. It would put them solidly in the top half of any P5 league.

 

[freescooter]

If an all sports conference at the P5 level calls, UConn is out the door before the call ends. Simple as that. My guess is that we have a deal of some sort with the ACC if you listen to Mora and Dave but that’s just a guess. If you want a big time basketball league you can do way worse than the B12 which has 3 teams in the finals over the last 3 tournaments and won 2 straight. Five different teams in the Final Four since 2016. I know it isn’t a popular view here but leagues like that have quality depth.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The ACC has 14 years left to live. The GOR is the only thing keeping them alive. Clemson, FSU, Miami, UVA, and UNC all believe that they are worthy of that $80-$100M/yr payout that the B1G & SEC will be making by 2036. Once the GOR is over, goodbye ACC.

None of those schools will vote to re-up the deal unless they do unequal revenue sharing so schools like Georgia Tech, Vtech, BC, Wake, etc make peanuts compared to the Clemson/FSU types. There is very likely going to be one more major realignment in the future before this all comes to a halt, we just have to be doing everything in our power to make sure we get included in that next expansion round.

Bah. None of them are going to get it and they will have to come to grips with that. Just like Oregon and Washington do. The SEC and B1G have their share of free riders as well, those schools are just lucky. I don't think the ACC schools are going anywhere unless the conferences get blown up altogether, in which case, yes, UNC, FSU move up and Vandy and Northwestern move down.

If UConn can play all sports in the ACC, we absolutely jump at that chance. Jim Mora is critical to that goal, and so is Hurley.

 

[kobe]

uconn is out of sight and out of mind for any P5 discussions and will be for the foreseeable future outside of some very niche situation where the acc is poached in about a decade or so.

im curious to know where uconn would have fallen had yall decided to stay in the aac and had some moderate success the past 3-4 years. but dropping out to indy to "save" basketball was effectively the killing blow to any future P5 conference.

 

[uconndogs]

UConn delivers the New Haven/Hartford Market which is the 30th largest in the country. They also have the #5 market on one border and the #1market on the other. Don't diss the number of eyeballs UConn brings to the table. It would make a significant impact for the B10.

Now, UConn sucks at marketing and has for a long time. They have recently tried to leverage New York which is good. But they continue to ignore Boston which they shouldn't.

But even just focusing on the 3.5 million folks in Connecticut. It would put them solidly in the top half of any P5 league.

I don't think it's a P5 discussion. I think it's a P2 discussion and UCONN doesn't bring enough to the table. I can also see a scenario where university administrations decide not to compete at the P2 level. NIL, and whatever the successor to that monster becomes, will make the P2 full on professional sport franchises sponsored by their respective Universities. I'm not convinced it works or is the best option for lots of universities.

 

[August_West]

My Favorite topic.


FWIW Kobe32 is here to troll us now, thats ok, he has been here long enough to earn that right. He has to live with the fact that he is round of 32 at best while mick is in Final fours.

He's also right. Overall. But he is wrong about staying in the AAC. We wouldve been just as screwed there as we are now, except we would still be in the AAC which is way worse than a few good years of NBE hoops. We did the right thing. If we were in the AAC we would still be in the AAC with no P5 invite. So if we aint getting it anyway, Im glad we are in the NBE until attrition takes that down in next decade.

 

[tzznandrew]

My Favorite topic.


FWIW Kobe32 is here to troll us now, thats ok, he has been here long enough to earn that right.

He's also right. Overall. But he is wrong about staying in the AAC. We wouldve been just as screwed there as we are now, except we would still be in the AAC which is way worse than a few good years of NBE hoops. We did the right thing. If we were in the AAC we would still be in the AAC with no P5 invite. So if we aint getting it anyway, Im glad we are in the NBE until attrition takes that down in next decade.

Being indy sucks in a lot of ways, but getting local games is the one benefit. There are a number of reasons football and basketball struggled in the AAC while other schools in that conference did well, and they fall on geography and incompetence—largely UConn specific problems. Getting more local games we care about in both sports is a big win.

The B1G or ACC are longshots—and so was the B12. Competing there would have been better because there'd have been more marquee games...but it still would be difficult, and more likely than not we'd be bottom of the barrel in a conference where our local rivals would be in West Virginia and Cincinnati.

 

[NJHusky]

UConn delivers the New Haven/Hartford Market which is the 30th largest in the country. They also have the #5 market on one border and the #1market on the other. Don't diss the number of eyeballs UConn brings to the table. It would make a significant impact for the B10.

Now, UConn sucks at marketing and has for a long time. They have recently tried to leverage New York which is good. But they continue to ignore Boston which they shouldn't.

But even just focusing on the 3.5 million folks in Connecticut. It would put them solidly in the top half of any P5 league.

I know you were in the media biz, but I don’t see it. Rutgers got the B1G network on cable packages in NJ/NY. That’s big bucks. I already get the ACC stuff in NJ too. Adding UConn isn’t getting the B1G or Acc any significant additional cable fees.

Does the #35 media market really have any juice? That puts it slightly behind salt lake and San Antonio and ahead of places like Milwaukee and Greenville. If those metrics moved the needle UConn would have already been in a P5 conf.