All of your suggestions are bad. Bye Felicia.
Do you add this little value in all areas of your life?
I see the Mothership didn't find you.
You clearly don't get it.
How much PCP do you have to smoke to convince yourself...
So Dayooper, I think I unfairly lumped you in with the greater DB comments on the thread unfairly and I owe you an apology for snapping back specifically at you. I apologize. I should have better read the context of your comments.
So first - Sagarin takes into account statistics for a whole season. It is one set of data, but it is compiled by many data points. One regular season game is much less of a team's measure. That said, it is very difficult for a FCS team to keep up with a FBS team for an entire game. Size and depth differential especially wear down a FCS team. The Jump for a JMU to AAC level is not so great with 2 years of FBS recruiting.
Please answer this question, will your alliance/Big East method give the exposure that UConn needs? If UConn wants to be a national university, can they promote their brand through FS2 and the regional Fox Sports broadcasts? Your alliance won't be on FS1 much and, except for possibly regional channels, won't be on broadcast channels either. I have seen UConn football several times on both ESPN and ESPN2 here in Michigan. Sure they were Thursday night games, but UConn's brand was nation wide. With Big10 games coming to Fox (they won't have any on FS2), other conference games will be pushed there. Remember, they have partial contracts with the Big12 and the Pac.
College athletics isn't just about making money. It's also about promotion of their brands. It's why ESPN is so desired by schools, it promotes their brands to sports recruits and general students recruits. I may not completely understand East coast mentality, but I do have family that is from there (Massachusetts to be exact) and we have talked about the differences between college education here in the Midwest and Northeast. Basically, it comes down to public vs private. They never looked at a public school for undergrad, never even considered or applied to one. Where UConn wants to go, they need to bring in students from all over the nation. They have the opportunity to become even bigger than they are now, but they need to continue promoting their brand nationwide. Football is the key to do that.
Clearly a ACC or B1G invite is the dream. But if P5 is not in the cards ever or in the short term, the question is what is the better spot for UConn? The American or The Big East?
There are a few things to think about. "College athletics isn't just about making money." But Money Is Important. The better programs, and certainly the P5, either make money or cover costs. To compete at a high level money needs to be competitive. State funding is a risk with the current condition of financing. UConn needs a better TV contract. It isn't prudent to dismiss the funding of athletics.
"Will your alliance/Big East method give the exposure that UConn needs? If UConn wants to be a national university, can they promote their brand through FS2 and the regional Fox Sports broadcasts? Your alliance won't be on FS1 much and, except for possibly regional channels, won't be on broadcast channels either."
UConn's national exposure comes from Basketball first. You can compete for championships in basketball. That is where you have earned your status, and that is where you have the best potential. Football at FBS helps the cause, but really playing mid level football in a G5 conference is not your lead selling point, even if it's on ESPN. ESPN is getting smaller and Aresco has indicated he is very interested in other directions. UConn may not even be on ESPN in the future. The Big East on Fox/CBS has been good for the conference. Recruiting numbers for the conference have been solid. Recruits know that all of their games are on national TV. Ratings are honestly lower in a start-up channel, but the $$$ and broad coverage of all games are the positive offset.
Being in the 6th best football conference and the 7th or 8th best basketball conference is your current package deal. $1.4M for football and $0.4M for basketball.
Being in the 2nd or 3rd best basketball conference for your flagship program, at $5M per year, and taking your chances on the independent football path is the another option if football did not stay in the AAC.
To be clear, I advocate UConn going Big East
AND staying in the AAC for football. I think that can be negotiated. The fallback position is football independence.
Then the question becomes "independent like Liberty and UMass?" Sort of, and also like BYU and Army. It would be better than "just independent" if some regional East Coast footprint schools were independent together in an Alliance. Sure, no CCG, but that is not the biggest priority. An Alliance is better for growing rivalries (this is a huge issue that many look past - who are UConn's rivals???), scheduling, and to market a TV deal.
The Big East provides a top conference with regional rivals and TV coverage that helps recruiting. It can provide probably 3X more than what your football TV deal is worth. The risk on football is already covered.
