UConn/Big 12 Meeting Next Week

[Stinger92860]

The B-12 is at best on a precipice. The BE is on the wrong side of the divide. If we move from the BE to the B-12 we may well still end up on the wrong side a dozen years down the road. For the most part I agree with your assertion, but my take is moving to the B-12 may end up being wrong, remaining in the BE when we would have had the opportunity to join a current P-4 school will be wrong.

Also, I'm not sure many of our fans really care about DePaul or Butler.

Let me guess, all your money is kept in a mattress, am I correct?

 

[Redding Husky]

And yet younger than almost every big time CFB stadium.

Maybe a major upgrade at the Rent will suffice. A bigger Jumbotron won’t do it. After all, the Big 12 is mainly looking at quality of play and attendance. But the stadium and its location will be an issue we’ll have to overcome.

 

[Stinger92860]

UConn is expected to build, fund, and operate a program just like the other Big 12 schools. If a new stadium can’t be built, that will be a big strike against us. By 2031 the Rent will be 30 years old.

Lamont will get it done if it its needed. <saracasn on> We can play in 2 stadiums like we do for basketball.

 

[NJHusky]

By 2031 the Rent will be 30 years old.

Wow…u just made me feel old. Lol. I remember opening day

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Maybe a major upgrade at the Rent will suffice. A bigger Jumbotron won’t do it. After all, the Big 12 is mainly looking at quality of play and attendance. But the stadium and its location will be an issue we’ll have to overcome.

I believe as long as we show a commitment to updating the Rent (including what was just approved; coincidental timing?) and other renovations/upgrades up to and including expansion to ~ 55k capacity that this would suffice Big12 officials.

 

[NJHusky]

Maybe a major upgrade at the Rent will suffice. A bigger Jumbotron won’t do it. After all, the Big 12 is mainly looking at quality of play and attendance. MONEY But the stadium and its location will be an issue we’ll have to overcome.

FIFY

 

[CL82]

You are not wrong TODAY. If the college sports world doesn’t change from what it is today, it is rational to stay in the Big East and let football die.

I'm not sure that is a rational decision, even today, since it would herald the eventual decline of our ability to play big-time sports.

 

[CL82]

You sound like the people who ran Sears and JC Penney.

In the 80s, I wrote a white paper on the eventual decline of brick and mortar establishments that focused on Sears. It was, for all intense and purposes, before the worldwide web so it focused on downsizing the square footage where it would only be enough for a specific niche say Ted Williams sporting goods or just Craftsman tools, but would set aside a catalog desk in the back so that anything could be ordered directly. It turned out to be prescient, sort of.

 

[superjohn]

The Big East teams. Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, and WVU are awful. Cincinnati did decently in the NIT. NCST is actually good.

You're hyping up Cincinnati's NIT appearance, good lord. Kobe, how many handles do you have here?

 

[CL82]

The Big East teams. Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, and WVU are awful. Cincinnati did decently in the NIT. NCST is actually good.

Who won the NIT last year again?

 

[djct1999]

Not clear the Big 12 is on the right side of the divide either, and if they aren't then we joined a league with Kansas State and Iowa State and abandoned a league with teams that basketball fans actually care about.

I am generally pro-Big 12, but this is not a simple choice. UConn is making a big bet on the future of college football that we may get really, really wrong.

Hmmm, large national universities making 30 mil per or small private catholic schools making 7 per. Who has a brighter future? This isn’t a simple choice, it’s the simplest choice.

 

[ZooCougar]

In the 80s, I wrote a white paper on the eventual decline of brick and mortar establishments that focused on Sears. It was, for all intense and purposes, before the worldwide web so it focused on downsizing the square footage where it would only be enough for a specific niche say Ted Williams sporting goods or just Craftsman tools, but would set aside a catalog desk in the back so that anything could be ordered directly. It turned out to be prescient, sort of.

It just needed to be a showroom.

 

[uconnyankee]

I get the financial implications here, but UConn in the Big XII will damage both basketball programs, and UConn football will still suck / be largely irrelevant in their home state.

I dread the day Hurley heads to the NBA and the next coach has to recruit kids who won’t want to deal with the 1200-2600 miles to each opponent’s campus.

I could probably be talked into an ACC situation. A bunch of (elitist) morons run that conference though.

Very difficult decision choosing an offer not on the table vs one in hand I suppose.

 

[uconnyankee]

Many of the B12 schools have seating well below 60k.

The Rent is already structured for expansion and getting to 50k is easy and well within range for B12 schools.

College Football Stadiums List: Capacity, Build Year, More

Complete list and info on all college football stadiums visited so far. As of 2026, there are 138 FBS stadiums and growing.

roadtocfb.com

Let’s get back to 30-40K average attendees first, then worry about need for expansion.

We don’t need more empty seats right now.

 

[bendm]

Let’s get back to 30-40K average attendees first, then worry about need for expansion.

We don’t need more empty seats right now.

If you build it, they will come

After an official invite I think attendance would skyrocket overnight even if football doesn’t join for 7 years. So immediately back to 25-30k and then sold out 50k for big12 conference games. At least That’s my rose colored glasses outloook.

 

[ec33]

How much money is it worth spending to build a new stadium (and the money for all the road construction) so the athletic department loses slightly less money each year? Spending a billion dollars to come up $15 million better on an annual basis is not a winning argument.

 

[Stinger92860]

In the 80s, I wrote a white paper on the eventual decline of brick and mortar establishments that focused on Sears. It was, for all intense and purposes, before the worldwide web so it focused on downsizing the square footage where it would only be enough for a specific niche say Ted Williams sporting goods or just Craftsman tools, but would set aside a catalog desk in the back so that anything could be ordered directly. It turned out to be prescient, sort of.

Good future casting by you. The CEO of ARK investments lived in my town, I got to know her a bit. She called out the future value of Amazon in circa 1998 to an investment bank full of men. They laughed at her. Last I saw she was worth 600M+.

 

[SoFla Steve]

This has not worked well for former Big East basketball schools. Syracuse stinks, Pitt stinks, BC stinks, Rutgers stinks, Louisville stinks. I’m for staying.

History is with you. It hasn't worked out for most schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/56...aturday-realignment-history-college-football/

 

[JohnFSilver]

Does it really matter if we are winning national titles and able to schedule those teams now?

UConn Athletics belongs in a power conference for all sports. Its peers are Rutgers, Virginia, North Carolina, Penn State, Maryland etc.

State flagships.

 

[Waquoit]

If you build it, they will come

After an official invite I think attendance would skyrocket overnight even if football doesn’t join for 7 years. So immediately back to 25-30k and then sold out 50k for big12 conference games. At least That’s my rose colored glasses outloook.

I concur. Connecticut is packed with football fans, just not UConn football fans. But CT fans will support big-time CFB. The Big 12 qualifies.

 

[ucp990411]

On Campus stadium would make students significantly more interested, which results in long-term fans as alumni.

I have been saying this for oh like the last 25 years. My daughter graduated in 2016 and never cared about football. Why? Because she had to take a yellow school bus to get to the games so she never went. She loves men’s hoops though. She walked to Gampel.

 

[CL82]

It just needed to be a showroom.

Yep, for certain marquee brands only this keeping down the physical footprint. Everything else could be accessed via catalogue.

I was assured, however, that people would never buy products by just looking at a picture and a description. They felt I was underestimating the need for tactile experience to facilitate decision-making.

 

[Kolumbo]

I hate talking about the stadium situation and I'm sure that subject just might be broached during the UConn to the Big XII negotiations. Colleges of all shapes and sizes from your Ohio States to your Muhlenbergs have successfully built football stadiums on campus yet people think UConn can't do it. Take a look at Cinci's campus and how small a footprint that stadium has jammed in between its other athletic fields. We can build on campus and still go much larger. If UConn ends up in the XII, #3 behind the B1G and SEC, there is no reason UConn can't afford whatever kind of freaking stadium the XII would require. It becomes an integral part of the campus and the perfect place to showcase our football legacy.

 

[CL82]

How much money is it worth spending to build a new stadium (and the money for all the road construction) so the athletic department loses slightly less money each year? Spending a billion dollars to come up $15 million better on an annual basis is not a winning argument.

True, but it's also not an argument based in reality...so there's that.

The notion that there needs to be the super highway running up to the front door of the stadium is a fallacy based upon the experience of virtually every other college in the US who plays football.

 

[CL82]

Good future casting by you. The CEO of ARK investments lived in my town, I got to know her a bit. She called out the future value of Amazon in circa 1998 to an investment bank full of men. They laughed at her. Last I saw she was worth 600M+.

The indicators were all there, as they often are. It amazes me how often people get stuck in the mindset of "the way things are are the way they will always be", when experience tells us that's almost certainly not the case.

 

[Stinger92860]

History is with you. It hasn't worked out for most schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/56...aturday-realignment-history-college-football/

Based on history we have 6 ships despite getting screwed. Those schools, plus BC, can rot.

 

[Stinger92860]

The indicators were all there, as they often are. It amazes me how often people get stuck in the mindset of "the way things are are the way they will always be", when experience tells us that's almost certainly not the case.

Your comment speaks exactly to our current position. Still we have naysayers in our midst.

 

[bendm]

How much money is it worth spending to build a new stadium (and the money for all the road construction) so the athletic department loses slightly less money each year? Spending a billion dollars to come up $15 million better on an annual basis is not a winning argument.

Except it’s ~$30 million better annually. And no one has said we need to build a new stadium but expanding its capacity to 50k might be a reasonable prerequisite.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Your comment speaks exactly to our current position. Still we have naysayers in our midst.

Some people only care about basketball. If UConn doesn’t go then maybe St. John’s and Villanova leave big east for big 12 think about it.

 

[UofCT]