I think that would be extraordinarily poor short term thinking given that it would surrender opportunity for UConn to rejoin the P5 schools whose media contracts are 10 times (or more) larger than our current media deal. The next window for that happening, or not, is 5-7 years. Folding football prior to then would be foolish.
Ummmm yea defintely. This year might be a bit of a down year than last year. I think we got 6 teams (more than half the conference) in the NCAA tournament last year. This year we will probably get 5 teams. But recruiting is very very good in the Big East. Villanova, St. Johns, Butler, Marquette, Georgetown, Seton Hall. All excellent basketball programs. Two teams in the top 25 and 3 more receiving votes. The AAC has one team in the top 25 and no others receiving votes. FYI Memphis is Not good this year.
Boy, do you bring back memories with Tony Lavelie - not only saw him play at Yale but also when he played his accordion at the Paramount theater in NYC in the ‘50s.
I’m sorry but no P-5 conference is interested in UConn. What you suggest is to lose another $10-$20 million pursuing “fools gold” for another 5-7 years
Seriously?
Football to B1G, basketball to ACC, baseball to SEC, soccer to PAC-12, polo to Big12. Checks from all. Problems solved.
Mmm, there are reasons but they are, as things stand now, unlikely to tip the scales in our favor. Brand, NYC/MSG presence, access to elevated Tier 1 pricing in the NYC DMA, content, CT demographics are all postives for us. They just aren't positive enough to justify adding us absent a seismic shift somewhere.
What I suggest is keeping us as attractive as possible for a P5 addition while the possibility exists. FWIW, the amount that football is running in the red currently is somewhat illusory. Our IMG and Nike contracts (huge revenue items for the school) would be significantly reduced if we weren't a football school. Whether it is enough to offset our current football deficit is unclear, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is. Keep in mind that football is at its absolute nadir right now. Your projection is high even assuming that we don't have any uptick for the next five-seven years. That's unlikely.
You are a genius my friend. I'm sold! Now you just need convince the leagues to send us an invite.
Thanks what was his favorite shot ( all always, maybe wrongly gave him credit for developing it?? I thought I was the only human (ok near human) that remembered him.
Lavelie had a beautiful hook shot - either side - and went on to play for both knicks and Celtics. Used to entertain at half time playing his accordion. His hook was virtually impossible to stop in his day - although he was a bit of a string bean and might suffer against bangers.
I thought we could just tell them... isn’t that what others are saying?You are a genius my friend. I'm sold! Now you just need convince the leagues to send us an invite.
That's the shot. I used that one for years. It was/is(?) a very effective shot. I'm not sure who "invented" it; I thought it was Tony. Thanks for the info and memories of one that helped put BB on the map in Ct.
I've said that for a long time. Most of the teams in the P5 are only there right now because they are essentially grandfathered in. And they should thank their lucky stars that it is that way as there's no real (read practical) mechanism to kick schools out. The P5 conferences are stuck with many boat anchor schools that contribute nothing other than history, and I guess loyalty to the league. Some of the factors where UConn is better than many of the P5 schools are quality of academics, media market size, championships, recent success and the publicity that goes along with it.
Ok so on the men's side. How many teams in the AAC do you think will make the tournament and how many Big East teams. Pretty sure that is a good indicator of what conference is more solid correct? 2 teams in the top 25 Marquette and Villanova and 4 other teams receiving votes. AAC has one team in the top 25 and one team recurving votes. It's not even close. Oh and 3 teams have a top 25 recruiting class coming in. Villanova at 6.
Oh believe I know! That doesn’t negate that they played UCONN tough. All in all I just can’t see how anyone can say with a straight face that the AAC outside of UCONN of course, is a stronger conference than the Big East.