UConn is very much in the mix as the Big 12 considers expansion (Paul Doyle - Courant)

[huskymedic]

UConn Aims To Be Piece Of Big 12 Expansion Puzzle

>>UConn's connection to New York — promoted by the school on a billboard at the Lincoln Tunnel — might be the school's best pitch to join the decidedly Southern conference. Fellow American Athletic Conference members Cincinnati and Memphis have gone public in their lobbying to the Big 12 while UConn officials have privately said the school is taking a more low-key approach.

But the Big 12 decision-makers know what UConn offers.

"They know who we are and what we are," one UConn official said. "They have all our stats. They know more about us than we know about us and they have consultants updating that."<<

 

[junglehusky]

 

[Adios]

They've been evaluating potential. Supposedly, we'd be fine in the Big 12.

"The Hartford-New Haven market is 30th in the country, but the market is 20th with Fairfield County added."

The Courant seems to be plagiarizing Dooley's posts.

 

[Matrim55]

I'm curious to know A) what kind of ratings we get in Springfield, and B) what the market size is with Springfield added in.

 

[jostar1]

It was fine until he talked about Notre Dame joining the ACC.

 

[hardcorehusky]

They've been evaluating potential. Supposedly, we'd be fine in the Big 12.

"The Hartford-New Haven market is 30th in the country, but the market is 20th with Fairfield County added."

The Courant seems to be plagiarizing Dooley's posts.

Which then throws Dennis Dodds in a tizzy since he thinks that twitter posters can't see past their basement.

 

[Matrim55]

I'm curious to know A) what kind of ratings we get in Springfield, and B) what the market size is with Springfield added in.

I did some math with help from wikipedia data. The state of Ct. + the entire Springfield metropolitan area (which stretches all the way north to the Vermont/New Hampshire border) is about 3.65 million people - the 16th largest metro area in the US. If we just use the city of Springfield rather than the entire metro area, we're looking at about 3.2 million people. That's roughly the same population as Denver or San Diego's metro area.

Also: it's 50% higher than the SLC metro area (which is split between BYU and University of Utah), and about 2.5x the size of the Memphis metro statistical area.

It's also about 50% larger than the Cincy statistical area, but if we want to be entirely fair we can include nearby Dayton in the measurement, in which case the Cincy area & UConn area are roughly the same size.

I havne't been able to find UConn's ratings in Springfield in particular, or Western Mass as a whole.

 

[Waquoit]

They've been evaluating potential. Supposedly, we'd be fine in the Big 12.
"The Hartford-New Haven market is 30th in the country, but the market is 20th with Fairfield County added."
The Courant seems to be plagiarizing Dooley's posts.

If by plagiarizing you mean legitimizing, I agree.

 

[BoatShow]

I did some math with help from wikipedia data. The state of Ct. + the entire Springfield metropolitan area (which stretches all the way north to the Vermont/New Hampshire border) is about 3.65 million people - the 16th largest metro area in the US. If we just use the city of Springfield rather than the entire metro area, we're looking at about 3.2 million people. That's roughly the same population as Denver or San Diego's metro area.

Also: it's 50% higher than the SLC metro area (which is split between BYU and University of Utah), and about 2.5x the size of the Memphis metro statistical area.

It's also about 50% larger than the Cincy statistical area, but if we want to be entirely fair we can include nearby Dayton in the measurement, in which case the Cincy area & UConn area are roughly the same size.

I havne't been able to find UConn's ratings in Springfield in particular, or Western Mass as a whole.

I know that NYT study showed okay penetration into Springfield.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/upshot/ncaa-football-map.html?_r=0#10,42.095,-72.442

 

[Adios]

I know that NYT study showed okay penetration into Springfield.

Too bad UMass can't get it up.

 

[Matrim55]

I know that NYT study showed okay penetration into Springfield.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/upshot/ncaa-football-map.html?_r=0#10,42.095,-72.442

The effect of that state line is pretty amazing. Wonder what it would look like for the basketball teams.

 

[Dooley]

I'm curious to know A) what kind of ratings we get in Springfield, and B) what the market size is with Springfield added in.

I don't know about ratings. Our local Hartford/New Haven ratings are generally scene as solid. But here are all the markets within 2 hours of UConn. If you add Fairfield County's 980K to Hartford/New Haven's 945K, we're Top 20. Springfield's 246K would put us in the Top 15.

1. TV/Markets (within 2 hour radius): http://www.tvb.org/media/file/2015-2016-dma-ranks.pdf
UConn would provide potential viewership into the following markets within a 2 hour radius-
#1 New York (which includes Southwest CT) - 7.3M TV homes (6.5% of U.S.)
#8 Boston/Manchester - 2.4M TV homes (2.1% of U.S.)
#30 Hartford/New Haven - 945K TV homes (.8% of U.S.)
#52 Providence/New Bedford - 600K TV homes (.5% of U.S.)
#116 Springfield/Holyoke - 246K TV homes (.2% of U.S.)

Total potential reach: 11.4M TV homes

 

[BoatShow]

The effect of that state line is pretty amazing. Wonder what it would look like for the basketball teams.

I think it's interesting you see around 10% uconn fans throughout Southwestern Mass and the only local school that shows up in CT is 5% Cuse in Greenwich

 

[CL82]

The effect of that state line is pretty amazing. Wonder what it would look like for the basketball teams.

A couple of thoughts.
UConn football extends in to NY and Mass even after the smoking ruin of the Pasqualoni years. Imagine what will happen once the team starts winning more consistently.

Texas has a fan presence in New England. Someone needs to remind them of that. Rewarding and energizing those fans is another perk of adding UConn to the Big 12 and one that is unique to Texas.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

The effect of that state line is pretty amazing. Wonder what it would look like for the basketball teams.

Anyone happen to scroll around Ohio? Even in the city of Cincinnati I never once saw Cincy as one of the top 3 in ANY of those areas. They're not even playing second-fiddle in their own state. They're simply irrelevant.

 

[specialisthusky]

Anyone happen to scroll around Ohio? Even in the city of Cincinnati I never once saw Cincy as one of the top 3 in ANY of those areas. They're not even playing second-fiddle in their own state. They're simply irrelevant.

I am pretty sure that has to be an error. There is no way Cincinnati isn't top three in its own city.

 

[Matrim55]

I am pretty sure that has to be an error. There is no way Cincinnati isn't top three in its own city.

Looks like they weren't included - same for Navy. Every other team in FBS has their stadium located on the map, but Nippert and Memorial Stadium are nowhere to be found.

 

[Charley Horse]

UConn Aims To Be Piece Of Big 12 Expansion Puzzle

>>UConn's connection to New York — promoted by the school on a billboard at the Lincoln Tunnel — might be the school's best pitch to join the decidedly Southern conference....."<<

If everything goes the way we hope it will (the Big 12 decides to expand and offers an invitation to UConn), there's something I'd like really like for all of you Huskies to know.

The Big 12 isn't Southern.

I suppose West Virginia could be considered Southern, but not really because it split from Virginia to protest the Confederacy.

But Kansas and Iowa are are part of the Midwest, while Texas and Oklahoma are part of the Southwest.

Yes, I know Texas fought with the South during the Civil War but that was when almost the entire voting population of the state was clustered in the eastern part of the state.

Culturally, the west meets the south in Texas (somewhere around 96 degrees west longitude). While, of course, there's always a myriad of opinions and I can't speak for everybody, I can say with the authority of some experience that many of us in the western, more Tex-Mex culture of the state don't identify ourselves as Southerners and more than likely would consider the label a hateful slur.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Nothing new to add about this except that it was posted on Bob Diaco's Facebook feed. I find that....interesting.