Why would ESPN deliberately try to destroy UConn athletics?

[upstater]

Bad apples exist. Mega-anythings are going to have some. None of which makes screwing others a good strategy for the mega-something.

Bad apples? Look at the risk insurance sold by Wall Street banks and insurers a decade ago. Huge commissions. But gutted their companies. People have a great incentive to make money, and if they can make more money in some ways which are legal but of short-term benefit and long-term detriment, they will do it. Heck, we made a hero of one guy, Michael Burry of the Big Short, who had a very short-term outlook.

 

[jayfromfla]

Should we not get into the Big 12 we should go back to BE for most sports. Ther run an Independent program. Try to get 8+ games a year with the P5 programs . All should be Home and home contracts only . no 2-1. Then fill in with Boisie State, Army, , Navy, BYU and one home game with FCS. With that schedule we shop an independent contract with Fox, CBS Sports, NBC Sports etc But growth of the program is essential and cultivation our TV market in NY, Boston and Connecticut

 

[SubbaBub]

Don't ever question my memory. I could be wrong, but don't question it.

3 Big East schools invited to join ACC Miami, Syracuse and Boston College got the bids. Now the Big East gets to make a counterproposal.

ACC : Cut off: Lobbying by Virginia officials caused SU to lose its ACC bid in 2003

But finally on June 24, when the presidents voted on each expansion plan separately, Virginia Tech and Miami were approved as the 10th and 11th teams. Warner and Casteen had won. Crouthamel and Shaw had lost.

***

Syracuse history professor David Bennett thought it was obvious SU could still join the ACC even after June 24. This was an obvious second chance as, to Bennett, it was clear the ACC would go to 12 teams to have a lucrative conference championship game.

Bennett, the former chairman of the Athletic Policy Board and the NCAA Faculty Representative from 1975-95, went to Shaw.

‘The question I had for (Shaw), it wasn’t a question, it was a strong feeling, and it was that this could not stand,’ Bennett said. ‘ … They were clearly going to add either Boston College or Syracuse. And I thought we should make a full-court press to be that school.’

Shaw and Crouthamel chose not to.

Instead, the two, along with University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and then-University of West Virginia President David Hardesty Jr., worked to rebuild the Big East into the unbalanced yet formidable 16-team basketball superconference it became, Shaw said.

Boston College, though, secretly pursued the path Bennett suggested for Syracuse and ultimately joined the ACC in October 2003.

‘At the time we had no intent of leaving, at the time we were obsessed with putting the conference back together,’ Shaw said.

 

[MattMang23]

Should we not get into the Big 12 we should go back to BE for most sports. Ther run an Independent program. Try to get 8+ games a year with the P5 programs . All should be Home and home contracts only . no 2-1. Then fill in with Boisie State, Army, , Navy, BYU and one home game with FCS. With that schedule we shop an independent contract with Fox, CBS Sports, NBC Sports etc But growth of the program is essential and cultivation our TV market in NY, Boston and Connecticut

Yeah, shoulda done that long ago. What were we thinking? Home and homes with 8 Power Fives every year and the other four games with the best teams not in the P5?! Wow! Why hasn't that happened yet, Suzie?!

 

[BlueDogs]

Whatever the history, UConn got played and left holding a bag of crap. We need folks who are willing to use leverage and play hard ball with ESPN.

 

[uconnell]

Yeah, shoulda done that long ago. What were we thinking? Home and homes with 8 Power Fives every year and the other four games with the best teams not in the P5?! Wow! Why hasn't that happened yet, Suzie?!

Sarcasm

 

[mavblues]

This is what I don't get about the whole "ESPN hates us" meme. No serious business seeks to cripple its partners because, in the end, it will come back and bite THEM in the ass. If a deal isn't good for both parties, it is bad for both. Oh, one party might profit in the short term but, over time, that is a losing strategy.

The (former) Big East disagrees with you.

 

[MattMang23]

Sarcasm

Hard to tell on the interwebs.

 

[Kolumbo]

This is what I don't get about the whole "ESPN hates us" meme. No serious business seeks to cripple its partners because, in the end, it will come back and bite THEM in the ass. If a deal isn't good for both parties, it is bad for both. Oh, one party might profit in the short term but, over time, that is a losing strategy.

I get what you are saying but espn and UConn are hardly business partners. UConn is basically espn's organ monkey right now barely working for food scraps.

 

[huskymedic]

Try to get 8+ games a year with the P5 programs . All should be Home and home contracts only . no 2-1.

Sounds hunky dory in theory but can you help me understand what leverage we may have (in reality) to make that happen as your proposed independent in football?

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I get what you are saying but espn and UConn are hardly business partners. UConn is basically espn's organ monkey right now barely working for food scraps.

One partner is taking advantage of another which is why what ESPN is doing is bad strategically.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

The (former) Big East disagrees with you.

Disagreeing doesn't make them right.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Bad apples? Look at the risk insurance sold by Wall Street banks and insurers a decade ago. Huge commissions. But gutted their companies. People have a great incentive to make money, and if they can make more money in some ways which are legal but of short-term benefit and long-term detriment, they will do it. Heck, we made a hero of one guy, Michael Burry of the Big Short, who had a very short-term outlook.

By definition, strategies don't focus on the short term.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Either UConn is the unluckiest school in CR or someone or someones at ESPN are working against us. When schools like Houston and Memphis are considered viable alternatives to UConn for the Big 12, I tend to think luck has nothing to do with it. If ESPN really wanted UConn to succeed, it would contact the ACC and tell them that ESPN wants Connecticut and a bigger profile in New York, and tell the ACC that ESPN will cover UConn's addition. Because the alternative is that UConn goes away. ESPN has chosen "UConn goes away".

 

[CTMike]

Either UConn is the unluckiest school in CR or someone or someones at ESPN are working against us. When schools like Houston and Memphis are considered viable alternatives to UConn for the Big 12, I tend to think luck has nothing to do with it. If ESPN really wanted UConn to succeed, it would contact the ACC and tell them that ESPN wants Connecticut and a bigger profile in New York, and tell the ACC that ESPN will cover UConn's addition. Because the alternative is that UConn goes away. ESPN has chosen "UConn goes away".

What's ESPN's motive to kill UConn in this scenario?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

What's ESPN's motive to kill UConn in this scenario?

Syracuse's survival? UConn going to the XII and hosting Texas and Oklahoma every other years in NYC would threaten the Orange's relevancy in their key market, especially with Rutgers, regardless of their on-field quality, hosting Michigan and Ohio St in the Big Apple at the same time.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Either UConn is the unluckiest school in CR or someone or someones at ESPN are working against us. When schools like Houston and Memphis are considered viable alternatives to UConn for the Big 12, I tend to think luck has nothing to do with it. If ESPN really wanted UConn to succeed, it would contact the ACC and tell them that ESPN wants Connecticut and a bigger profile in New York, and tell the ACC that ESPN will cover UConn's addition. Because the alternative is that UConn goes away. ESPN has chosen "UConn goes away".

In every rank order someone or something has to be the "est." That's simply the nature of a rank order.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Syracuse's survival? UConn going to the XII and hosting Texas and Oklahoma every other years in NYC would threaten the Orange's relevancy in their key market, especially with Rutgers, regardless of their on-field quality, hosting Michigan and Ohio St in the Big Apple at the same time.

Maybe political correctness run amok is the source the Cuse's football troubles. There appears to be a linear relationship between their evolution from Orangemen to Orange and their gridiron miseries.

 

[CTMike]

Syracuse's survival? UConn going to the XII and hosting Texas and Oklahoma every other years in NYC would threaten the Orange's relevancy in their key market, especially with Rutgers, regardless of their on-field quality, hosting Michigan and Ohio St in the Big Apple at the same time.

Honestly not trying to be a jerk here - but for this to be true there would have to be a majority of Syracuse grads in high enough places at ESPN (true to an extent, but they are a very large company with grads from many schools) that would be willing to forego bottom line profits in the name of their alma mater (this is a stretch).

 

[HuskyHawk]

I love UConn, but we sure can be an arrogant bunch around here. It isn't all about UConn. Very little of what ESPN does or does not do involves a first or second thought about how it affects UConn. We simply aren't that important. Even Notre Dame isn't that important, or Michigan. Nobody is.

My feeling is that we have been generally unlucky, and some of that bad luck is self inflicted. Couple that with a feeling of entitlement (because ESPN is in our backyard and because it's early existence and success very much relied upon UConn) and we feel we should get some special positive treatment, not just cold neutrality. Long ago we might have, but ESPN is a Disney property, and I've negotiated contracts with Disney. Those are the toughest, meanest, coldest SOBs in the world (and they lawyer working against me was a friend who used to sit across the hall).

We need to own our decisions, good and bad. We joined the Big East: very good. Hired JC: very good. We didn't have the foresight to see how D1A football would drive college sports: very, very bad. After we made the plunge we hired a decent coach: good. When he left we hired a complete incompetent: very bad. We pushed to upgrade academics: good. We were late to push ourselves as a research institution: bad. Since we're in a small, rich state we were late to emphasize alumni relations or the endowment: bad. I'm willing to give Ollie and Diaco "good" ratings at this point, and Benedict looks like it as well. Going D1 in hockey and Joining Hockey East was good. It was an example of the foresight we should have had towards football at least a decade earlier.

That said, I do think that ESPN now holds our content at a bargain basement price. In its cold, rational business view of the world, that's something they want to continue. Hence our leak to Blauds, as a splash of cold water to let them know...that we know, and are paying attention.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Maybe political correctness run amok is the source the Cuse's football troubles. There appears to be a linear relationship between their evolution from Orangemen to Orange and their gridiron miseries.

Fair enough. Maybe we are all wrong about UConn's value. If that is the case, are you in favor of shutting down football and downgrading basketball to MAC level?

 

[CL82]

What's ESPN's motive to kill UConn in this scenario?

They're evil?

I'd say it is disinterest rather that murderous intent. When they were throwing cash all over the place destroying the Big East, propping up the ACC and the Big 12 it would have been easy, and relatively painless to make UConn the quid pro quo. They didn't. That's something the people and politicians of this state should never forget.

 

[J187Money]

Honestly not trying to be a jerk here - but for this to be true there would have to be a majority of Syracuse grads in high enough places at ESPN (true to an extent, but they are a very large company with grads from many schools) that would be willing to forego bottom line profits in the name of their alma mater (this is a stretch).

Trust me, they love money more than they love their school. I would hope we all feel that way.

 

[John Greene]

Trust me, they love money more than they love their school. I would hope we all feel that way.

Based on our poor standing on endowment/fund raising relative to our peers over the years, I guess you are right. Most UConn Alumni must feel that way.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Honestly not trying to be a jerk here - but for this to be true there would have to be a majority of Syracuse grads in high enough places at ESPN (true to an extent, but they are a very large company with grads from many schools) that would be willing to forego bottom line profits in the name of their alma mater (this is a stretch).

Valid point and some of UConn's misfortunes are self-inflicted.

In 2003 during the first raid, UConn had no shot at joining the ACC. UConn was not at a 'P5' level level overall at that point.

Now, when Syracuse joined the ACC in 2013 or when Louisville joined in 2014, it was a much closer contest and UConn's overall metrics were equal to Syracuse or greater than Pitts and Louisville. UConn also threatened that Syracuse can offer TV viewers - NYC eyeballs. Over the long term, it appears that UConn's value to any TV deal is greater and that should be what a neutral ESPN should have focused on. Instead, BC comes out and blackballs UConn and advised that ESPN is the on who told them to do so. At the same time, we got to hear non-stop coverage about UConn's basketball violations (mirroring what Boehiem was saying) and how UConn football was horrible and never should have been invited to play in the Fiesta Bowl.

So, while all of this was not the primary factor, I can see it heavily influencing the decisions that were made and seem to continue to be made.

Just look at this article. ESPN listed the most dominant sport programs in history. The Celtics of the '50's an '60's were listed along with several 1 and done teams ('85 Chicago Bears, any Olympic team, etc), and of course the UCLA Bruins from '63 to '75. Yet, the UConn women's basketball team has won 9 of the 17 women's titles since 2000 and won 90 games in a row besting UCLA's record; but, only get honorable mention? Once time, I can see; but, there have been so many example...