D1 tracker is they only thing I had to go off of so it may not be accurate to butts in seats, but it is what we got for a relative comparison. And what we really need is TV viewers but that is probably harder to find.
True but there is a lot more to this equation.
Pitt is such an obvious fit for the Big 12. They have WVU and Cincy and are quality. They didn’t vet it because the ACC isn’t open for business yet. It’s not obvious to me that the Big 12 is “more interested” in us
connecticut is a small state, uconn is not in aau, our football team was awful during the 2010s. That does not mean if UConn improves academic research and gets into AAU and the football team ends the season in the top 25 -- we wouldn't be asked to join. Maybe around the same time they go after Duke, UVA etc.
That's a depressing thought, so I guess it would be fun to play Syracuse again.
Add to that that the big 10 gets first tier pricing for its net work in the NYCDMA which includes Fairfield County. They've gotten what they wanted in the nyc metro area.
As I'm sure you're aware by now, basketball means NOTHING to these people. It's all about football, and our football has been arguably the worst FBS program over the last decade as a G5 school. No one is going to take us unless we get 5+ very solid seasons under our belt going forward.
Connecticut is mid-sized by population (29th) and has a larger population than two states with schools in the Big 10 and for what it's worth is not much small than Oklahoma and I don't think many conferences wouldn't want Oklahoma.
Keep in mind that, though Connecticut is not a large State, UConn is the only show in town. We're not dividing our fan base among multiple college football fans. Also keep in mind that our reach goes beyond our borders. Within a couple hundred miles of campus there are about 24 million people. Within 150 miles there are about 12 to 14,000,000 people. Many of those are Connecticut fans, but many of them are also fans of the teams that will be visiting us. We just need a little bit of football success so that we can start filling the Rent again.
The Iowa State Cyclones don’t play at the Rent, they play at state of the art Jack Trice stadium, which is on campus, and not 22 miles away from the campus on an industrial dumping site. Trice Stadium is named after black American football player Jack Trice who died in 1923 in a game against Minnesota, after being trampled by three Minnesota players. When Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark came to visit UConn, did he bother to visit the Rent? I don’t think so.
I don’t see Pitt being a great fit for the Big 12, and it’s no where near the NYC/Boston northeast corridor, but it is a great fit for the B1G. Right next door to Penn State, Ohio State, and the state of Maryland.
Nebraska is a smaller state, Nebraska is not in AAU, and their football team was awful during the 2010’s (especially when considering their revenue level).
Nebraska has sold out all home football games since before the Cuban Missile crisis. Their stadium is more than double the capacity of the Rent and they've consistently had spring game crowds exceeding 65k. By their standards the past dozen years have been beyond horrible but it was miles above what we put on the field during the same period. They wouldn't have lost to Holy Cross or needed a defensive stand to beat URI and Yale. They would have had third stringers on the field by halftime.
Sold out because they brought in the likes of Ohio st, Michigan, Penn st, etc. while we brought in Tulsa and Memphis.
They haven't been bring the likes of Ohio St, Michigan and Penn St for more than six decades. There was a very long stretch when Oklahoma, every other year was their chance to show their fans a top tier opponent. The remainder of their home schedule was then (when the Big Eight was called Big two and little six) was Kansas or Kansas St (when each had multiple winless seasons) Iowa St or Missouri (neither was much then) Oklahoma St (in seasons when they weren't hosting Oklahoma) and alternating home and road games with a sub-par Colorado team. Seven of their nine games (it was a nine game season in those days) were B-8 opponents and the rest were either two home games with the likes of Wyoming and one of the Dakotas (pre 1A-1Aa split) or a reasonable top program with a home and home arrangement. They didn't start selling out games once the schedule was filled with top name schools.
When you consider that almost all of Nebraska is several hundred miles away from an NFL or Major League Baseball team, it makes sense that the state’s university gets all that fandom. Even though Connecticut also has no baseball or football pro teams, the state is very close to NYC and reasonably close to Boston.
Yeah, but again this would be an argument against us as it makes it too easy for one of our detractors to claim we'll never take college football seriously because our fan base will only follow it if nothing else is going on and there's normally a lot of professional sporting events going on.
Don’t mean to argue as I agree with most of want you’ve posted.
He likely didn't visit them because they are tied to the GOR of the ACC. I guarantee, if the ACC implodes and it comes down to the Big 12 choosing between Pitt, Cuse, or UConn, UConn will be left out...again.
They have a home there with a great income. They have football history. I don't see them as irrelevant, but middle of the pack. They did the right thing to save themselves.
I began rooting for Georgia after watching a game when they were number 2 in the nation and Alabama played them at their stadium coming as the number one to that game. Alabama crushed Georgia. The stadium stayed packed the entire game.