B12 Officials Met with Cincinnati BEFORE Playoff Announcement

[junglehusky]

It appears there is some fire to this smoke. Warde and Susan better be putting on a FULL COURT PRESS to be included!

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...y-cincinnati-memphis-byu?eadid=SOC/Twi/SNMain

Now that I've read the article it sounds like UC is trying to precipitate movement by leaking this. Their game is like Hilary Clinton's strategy to have her allies portray her as the inevitable nominee in the media. That might work for UC, but it didn't work so well for her in '08, or for UConn in' 12.

 

[Dooley]

What did they expand it to? About the size of the Rent.

Do you really think Cincy has invested even half of what the state of CT and UConn have in sports?

The difference is simple. Every other school already had a D-1 caliber football stadium. We did not. The initial $90M spent to build the Rent was a necessary expense just to gain entry to play Big East games. For some reason, we stopped at 40K. Now, 40K is too small for Power conferences. Cincinnati put $80M to renovate Nippert to get to 40K but also add modern amenities like luxury boxes, suites, and club levels. In other words, more money. Watch this video. They even have Pat Summerall doing the voice over. That is how you sell yourself.

Nippert can stay small and intimate because there is Paul Brown Stadium right down the street from campus that has 65K. Cincinnati can play Texas, OU and any highly anticipated games there and schedule a handful of games at Nippert. Sound familiar? It should, that's what our basketball teams do.

Yes, CT has invested a TON of money into UCONN athletics and academics. But we clearly need more. We've been playing catchup since Day 1 just 10 years ago. All the money spent to this point is just to get to where everyone else has been for decades. We need our own Pat Summerall video. Hell, let Bob Diaco be the voice over. He's good at pumping up crowds to sell ice to eskimos. But make no mistake, we need another investment in football ASAP. A stadium expansion/renovation is a good place to start. We need to grow our football program beyond what it took to gain entry to playing Big East games. We need to grow our program to where we gain entry to play B12/B1G/ACC games.

 

[Fishy]

Clearly need more what?

 

[CAHUSKY]

So Cincys stadium is better because Pat Summeral did the VoiceOver on their video? That's the only discernible difference.

 

[Dooley]

Yes, that is exactly the point I was trying to make.

 

[Mots010]

Someone get Pat Summeral on the phone.

 

[Dooley]

Clearly need more what?

Money. PR. Some goddam ambition. We've had 2 ADs publicly state that we can't expand our stadium until there's more demand. Meanwhile, we're looking at a 3rd former Big East school pour money into expanding/renovating their football stadium and leap ahead of us. But hey, we were able to sit on plenty of birdsh1t this season.

 

[Dooley]

Someone get Pat Summeral on the phone.

You don't call Pat Summeral. He calls you.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Money. PR. Some goddam ambition. We've had 2 ADs publicly state that we can't expand our stadium until there's more demand. Meanwhile, we're looking at a 3rd former Big East school pour money into expanding/renovating their football stadium and leap ahead of us. But hey, we were able to sit on plenty of birdsh1t this season.

Didn't Warde make a comment in favor of Rent expansion recently?

 

[Dooley]

Didn't Warde make a comment in favor of Rent expansion recently?

He has said that he wants to expand by 10,000 if we win.

 

[CL82]

Someone get Pat Summeral on the phone.

Gotta think bigger...someone reanimate John Facenda.

 

[B1GEast]

It's the 10 or the ACC or bust

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Ugh. Why do I feel like one last swift kick to the nuts inevitable. This is just unbearable.

What makes you think that this is the last one?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

When we had a good product and a good league, we were selling out. If we had a better product and were in a better league, we could have easily sold out 50-60 thousand seats. However, those days are long gone now

When we were coming off a .500 season (our first somewhat competitive season at this level) with no conference we sold out every game in our new stadium. An AD with vision and ambition would have immediately said to himself "If we can do this now, in a decade we can fill a 60k seat stadium and after another decade we can fill an 80k seat stadium!". Instead our inept AD said "My work is done here".

 

[jostar1]

According to McMurphy, no one talked to Cincy. So the story was wrong.

McMurphyESPN8:48pm via TweetDeck
At Big 12 function in NY: no one ever talked to Cincy, OU’s Joe C wasn't at UCF & SMU’s BOR report UM/Cincy getting invites wrong

 

[upstater]

According to McMurphy, no one talked to Cincy. So the story was wrong.

McMurphyESPN8:48pm via TweetDeck
At Big 12 function in NY: no one ever talked to Cincy, OU’s Joe C wasn't at UCF & SMU’s BOR report UM/Cincy getting invites wrong

So that eliminates 4 schools and leaves UConn and BYU.

 

[BlueHen]

So that eliminates 4 schools and leaves UConn and BYU.

Yeah baby! We were not not invited, so we must be in!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yup. And all of it comes on the heels of Cincinnati unveiling their new stadium renovation. They understand how to market themselves to get to the top of the P5 invite list. Meanwhile here in Connecticut, we are taking a "we will expand when we sell out the stadium" reactive approach that has left us buried in AAC purgatory. Others are even debating whether or not to drop football altogether just to move our hoops programs back to mid-major status. Un-fahqing-believable.

Even with the renovation the Rent is nicer. They certainly don't have anything as nice as our overall football practice facility. This stadium crap is a red herring. It isn't relevant. Geography is relevant for Cincy and Rutgers. Winning was relevant for Louisville. Each league needs something different. ACC needed schedule strength. B1G needed NY/NJ carriage fees and eyeballs. Big XII needs somebody not too far from their footprint and close enough to WV. It's pretty simple.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Even with the renovation the Rent is nicer. They certainly don't have anything as nice as our overall football practice facility. This stadium crap is a red herring. It isn't relevant. Geography is relevant for Cincy and Rutgers. Winning was relevant for Louisville. Each league needs something different. ACC needed schedule strength. B1G needed NY/NJ carriage fees and eyeballs. Big XII needs somebody not too far from their footprint and close enough to WV. It's pretty simple.

Thank you. If the Big 12 expands, Cincy is light years ahead of UConn in every Big 12 measure. Sure we have a nice indoor facility...a million miles from Texas. Google maps tells you all you need to know. Yes, the WVU add seemed like an outlier, adding Cincy fixes that. Adding UConn fixes nothing. Doesn't hurt that they are 87-40 over the last 10 years (or 42-22 over 5). Kind of like us...

 

[Ha Who]

According to McMurphy, no one talked to Cincy. So the story was wrong.

McMurphyESPN8:48pm via TweetDeck
At Big 12 function in NY: no one ever talked to Cincy, OU’s Joe C wasn't at UCF & SMU’s BOR report UM/Cincy getting invites wrong

Yup. The Big 12 is going to leak inside info to a reporter paid by Connecticut taxpayers

 

[pnow15]

So, B12 wants to take in team that is always going to be a distant 2nd in the state of Ohio to guess who?
Has to compete with a pro team in its home city. So this means that every weekend, Cincy fans will
have two football games to watch unless the Reds win the World Series, which ends in Nov.
Then Lebron James and the Cavs , which begins in Nov.
So, now the Cincy fans are also expected to follow B12 football, Big Ten Football, NFL football and high school football. That is a lot of f..k..g football.
Cincy sounds like the Boston College of the Midwest.
Sounds like all Cincy fans must attend the games live and there is little television market left.
CT is just too far away for B12. Better to go back to Big East for bb.
But Boise State, where you get an entire state to watch and
BYU, a team that brings an entire religious movement, are better choices.
So, this being college football, Cincy will have a shot.

 

[Kolumbo]

Cincy sounds a lot like Pittsburgh. Substitute Penguins for Cavaliers. Of course, that was the ACC's ponderous move.

 

[pj]

CT is just too far away for B12. Better to go back to Big East for bb.
But Boise State, where you get an entire state to watch and
BYU, a team that brings an entire religious movement, are better choices.

Too far away?

• Austin TX - Boise ID: 1628 miles
• Austin TX - Provo UT: 1247 miles
• Austin TX - East Hartford CT: 1865 miles

We have better flights than Boise for sure. I don't think distance is decisive here.

Connecticut is an entire state too. Connecticut population 3.6 million, Idaho 1.6 million. Boise State is not even the flagship state university. This is not even a close comparison.

 

[upstater]

Too far away?

• Austin TX - Boise ID: 1628 miles
• Austin TX - Provo UT: 1247 miles
• Austin TX - East Hartford CT: 1865 miles

We have better flights than Boise for sure. I don't think distance is decisive here.

Connecticut is an entire state too. Connecticut population 3.6 million, Idaho 1.6 million. Boise State is not even the flagship state university. This is not even a close comparison.

Exactly, and another thing is that the region around Idaho has even less football talent than Connecticut, as we saw in that Grantland analysis last year. They are importing JUCOs from Cali. in that program, and historically that strategy has blown up in the face of several schools, like Fresno with the machete incident and also Colorado way back.

Part of UConn's downturn in football no doubt has to do with the reality that we're not in a BCS conference any more, and neither Pasqualoni nor Diaco could recruit as if that was still the case. UConn's reality was fixed by Pasqualoni's second year, so no one could go into a senior's home and tell him otherwise. in other words, recruiting is not necessarily going to improve a great deal. You have to imagine that UConn football's future can only be projected according to its prior 10 years in the BE.

 

[pnow15]

B

Too far away?

• Austin TX - Boise ID: 1628 miles
• Austin TX - Provo UT: 1247 miles
• Austin TX - East Hartford CT: 1865 miles

We have better flights than Boise for sure. I don't think distance is decisive here.

Connecticut is an entire state too. Connecticut population 3.6 million, Idaho 1.6 million. Boise State is not even the flagship state university. This is not even a close comparison.

Boise State and BYU have much better football programs.
You forget Iowa St., Kansas, Kansas St.
How far it for Boise to travel to Iowa?
How far for BYU?

BB teams could do a two/three day swing all ways for B12. Texas swing, Northern swing, Kanas/Oklahoma swing.

UConn is an Eastern school. These are all Western programs.
The idea is to get everyone in the concerned area from Utah to Texas thinking B12 football.
Ct. is an island that no one there cares about.
We would be the cousin Vinny of the B12.