I think the MAC has already slammed that door.
We all know no door is slammed shut if ESPN wants it open.
You guys coming??
Pros / cons
Don’t just be haters. There is value being in a conference. Harder to recruit when recruits don’t have a trophy to play for or guaranteed bowl tie ins / tv etc.
If ESPN saw some value in it and would add money to better us all to add UConn and UMass then it would happen.
Would be great. What’s the feeling among the MAC fan bases?You guys coming??
Pros / cons
Don’t just be haters. There is value being in a conference. Harder to recruit when recruits don’t have a trophy to play for or guaranteed bowl tie ins / tv etc.
Gotta add value. Meaning they’d UConn and UMass but won’t dilute money and need a buyout and basketball games like Temple and UMass. Temple and UMass had to commit both to 4 b-ball games vs MAC b-ball. 2 home and 2 away each. So UConn would have to play 2 MAC b-ball games at home and travel to 2 MAC arenas each year. I’m sure you have some early warmup games... now they would be vs MACWould be great. What’s the feeling among the MAC fan bases?
That will require serious negotiation. We’re not talking UMass here. We’re talking 4 time national champs.Gotta add value. Meaning they’d UConn and UMass but won’t dilute money and need a buyout and basketball games like Temple and UMass. Temple and UMass had to commit both to 4 b-ball games vs MAC b-ball. 2 home and 2 away each. So UConn would have to play 2 MAC b-ball games at home and travel to 2 MAC arenas each year. I’m sure you have some early warmup games... now they would be vs MAC
Agree. Fans (especially casual ones) crave a team competing for championships and a local rival. We should be working with UMass to help achieve both goals.I’d have no problem going to either Amherst every other year.
And a MAC fan started this thread with the question “You guys coming??”Last I heard the MAC didn’t want us
To clarify. UMass did not burn the MAC. The MAC new the previous administration would say no to all in. One important fact is on the first of the year, those MAC promo stop showing at the basketball game, long before anything was announced. It was Temple that burnt the MAC.What negotians start with “please”? - to the fan who said MAC didn’t want us. And I assure you the MAC doesn’t want you if ESPN doesn’t at least pro-rate adding, BUT if ESPN opens contract and UConn doesn’t dilute our money and adds BBall profile like they were trying with Temple than we would listen. Also, we been burned by UCF, Temple, and UMass so expect a buyout commitment. If that is reasonable to UConn fans and admin it could happen. We are (hate to admit it) the G5 mirror of the Big Ten and have been trying to expand East like the B10 did with Penn State (Buffalo) , Maryland (Temple), and Rutgers (UConn:UMass)
Reasonable stance. There’s enough there to sit down and chat.What negotians start with “please”? - to the fan who said MAC didn’t want us. And I assure you the MAC doesn’t want you if ESPN doesn’t at least pro-rate adding, BUT if ESPN opens contract and UConn doesn’t dilute our money and adds BBall profile like they were trying with Temple than we would listen. Also, we been burned by UCF, Temple, and UMass so expect a buyout commitment. If that is reasonable to UConn fans and admin it could happen. We are (hate to admit it) the G5 mirror of the Big Ten and have been trying to expand East like the B10 did with Penn State (Buffalo) , Maryland (Temple), and Rutgers (UConn:UMass)
You are right about UMass. Short sightedness and emotion drove BC to make the stupid choice to block us to the ACC. If they had any pride they would have welcomed us as a potential rival to build both programs on.To clarify. UMass did not burn the MAC. The MAC new the previous administration would say no to all in. One important fact is on the first of the year, those MAC promo stop showing at the basketball game, long before anything was announced. It was Temple that burnt the MAC.
UConn and UMass are in a different situation, both likely to stay decade or decades.
Bob McGovern wrote a very nice piece that if we are not prepared to go all in financially we should not even apply.
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Change, however, is necessary.
Perhaps UConn and UMass can convince the MAC to take them both. There are reports indicating that the conference isn’t interested in that arrangement, but let’s not pretend that there isn’t a way to make it work.
Get commissioners, athletic directors and lawyers in the same room and make something happen. There is no set tune to the dance of college realignment, and clever maneuvering can make this relationship work for everyone.
If not the AAC or the MAC, then come up with a creative third option – preferably one that involves UConn.
But the status quo can’t continue. Accepting life as an independent is the type of thinking that led UMass to this strange moment.
The school also can’t allow memories of Marcus Camby and John Calipari dictate its strategy for the future. That version of the Atlantic 10 is gone, and UMass has been lost in the wilderness in the decades since.
Athletic Director Ryan Bamford, the administration and those who support UMass athletics need to look forward with clear eyes and an aggressive plan for positive stability.
UMass missed its moment more than 20 years ago.
It can’t afford to sit on the sidelines again."
Independence feels too much like a holding pattern. Waiting to land in the P5 airport where the fog will never clear or fly to another airport and start enjoying your vacation.I am pulling for an SNY TV deal and independence.