Path Forward for UConn

[giddyup]

I’m ecstatic about this. Didn’t anyone’s parents ever teach them “ be happy with who you are”? I think UConn in BigEast is pretty frickin great . Be grateful for what you are. And we are the most successful program in hoops for last 25 years.( in THREE CONFERENCES!) We are going to make it so for 30 years. And then 35. CR be damned ( you poor bastards). Then we will talk again.

We can’t survive at $4-$7M a year while competitors at $30-$100M a year. If we don’t get into the big leagues, inevitably we will be little more than Gonzaga and Villanova with a strong but ultimately meaningless basketball program with 2 weeks of relevance. Hurley will be gone soon enough if we can’t pay up.

 

[NE Football]

To date the networks have had the bargaining power, thus ESPN dictating to the ACC and the Pac12 getting wiped out.

The B1G is gathering together something approaching 50% of the value of college athletics. Soon they will have more bargaining power than the networks.

The SEC is maybe the most valuable and lucrative as long as college football remains the dominant source of revenue, but the B1G is getting into a better position to capture the highest possible percentage of its value, and if basketball revenue gets opened up, the B1G will be the premier conference in revenue as well as prestige.

For UConn, some kind of disruption of the NCAA and capture of the basketball tourney revenue would be a disruption that would catapult UConn into the most desirable group of properties. It just seems like UConn can't capture the full value of its market without a strong football program, and it can't bootstrap football up without major conference revenue and scheduling. UConn thanks to its brand and market would quickly pay for itself in a power conference setting, but it can't prove that until it gets there.

This is why the ACC and the Big 12 should merge.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We can’t survive at $4-$7M a year while competitors at $30-$100M a year. If we don’t get into the big leagues, inevitably we will be little more than Gonzaga and Villanova with a strong but ultimately meaningless basketball program with 2 weeks of relevance. Hurley will be gone soon enough if we can’t pay up.

There is nothing we can do about the next few years, and I doubt anyone will be making $100 million or even $50 million from a linear tv deal in 10 years.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

No. The NCAA is a member based organization and there's a lot more "Not BIG Not SEC" than there is either of those. In a world where Boston U gets as much votes as Michigan they will not control it. The split is inevitable. Mostly to free up basketball monies from an end of the season tournament.

The power conferences already have all of the real power, thinking they don't is silly.

There is an additional benefit to being in a conference governed by the NCAA that would disappear if they split from the NCAA, exclusivity.

Where were UCF and USF 65 years ago? If we had the resources, you, I and a few boneyarders could buy some buildings, hire professors and administrators and over a number of years build a credible university. At some point, after meeting whatever criteria the NCAA has to become a member, we could apply for membership and they would have to accept us. Groups within the organization can be exclusive, the organization itself cannot.

If the B1G and SEC were to leave and start their own organization (the be a part of instead of the NCAA) and some school that didn't get to go along applies, what happens if they are denied? I imagine a lawsuit that the new organization knows going in they cannot win. The new organization won't need to give a spot in the B1G or SEC, but they do need to admit them in the organization (if the criteria is met, and, if the criteria is unreasonable, that will fall under legal scrutiny as well).

It won't take long for 45% of D1 to apply for admission.

 

[Jds]

Can't the SEC just invite us to be their Washington Generals and give the NYC alumni a chance see a good ol beating?

Actually the SEC should take us and Kansas.
They can get both for a reduced share,
They aren’t major geographical outliers,
They elevate SEC men’s basket,
They prevent the Big 12 from being the best basketball therefore making it easier for the Big 10 and SEC to breakaway from the NCAA
They aren’t competition for football and SEC teams already pay to get lesser teams to play them.
Uconn gives the SEC an anchor in the Northeast and you can’t ignore the largest media market especially if they breakaway with the Big 10.
I know it sounds crazy but it seems strategically logical

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I’m ecstatic about this. Didn’t anyone’s parents ever teach them “ be happy with who you are”?

I imagine some parents teach their children to aspire to "be the best they can be".

 

[August_West]

I imagine some parents teach their children to aspire to "be the best they can be".

I mean that amounts to the same thing of you really think about it, doesn’t it?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I mean that amounts to the same thing of you really think about it, doesn’t it?

Not necessarily. Following the advice you posed one can argue that we had no need to move on from Perno.

 

[August_West]

Not necessarily. Following the advice you posed one can argue that we had no need to move on from Perno.

Obtuse post of the week.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Obtuse post of the week.

Pot meet kettle,

Be happy with who you are says A-Dub. If we (UConn and its fan base collectively) didn't aspire to be better we would never have felt the need to fire Perno,

 

[superjohn]

Pot meet kettle,

Be happy with who you are says A-Dub. If we (UConn and its fan base collectively) didn't aspire to be better we would never have felt the need to fire Perno,

It's damn near impossible for the basketball program to get any better than they already are but Hurley is trying. They're averaging a national championship in less than every 5 seasons. There's a ton of room for improvement for the football program.

 

[Stinger92860]

At this point in time there are no Px conferences which view us as additive. Maybe in 13 years our national sports programs still exist and we can possibly join the remnants of the ACC, but for what goal? Unfortunately, I believe our time has come and gone. Even if the state continues to subsidize our Sports programs I think at some point we will be shut out when the Px breaks.

 

[powerplay]

Put it like this, if the ACC and Big XII have roughly equivalent payouts in 2030 with a lean towards the ACC, imagine what the payouts would be if you took the most valuable Big XII brands and moved them over. The same would be true in reverse as well, the Big XII contract would jump if FSU, Clemson, UNC, and UVA moved to the Big XII. But the GOR length, and UNC/UVA never ever joining the Big XII means that won’t happen.

This conversation can go a few different ways. Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't UNC/UV jump to the B12? Rumor mill says they're candidates for B10.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Pot meet kettle,

Be happy with who you are says A-Dub. If we (UConn and its fan base collectively) didn't aspire to be better we would never have felt the need to fire Perno,

Calhoun was telling his players the very thing when he came at them screaming on the court. Sure they heard it often in practice too. "Be happy with who you are, you dumb, lazy... m!"

 

[JeepCSC]

This conversation can go a few different ways. Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't UNC/UV jump to the B12? Rumor mill says they're candidates for B10.

UNC/UVA probably have the best options of any programs not in the P2. To that end, they'd never go to the B12 for the same reason Central Florida, West Virginia, Cincinnati are not in the ACC.

 

[CL82]

It's damn near impossible for the basketball program to get any better than they already are but Hurley is trying.

This is a vastly underappreciated sentence. It's all the better because it is 100% correct.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

A few things off top of my head:

- need to improve UConn football asap. If nothing else, we need to change the perception.

- start talking to streaming companies like Apple etc for our next football contract. We need to get alot more money for our indy football program.

- looking into the private equity option FSU is exploring. We have a brand, and we need to leverage it asap.

- work with the Big East to see if there is an opportunity to increase the media deal. Again, talk to Apple and others to get all of your options. They need to start talking to these companies now.

 

[JeepCSC]

It looks like FSU is possibly pursuing the private equity option to build a joint media venture with other schools. Except they don't have any media rights, and the Pac-12 just fell apart with a similar investment. I think it really only works as a plan c leverage to get more money from ESPN, but I don't see how it would work.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

It looks like FSU is possibly pursuing the private equity option to build a joint media venture with other schools. Except they don't have any media rights, and the Pac-12 just fell apart with a similar investment. I think it really only works as a plan c leverage to get more money from ESPN, but I don't see how it would work.

What if FSU and a bunch of schools just get together and form a media company along with a steaming platform with private equity funding? Each college could just be a partner in this new entity. Streaming platforms like Apple, Amazon, etc. can be partners as well? They go out and make money, and everyone get paid based on their shares?

The fund raised from private equity will be used for marketing and promotion of this platform.

I can see UConn be part of this.

 

[JeepCSC]

What if FSU and a bunch of schools just get together and form a media company along with a steaming platform with private equity funding? Each college could just be a partner in this new entity. Streaming platforms like Apple, Amazon, etc. can be partners as well? They go out and make money, and everyone get paid based on their shares?

The fund raised from private equity will be used for marketing and promotion of this platform.

I can see UConn be part of this.

For starters, FSU has no current rights to sell.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

For starters, FSU has no current rights to sell.

I really need this clarification if 8 ACC schools left the ACC or vote to dissolve the ACC, will theren still be a GOR?

I am getting mixed signals from different people on this.

 

[JeepCSC]

I really need this clarification if 8 ACC schools left the ACC or vote to dissolve the ACC, will theren still be a GOR?

I am getting mixed signals from different people on this.

I don't think anyone has seen the contract, but the B10 and B12 just splurged on the West Coast and were scraping by to find the media money for the additions. You'd need to find 8 landing spots for the ACC schools if the GOR could be dissolved that easily. I'm not sure that's feasible. And that's best case scenario at blowing up the ACC.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

I don't think anyone has seen the contract, but the B10 and B12 just splurged on the West Coast and were scraping by to find the media money for the additions. You'd need to find 8 landing spots for the ACC schools if the GOR could be dissolved that easily. I'm not sure that's feasible. And that's best case scenario at blowing up the ACC.

if they come up with their own conference and media company, there are no worries

 

[JeepCSC]

If who comes up with what?

 

[Patman]

The power conferences already have all of the real power, thinking they don't is silly.

There is an additional benefit to being in a conference governed by the NCAA that would disappear if they split from the NCAA, exclusivity.

Where were UCF and USF 65 years ago? If we had the resources, you, I and a few boneyarders could buy some buildings, hire professors and administrators and over a number of years build a credible university. At some point, after meeting whatever criteria the NCAA has to become a member, we could apply for membership and they would have to accept us. Groups within the organization can be exclusive, the organization itself cannot.

If the B1G and SEC were to leave and start their own organization (the be a part of instead of the NCAA) and some school that didn't get to go along applies, what happens if they are denied? I imagine a lawsuit that the new organization knows going in they cannot win. The new organization won't need to give a spot in the B1G or SEC, but they do need to admit them in the organization (if the criteria is met, and, if the criteria is unreasonable, that will fall under legal scrutiny as well).

It won't take long for 45% of D1 to apply for admission.

Real power sure, "over what" is the issue. You said NCAA. You are wrong. They have sway but they don't have ultimate power because they do not vote and all those smaller schools have their own egos and equal voting power. Eventually these needs will split. The Px schools won't take over the NCAA in the long run, they'll create their own. At the end of the day Central Connecticut State will vote for their own interest as will Belmont, as will Liberty, as will Northern Arizona.