Path Forward for UConn

[FfldCntyFan]

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

Everything else aside I highly recommend we stay #@$ away from PE firms.

It would basically be soaking in blood for an hour, then going swimming with sharks

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.

If you truly believe that CCSU, Belmont, Libery or Northern Arizona have any say in anything the NCAA decides I don't know what to tell you.

 

[Fishy]

Well, they do more than that including organizing tournaments for non-revenue sports. I'm not saying that it isn't something that P2 could not do for themselves, but it's more than just March madness. For what it's worth it also includes DII in DIII sports.

This is why it will ultimately split.

The P4 is funding the DIII swimming and diving championships. They don’t want to.

 

[Fishy]

Everything else aside I highly recommend we stay #@$ away from PE firms.

It would basically be soaking in blood for an hour, then going swimming with sharks

If you truly believe that CCSU, Belmont, Libery or Northern Arizona have any say in anything the NCAA decides I don't know what to tell you.

If a private equity firm ever looked at our athletic books, they would tell us to drop sports.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If a private equity firm ever looked at our athletic books, they would tell us to drop sports.

The FSU leak about JP Morgan was desperate and pathetic. FSU really comes off like tools with this breath-holding and foot-stomping.

I don't think any college program is a candidate for PE.

 

[billybud]

FSU (as Seminole Boosters, Inc.) developed a major real estate holding, College Town, by partnering with a development company and private equity before buying out the partners 8 years down the road.

It is a fairly large and successful development with returns that are part of the Seminole Boosters $30 million annual contribution to FSU.

 

[Fishy]

The FSU leak about JP Morgan was desperate and pathetic. FSU really comes off like tools with this breath-holding and foot-stomping.

I don't think any college program is a candidate for PE.

Absolutely.

And no reporter was smart enough to take half a step back and think, “there’s no way that would work.”

FSU did everything someone who was completely stuck would do if they wanted to make it look like they had options. All anyone had to do was think about it for one second to realize they do not.

 

[noeynox]

This is why it will ultimately split.

The P4 is funding the DIII swimming and diving championships. They don’t want to.

Thank you.

 

[superjohn]

This is why it will ultimately split.

The P4 is funding the DIII swimming and diving championships. They don’t want to.

Women's sports/

This is why it will ultimately split.

The P4 is funding the DIII swimming and diving championships. They don’t want to.

All women's/non-revenue sports should be eliminated in college athletics.

 

[dayooper]

Women's sports/
All women's/non-revenue sports should be eliminated in college athletics.

Why?

 

[Fishy]

FSU (as Seminole Boosters, Inc.) developed a major real estate holding, College Town, by partnering with a development company and private equity before buying out the partners 8 years down the road.

It is a fairly large and successful development with returns that are part of the Seminole Boosters $30 million annual contribution to FSU.

Ah, so what?

 

[superjohn]

Why?

Because it would maybe bring an end to all this nonsense.

 

[billybud]

Ah, so what?

just replying to someone who doesn't think private equity has any role...it depends on how the university is organized...in Florida, the athletic arms have been made into DSO's.

PE can be a useful tool.

 

[dayooper]

Because it would maybe bring an end to all this nonsense.

Then you have to change federal law. Title IX would prevent that.

 

[noeynox]

Then you have to change federal law. Title IX would prevent that.

The P2 don't mind for their own non revenue athletes. They don't want to pay for anyone else's. This is obvious.

 

[Point6]

Maybe FSU and Clemson squeaky wheeling will cause ESPN to pay full freight for new expansion partners (cough, including local ones) but the new expansion partners come in at only 1/2 share for the remainder of the GOR and the balance of the new team share $ goes to FSU and Clemson to keep them in place?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

[BigTenFan]

just replying to someone who doesn't think private equity has any role...it depends on how the university is organized...in Florida, the athletic arms have been made into DSO's.

PE can be a useful tool.

Not that there isn't a lot of corruption currently in college sports- but I can't even begin to imagine what this would do.

Think of the kickbacks and political payoffs that would happen. At this point why even pretend college sports are anything more than private teams for the wealthy.....no thanks

 

[Patman]

If you truly believe that CCSU, Belmont, Libery or Northern Arizona have any say in anything the NCAA decides I don't know what to tell you.

I'm saying that the power schools don't have ultimate control over the system and there will eventually be a schism. You have basically said they have ultimate control and there won't be.

 

[Fishy]

just replying to someone who doesn't think private equity has any role...it depends on how the university is organized...in Florida, the athletic arms have been made into DSO's.

PE can be a useful tool.

Your example was essentially for chump change, though.

The scale of what FSU was bluffing was a non-sensical case for private equity unless you want to sell your entire campus and your future receivables to the PIF.

 

[Fishy]

It has been a frustrating last decade-plus for UConn in conference realignment. Our market (Connecticut plus chunks of New York and New England) is large, our athletic success outstanding, and the brand is prominent compared to many P5 programs. If football were settled in a strong conference for a while it would be competitive. Yet this value has gone unrecognized while many less valuable and successful universities have gotten rich.

It seems the B12 chose stability (geographic compactness, two teams per state, local rivalries, mid-tier brands with few options) over entrepreneurial ambition (UConn, national growth with marquee brands). No other way to explain taking Utah and Arizona State, the second teams in their states, over UConn which would bring in more money but have less commonality and less geographic fit with its B12 peers.

If that's their choice, less money but more stability and security, it's hard to see them changing strategy and taking UConn later.

The ACC seems the natural landing place for UConn but the ACC seems frozen in place and unable or unwilling to act due to internal divisions and their particular contract structures.

The B1G and SEC also seem out of reach, as both are able to poach top brands and SEC does not seem interested in moving out of its region.

Nevertheless the whole college sports configuration makes no sense right now and it looks like it is heading toward some kind of disruption. Basketball undervalued and basketball revenue distributed primarily to non-producers, many second-tier brands overpaid and top brands underpaid, football providing content only seasonally, shifts in the media landscape from cable to streaming. There will be a lot of motives for change.

It looks like UConn has to keep investing in football, basketball, and brand building and wait for things to free up. Maybe Florida State's moves to alter the ACC situation could be the lever that opens things up.

If I were the UConn administration I'd reach out to Florida State and ESPN and see if there is some creative idea for re-arranging the ACC to create more value, and also to Cal and Stanford to see if the three biggest "left out" brands can maneuver something to mutual advantage. An alliance of the undervalued has to lead entrepreneurial disruption.

The ACC must be thinking about whether they want a Pacific division, now that ex-PAC schools are available; Cal and Stanford will surely be open to creative solutions, and Notre Dame provides a precedent for creativity. I think if the ACC stays frozen, they are setting themselves up for a Pac-12 like situation later. There should be openness to enhancing their market position on the East Coast, and getting more heft with more schools to improve their bargaining strength in future negotiations.

Anyway, back to the path forward for UConn.

Adding UConn does not forestall what will happen to the ACC when the GOR expires. Because of the way their contract and their carrier agreements are structured, adding UConn does not increase their revenue - that is why you saw reports that they did value studies on schools like Oregon, Washington, the Cali schools and SMU.

The path forward is that there is no path forward.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Anyway, back to the path forward for UConn.

Adding UConn does not forestall what will happen to the ACC when the GOR expires. Because of the way their contract and their carrier agreements are structured, adding UConn does not increase their revenue - that is why you saw reports that they did value studies on schools like Oregon, Washington, the Cali schools and SMU.

The path forward is that there is no path forward.

The back end of that ACC/ESPN agreement is going to look a lot better than it does now.

I think the solution is pretty simple. Sign with Apple or someone else for a streaming deal for UConn football. Start building the subscriptions. We need an asset we can use to prove that UConn football has value. Streaming is the future, and for UConn football at least, the future is going to be now.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

The P2 don't mind for their own non revenue athletes. They don't want to pay for anyone else's. This is obvious.

That may be true, but Title IX is federal law.

 

[NE Football]

Our problem is that we don’t have a long history in football and the history we have is bad.

 

[giddyup]

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.

The SEC and B1G will be. So, the growing wealth gap is huge problem.

 

[Patman]

The SEC and B1G will be. So, the growing wealth gap is huge problem.

I don't see how they're extracting all that value but so it goes

 

[DGB]

Anyway, back to the path forward for UConn.

Adding UConn does not forestall what will happen to the ACC when the GOR expires. Because of the way their contract and their carrier agreements are structured, adding UConn does not increase their revenue - that is why you saw reports that they did value studies on schools like Oregon, Washington, the Cali schools and SMU.

The path forward is that there is no path forward.

It's a true point on revenue and I'm definitely influenced by the outcome I'd like to see here, but having UConn should offer either the Big 12 or ACC some leverage.

If, for example, the ACC were to grab UConn now that leaves the Big 12 with very little to choose from in the east until the ACC GOR expires. But the Big 12 GOR expires first....and WVU may reach a point where it has had its fill of playing in a midwest and western conference that has ADs that publicly highlight its presence on an eastern island (see the genius at ASU). The Big 12 has geographically ignored WVU in this round of expansion, and if it doesn't remedy that it could be the wedge that allows the ACC/ESPN to pluck WVU. I doubt the FSU/Clemson football folks balk at WVU...and WVU could be the Colorado that starts the dominoes falling out of the Big 12.

UConn is the only option the Big 12 has in the east prior to the ACC GOR, and one would think Yormark/Fox or ESPN/ACC would recognize this before the Big 12 GOR in 2031...but these folks have respectfully added two schools from Utah/Zona and Boston freaking College so who knows.