Thoughts on latest Jacobs column

[Dooley]

Basically, we need football to salvage our athletic existence. If we're still here in ten years, we'll be in a very different condition relative to our recent peers.

Agree. Ten years is also my own personal timetable. I have no idea how long UCONN is willing to wait but judging by the investments they have just made in lucrative coaches salaries/raises, upgrading hockey to Hockey East, constructing an on-campus basketball practice facility, and soccer (although this came in large part from private donation), I'm guessing that UCONN feels it can self-sustain for a while until it gets its life preserver.

 

[The Funster]

We still have to hold out hope that we get a seat at the big (especially B1G) table. If we don't we will sink into oblivion with the other P5 schools. Cutting FB will only accelerate the process.

 

[buddy]

You're wrong. She was asked if a B1G invite would be coming and when; and she replied, "Let's hope so, in our lifetimes." There was nothing about miracles being required.

Thank you for refreshing my memory. You are correct.

 

[zls44]

More banner lows for the Big East...courtesy of awful announcing...nobody is watching them.

 

[zls44]

Viewers for UConn games on ESPN2 during this period:
Cincy - 455K
USF - 299K

That's right...UConn vs a terrible USF team had more viewers than ANYTHING on the Big East's flagship network by 50K (monster trucks!)

 

[MASSconn]

Viewers for UConn games on ESPN2 during this period:
Cincy - 455K
USF - 299K

That's right...UConn vs a terrible USF team had more viewers than ANYTHING on the Big East's flagship network by 50K (monster trucks!)

We're just lucky ESPN has the AAC under contract. Guarantee it's not renewed. I'd put down a TON on it.

 

[specialisthusky]

We're just lucky ESPN has the AAC under contract. Guarantee it's not renewed. I'd put down a TON on it.

I'll take that bet assuming aac doesn't lose anyone prior to renewal period.

 

[zls44]

We're just lucky ESPN has the AAC under contract. Guarantee it's not renewed. I'd put down a TON on it.

Between the Big East and the AAC, only one is a terrible deal for the network- and it ain't the AAC.

 

[SC Husky]

If you want to be credible, it should be "she and Warde" not "her and Warde". Maybe the fanbase is stupid! The reason there is silence is because neither of them have a clue as to what is going on. UConn will be a great research university. AAU admission is highly unlikely however, as most of the metrics required for admission are not there. I recall, and please correct if I am wrong, that Susan actually stated that it would be a miracle if UConn was admitted to the B1G "in our lifetime". That quote says it all. I am hoping that it was "tongue in cheek", but I am not so sure. I wish I had the blind faith that noeynox does, but I don't. I think Jacobs just basically expressed the frustration that true UConn fans have over CR, the last horrible, horrible football season (worst ever, in my opinion), and the dim prospects for the future at this time. People are not going to make donations, buy season tickets, go to games, if the perception is that there is no hope. As they say silence=death. The silence coming out of Storrs is not a good thing for UConn faithful.

Great, you're correcting my grammer. If being a pompous arse makes you credible well at least you can say that you have that going for you. Maybe the fanbase isn't stupid. Could be that you're just a tool - buddy.

 

[ZooCougar]

Reality bites.

 

[Gampeltiles]

More banner lows for the Big East...courtesy of awful announcing...nobody is watching them.

Ruppert Murdoch intervenes and saves the AAC.

 

[Gampeltiles]

Between the Big East and the AAC, only one is a terrible deal for the network- and it ain't the AAC.

Fox Sports buys out the AAC's current TV contract and fixes this. Stranger things have happened.

 

[pnow15]

I am still trying to figure out how you keep increasing revenue by shrinking fan bases. So, If you UConn dies as a power and UMass drops football and New England passes on Boston College(as it will do) how does ESPN make up for the millions of fans who no longer chose to follow college football and basketball and turn to the pros. This is not just a New England problem. Boise State fans, BYU fans, San Diego St fans, Tulane fans, Cincinnati fans, Nova fans, Georgetown fans, Army fans, Navy fans etc., etc. Many people like myself and most of you reading this will just say screw them and watch the Celts and the Sox and the Pats. This P-5 cartel will shrink the size of the college football market and may very well destroy the joy of the NCAA B-Ball tournament when smaller colleges can not recruit at a level to compete with semi-pros playing in the P-5. Cinderella will have been permanently deflowered. Right now ratings have been great because many college fans do not realize that their schools are about to be excluded from any meaningful competition based not on merit but on ESPN cash. When the crap hit the college fans, the backlash could be staggering for ratings. And don't be surprise if congress does not step into this mess with antitrust legislation as other networks Fox and CBS start to talk with their congressmen.

 

[pj]

I am still trying to figure out how you keep increasing revenue by shrinking fan bases. So, If you UConn dies as a power and UMass drops football and New England passes on Boston College(as it will do) how does ESPN make up for the millions of fans who no longer chose to follow college football and basketball and turn to the pros. This is not just a New England problem. Boise State fans, BYU fans, San Diego St fans, Tulane fans, Cincinnati fans, Nova fans, Georgetown fans, Army fans, Navy fans etc., etc. Many people like myself and most of you reading this will just say screw them and watch the Celts and the Sox and the Pats. This P-5 cartel will shrink the size of the college football market and may very well destroy the joy of the NCAA B-Ball tournament when smaller colleges can not recruit at a level to compete with semi-pros playing in the P-5. Cinderella will have been permanently deflowered. Right now ratings have been great because many college fans do not realize that their schools are about to be excluded from any meaningful competition based not on merit but on ESPN cash. When the crap hit the college fans, the backlash could be staggering for ratings. And don't be surprise if congress does not step into this mess with antitrust legislation as other networks Fox and CBS start to talk with their congressmen.

Not only that, but by depriving UConn of a place in their college athletics universe, they are depriving the state of Connecticut as a whole of its only local athletic rooting interest. Pro franchises are unsustainable here due to the nearby presence of New York and Boston, but UConn can be a dominant college sports program. No other equally large market has neither a pro nor P5 sports team.

I doubt Congress will step in but if UConn is left out, UConn and the state of Connecticut should file an antitrust lawsuit in Hartford to assure a friendly jury. Gene Defilippo's comments about intentionally keeping UConn out of the ACC (and hence the P5) in order to give BC a stronger position in New England are a smoking gun admission of anti-competitive intent.

UConn can point to investments and value in athletics on the order of $1 billion, and antitrust lawsuits can get treble punitive damages, so $4 bn is on the order of the magnitude of a potential lawsuit. Split among 65 P5 programs that would be $61 million each. I think just the credible threat of a lawsuit ought to get UConn an invite somewhere. If it doesn't, they should absolutely proceed. Just the discovery on all the P5 machinations would be fascinating.