http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-husk...story.html

That answers several questions that many have asked. When does the realignment fund money run out----

UConn's share is larger than many AAC teams because the conference redirects more money from Big East exit fees to former Big East schools, but that money ends after the next fiscal year. That means UConn's revenue share will be considerably less.

Why did UConn schedule roadie one and done with Clemson?

There are other ways to make money and shrink the gap. The UConn football team will begin looking at scheduling more money games – road games against Power Five schools that usually come with a guarantee of well over $1 million. The first one, approved Wednesday, is the Clemson game during the 2021 season that at $1.2 million yields the largest guarantee in program history. A "home" game this season against Boston College at Fenway Park will bring in $1.125 million.

We need to join the Big East. We'd make more money---

The argument has been made that UConn, which has an annual athletic budget of about $80 million, should drop football to the FCS level and focus on an attempt for its other programs to rejoin the Big East.

That lessens expenditures but hurts on the revenue side. Most Big East teams, without the benefit of big-time football, received between $2.3 million to close to $3 million from the league in 2015. Benedict also brings up another revenue issue.

"The misnomer with that thought process is that a lot of the money that we derive from multimedia rights — if you look at our ticket sales for football, even though they're not great right now, if you look at the multimedia rights deal, you'd lose the majority of those dollars if we said we're going to drop down to FCS in football," Benedict said. "I think most of those people are saying that because of the financial piece, but it's counter-intuitive because we're going to get over $9 million from our multimedia rights deal next year. … They're not going to pay us like that if we don't have football."

We need to get our UConn Womens basketball rights back to sell to SNY---(already done)

The Huskies have a lucrative TV deal with SNY (about $1 million a year) and a media rights deal with IMG (bringing in about $9 million a year, and set to expire after 2017-18) that is one of the best in the nation. The SNY money had gone directly to the AAC and then split among all member schools, but UConn argued during recent conference meetings that it should keep that money. Athletic directors voted in favor of that proposal, and UConn will retain about $3.1 million over the next three years because of it.

(06-29-2017 07:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That answers several questions that many have asked. When does the realignment fund money run out----

UConn's share is larger than many AAC teams because the conference redirects more money from Big East exit fees to former Big East schools, but that money ends after the next fiscal year. That means UConn's revenue share will be considerably less.

Why did UConn schedule roadie one and done with Clemson?

There are other ways to make money and shrink the gap. The UConn football team will begin looking at scheduling more money games – road games against Power Five schools that usually come with a guarantee of well over $1 million. The first one, approved Wednesday, is the Clemson game during the 2021 season that at $1.2 million yields the largest guarantee in program history. A "home" game this season against Boston College at Fenway Park will bring in $1.125 million.

We need to join the Big East. We'd make more money---

The argument has been made that UConn, which has an annual athletic budget of about $80 million, should drop football to the FCS level and focus on an attempt for its other programs to rejoin the Big East.

That lessens expenditures but hurts on the revenue side. Most Big East teams, without the benefit of big-time football, received between $2.3 million to close to $3 million from the league in 2015. Benedict also brings up another revenue issue.

"The misnomer with that thought process is that a lot of the money that we derive from multimedia rights — if you look at our ticket sales for football, even though they're not great right now, if you look at the multimedia rights deal, you'd lose the majority of those dollars if we said we're going to drop down to FCS in football," Benedict said. "I think most of those people are saying that because of the financial piece, but it's counter-intuitive because we're going to get over $9 million from our multimedia rights deal next year. … They're not going to pay us like that if we don't have football."

Has anyone really suggested that UConn drop down to FCS in football? What I've heard is possibly leaving the AAC for the Big East and becoming an independent in football, but still FBS.

That might be plausible. Dropping to FCS seems crazy on its face.

(06-29-2017 07:56 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(06-29-2017 07:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That answers several questions that many have asked. When does the realignment fund money run out----

UConn's share is larger than many AAC teams because the conference redirects more money from Big East exit fees to former Big East schools, but that money ends after the next fiscal year. That means UConn's revenue share will be considerably less.

Why did UConn schedule roadie one and done with Clemson?

There are other ways to make money and shrink the gap. The UConn football team will begin looking at scheduling more money games – road games against Power Five schools that usually come with a guarantee of well over $1 million. The first one, approved Wednesday, is the Clemson game during the 2021 season that at $1.2 million yields the largest guarantee in program history. A "home" game this season against Boston College at Fenway Park will bring in $1.125 million.

We need to join the Big East. We'd make more money---

The argument has been made that UConn, which has an annual athletic budget of about $80 million, should drop football to the FCS level and focus on an attempt for its other programs to rejoin the Big East.

That lessens expenditures but hurts on the revenue side. Most Big East teams, without the benefit of big-time football, received between $2.3 million to close to $3 million from the league in 2015. Benedict also brings up another revenue issue.

"The misnomer with that thought process is that a lot of the money that we derive from multimedia rights — if you look at our ticket sales for football, even though they're not great right now, if you look at the multimedia rights deal, you'd lose the majority of those dollars if we said we're going to drop down to FCS in football," Benedict said. "I think most of those people are saying that because of the financial piece, but it's counter-intuitive because we're going to get over $9 million from our multimedia rights deal next year. … They're not going to pay us like that if we don't have football."

Has anyone really suggested that UConn drop down to FCS in football? What I've heard is possibly leaving the AAC for the Big East and becoming an independent in football, but still FBS.

That might be plausible. Dropping to FCS seems crazy on its face.

Agreed. It seemed like they were making a straw-man argument.

FCS is a straw man argument.

You only make a straw man argument if you can't win against a legitimate argument

It seems like there's no reason to drop to FCS -- the Yankee conference doesn't exist and the traveling will be almost as bad in the CAA as it would in the American. On the revenue side there are fewer scholarships (and fewer women's scholarships IF Uconn wanted to drop women's sports as a result) but the income from media rights and attendance goes way down.

I wouldn't want to be the AD at UConn and push for football independence but if UMass can make it long term (remains to be seen) UConn could as well. But the revenue gain from jumping to the Big East would have to be much more than the revenue loss for leaving the AAC and playing as an independent. It sits on the fate of the American's next media contract.

(06-29-2017 07:56 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(06-29-2017 07:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That answers several questions that many have asked. When does the realignment fund money run out----

UConn's share is larger than many AAC teams because the conference redirects more money from Big East exit fees to former Big East schools, but that money ends after the next fiscal year. That means UConn's revenue share will be considerably less.

Why did UConn schedule roadie one and done with Clemson?

There are other ways to make money and shrink the gap. The UConn football team will begin looking at scheduling more money games – road games against Power Five schools that usually come with a guarantee of well over $1 million. The first one, approved Wednesday, is the Clemson game during the 2021 season that at $1.2 million yields the largest guarantee in program history. A "home" game this season against Boston College at Fenway Park will bring in $1.125 million.

We need to join the Big East. We'd make more money---

The argument has been made that UConn, which has an annual athletic budget of about $80 million, should drop football to the FCS level and focus on an attempt for its other programs to rejoin the Big East.

That lessens expenditures but hurts on the revenue side. Most Big East teams, without the benefit of big-time football, received between $2.3 million to close to $3 million from the league in 2015. Benedict also brings up another revenue issue.

"The misnomer with that thought process is that a lot of the money that we derive from multimedia rights — if you look at our ticket sales for football, even though they're not great right now, if you look at the multimedia rights deal, you'd lose the majority of those dollars if we said we're going to drop down to FCS in football," Benedict said. "I think most of those people are saying that because of the financial piece, but it's counter-intuitive because we're going to get over $9 million from our multimedia rights deal next year. … They're not going to pay us like that if we don't have football."

Has anyone really suggested that UConn drop down to FCS in football? What I've heard is possibly leaving the AAC for the Big East and becoming an independent in football, but still FBS.

That might be plausible. Dropping to FCS seems crazy on its face.

Maybe a few hard core basketball purists. I can only assume he is making the argument from a purely cost cutting stand point--but yeah, it does seem like a bit of a straw man.

(06-29-2017 09:04 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-29-2017 07:56 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(06-29-2017 07:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That answers several questions that many have asked. When does the realignment fund money run out----

UConn's share is larger than many AAC teams because the conference redirects more money from Big East exit fees to former Big East schools, but that money ends after the next fiscal year. That means UConn's revenue share will be considerably less.

Why did UConn schedule roadie one and done with Clemson?

There are other ways to make money and shrink the gap. The UConn football team will begin looking at scheduling more money games – road games against Power Five schools that usually come with a guarantee of well over $1 million. The first one, approved Wednesday, is the Clemson game during the 2021 season that at $1.2 million yields the largest guarantee in program history. A "home" game this season against Boston College at Fenway Park will bring in $1.125 million.

We need to join the Big East. We'd make more money---

The argument has been made that UConn, which has an annual athletic budget of about $80 million, should drop football to the FCS level and focus on an attempt for its other programs to rejoin the Big East.

That lessens expenditures but hurts on the revenue side. Most Big East teams, without the benefit of big-time football, received between $2.3 million to close to $3 million from the league in 2015. Benedict also brings up another revenue issue.

"The misnomer with that thought process is that a lot of the money that we derive from multimedia rights — if you look at our ticket sales for football, even though they're not great right now, if you look at the multimedia rights deal, you'd lose the majority of those dollars if we said we're going to drop down to FCS in football," Benedict said. "I think most of those people are saying that because of the financial piece, but it's counter-intuitive because we're going to get over $9 million from our multimedia rights deal next year. … They're not going to pay us like that if we don't have football."

Has anyone really suggested that UConn drop down to FCS in football? What I've heard is possibly leaving the AAC for the Big East and becoming an independent in football, but still FBS.

That might be plausible. Dropping to FCS seems crazy on its face.

Maybe a few hard core basketball purists. I can only assume he is making the argument from a purely cost cutting stand point--but yeah, it does seem like a bit of a straw man.

There are vocal voices from the hoops fan base that make the suggestion. Nobody of consequence but you can't live in this state and not be aware that sentiment exists.

The Tier 3 rights are huge for UConn. I wasn't aware they reacquired them (specifically SNY). It would make sense too, since there were rumblings about UConn potentially having talks with the Big East in the past couple of months. My bet is that the AAC gave those back out of fear that UConn was serious about leaving. It also wouldn't shock me that UConn made a power play for another non-football member in order to improve the perception and strength of basketball (Wichita State).

The next AAC TV deal is crucial. The gap is already there. If the AAC TV deal isn't what many expect it to be, it not only furthers the gap, but it might as well be nails to the coffin.

(06-29-2017 11:20 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  The Tier 3 rights are huge for UConn. I wasn't aware they reacquired them (specifically SNY). It would make sense too, since there were rumblings about UConn potentially having talks with the Big East in the past couple of months. My bet is that the AAC gave those back out of fear that UConn was serious about leaving. It also wouldn't shock me that UConn made a power play for another non-football member in order to improve the perception and strength of basketball (Wichita State).

The next AAC TV deal is crucial. The gap is already there. If the AAC TV deal isn't what many expect it to be, it not only furthers the gap, but it might as well be nails to the coffin.

That's my belief. That's why I find it extremely unlikely that the AAC would accept an early relatively low ball offer in the 2-4 million range. It's going take more than that to keep the ex-Big East teams from wanting the AAC to explore the open market where the maximum value would theoretically be obtained. The AAC would probably need an 8+ Million dollar deal for UConn to break even with its current 10 million dollar payout. That said---with just a 3-4 million deal, the AAC would probably make the Big East option financially irrelevant. The difference would be too small to be worth a 10 million dollar exit fee.

what does Conn make off WBB
what is NCAA WBB tour payment
if all revenue is paying coach, what's the point

UConn Revenues by Team from DoE Equity in Athletics
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

Operating expenses / Total Expenses

Football...... $5,399,551 / $16,781,226
Basketball
Men's......... $2,925,414 / $9,516,308
Women's..... $2,620,962 / $7,518,348

Revenues
Football...... $17,673,179
Basketball
Men's......... $10,423,801
Women's..... $8,864,132

These revenues are not reliable, as they are not broken down into Gate and other things. Worse the entire entry for DoE looks like a balance sheet, with no break down source of the revenue (student fees, school transfers, rights/licensing etc lumped in with ticket sales and media revenue)


So I look at USA Today which is a year behind
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/

But these numbers are not broken down by sport so I find little of value except to chart the growth in transfer of Institutional money (the budget problem)

The numbers are opaque, not transparent. Notice the flat to declining gate and the generally lower donations than when they were in a power conference.

(06-29-2017 11:48 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-29-2017 11:20 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  The Tier 3 rights are huge for UConn. I wasn't aware they reacquired them (specifically SNY). It would make sense too, since there were rumblings about UConn potentially having talks with the Big East in the past couple of months. My bet is that the AAC gave those back out of fear that UConn was serious about leaving. It also wouldn't shock me that UConn made a power play for another non-football member in order to improve the perception and strength of basketball (Wichita State).

The next AAC TV deal is crucial. The gap is already there. If the AAC TV deal isn't what many expect it to be, it not only furthers the gap, but it might as well be nails to the coffin.

That's my belief. That's why I find it extremely unlikely that the AAC would accept an early relatively low ball offer in the 2-4 million range. It's going take more than that to keep the ex-Big East teams from wanting the AAC to explore the open market where the maximum value would theoretically be obtained. The AAC would probably need an 8+ Million dollar deal for UConn to break even with its current 10 million dollar payout. That said---with just a 3-4 million deal, the AAC would probably make the Big East option financially irrelevant. The difference would be too small to be worth a 10 million dollar exit fee.

I would love to have UConn back in the Big East, in a normative sense, surely that is "where they belong". But it has to make sense financially, and the reality is, at least for the next 15 years or so, the Big East has little if any financial growth potential. If you join the Big East, you will get that FOX money. If that's enough for you, fine, but if you are looking for bigger things, they aren't happening. Nobody realistically expects the Big East to get much of a boost when its next deal is signed in the mid-2020s.

What that adds up to is that I think that if financially, all things are even, there's a good chance UConn leaves the AAC for the Big East, in which case their football would remain FBS but go independent. Where we disagree is that I think that if the annual dollars are even, if the AAC only gets the $3m - $4m deal you mention above, it might even be worth it to UConn to pay the $10m exit fee, because the normative pull of the Big East is strong.

But if the AAC can get the kind of contract boost that you and others think it will, up into the $5m - $8m per school range, then the AAC dollars will clearly be better than what the Big East can offer, and no way UConn leaves.

The problem for UConn and why they're not going to go back to the Big East- even if the media dollars are equal- which even right now for UConn they are pretty close with the SNY thing- you have to take into account the CFP money. For being in the AAC they get over 1.5 million at least per year. Compare that with 300k that they would get being indy. So need to really add realistically about 2.2 million dollars to what the AAC's tv deal gets and that's what you need to compare for UConn possibly going indy in football.

The problem with going Indy is that you lose out on the CFP revenue distribution and bowl money shared by the AAC. Last year the AAC received ~$1.7M from the CFP distribution while the Indy schools received $300,000. Thus, if the AAC's new media deal pays ~$3M+1.7M+bowl distribution they would basically be making just as much or possibly less than they would in the Big East/Indy. When you throw in the $10M exit fee UConn would have to give the AAC it makes it even tougher to leave.

(06-29-2017 09:00 PM)megadrone Wrote:  It seems like there's no reason to drop to FCS -- the Yankee conference doesn't exist and the traveling will be almost as bad in the CAA as it would in the American. On the revenue side there are fewer scholarships (and fewer women's scholarships IF Uconn wanted to drop women's sports as a result) but the income from media rights and attendance goes way down.

I wouldn't want to be the AD at UConn and push for football independence but if UMass can make it long term (remains to be seen) UConn could as well. But the revenue gain from jumping to the Big East would have to be much more than the revenue loss for leaving the AAC and playing as an independent. It sits on the fate of the American's next media contract.

IMO this Umass thing is looking more and more like an experiment to others considering an Indy possibility.

There are some major hangups with this independence thing - the most notable is a lack of TV exposure and $$$ that comes from it.

On a more cerebral level though, the lack of consistent schedule sucks too. With a conference you have that consistent yearly opponent from which you can build a rivalry or at least some familiarity. Right now every year is pot luck. If there were a small number of additional independents, it would lead to a defacto conference as they would have each other to lean on for available games in October November when the conferences generally don't have open weeks for us.

Now that the dust has settled (for Umass) and independence looks like a longer term position, we are securing 2 - 4 P games on the schedule each year with at least 1 of them coming to us in Amherst or Foxboro and the others being an away buy game.

If we can start playing .500 football, we will get some momentum and this scheduling philosophy could be successful enough to sustain/maintain going forward.

(06-30-2017 08:50 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  The problem with going Indy is that you lose out on the CFP revenue distribution and bowl money shared by the AAC. Last year the AAC received ~$1.7M from the CFP distribution while the Indy schools received $300,000. Thus, if the AAC's new media deal pays ~$3M+1.7M+bowl distribution they would basically be making just as much or possibly less than they would in the Big East/Indy. When you throw in the $10M exit fee UConn would have to give the AAC it makes it even tougher to leave.

Not only that but then the 1 million from SNY. Something they wouldn't get from the Big East.

Does the Big East TV deal with Fox include all media rights, including tier 3, or is it basically just a deal for men's hoops? If UConn could get Fox Big East money for men's hoops alone, and sell the rest on its own, that could be an attractive proposition. UConn WBB is valuable, Football could also get a new deal with SNY, I'm sure. I think UConn baseball is also getting more popular, so the school would have plenty of tier 3 content available if it's not part of the conference media rights deal.

(06-30-2017 12:17 AM)templefootballfan Wrote:  what does UCONN make off WBB
what is NCAA WBB tour payment
if all revenue is paying coach, what's the point

Why are you writing in haiku form?

(06-30-2017 09:01 AM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  Does the Big East TV deal with Fox include all media rights, including tier 3, or is it basically just a deal for men's hoops? If UConn could get Fox Big East money for men's hoops alone, and sell the rest on its own, that could be an attractive proposition. UConn WBB is valuable, Football could also get a new deal with SNY, I'm sure. I think UConn baseball is also getting more popular, so the school would have plenty of tier 3 content available if it's not part of the conference media rights deal.

as far as I know, it includes everything.