(06-25-2020 02:49 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 02:11 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 10:55 AM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 10:43 AM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  He lost me when he said they could drop to FCS and save a bunch of money. FCS isn't cheap. The only argument is to drop football or stick it out.

Have not read the article, but will do so after some meetings today. I do want to point out that there are a lot of teams in the New England area that they could play if they had an FCS schedule.

But do fans show up for games? Will UConn’s own even show up if they drop down? I agree that they could have a yearly local schedule, but it would still lose a lot of money, especially when the stadium isn’t on campus. It’s hard to get excited on a fall Saturday when you have to drive out and see, what, Holy Cross or Monmouth in your non-conference when it could have been a P5 team or on some level of national or regional tv?

Football is the low-hanging fruit for scapegoating cuts, even if it’s a likely culprit, but, whereas that sport is a known risk for budgets, how is basketball doing? It used to be its own money-generating program to prop up other programs. But its costs have risen significantly. Football is a known drain, but I suspect this is also UConn hoops not being able to prop things up, too.

The fans don't show up now at FBS level. They average just over 10k scanned tickets per game last year. Sure that number will fall, but it beats having to self purchase 10k or more of your own tickets to try and meet the 15k rolling two year average.

UConn women's hoops are still as good as ever, and I think replacing AAC opponents with Big East opponents should be more of a draw, especially given the history with the BE teams. If UConn men's hoops can turn it around, maybe UConn should consider the Villanova model (focus on BB and Olympic sports with a strong FCS program to boot).

Fans will show up for FBS football at UConn if the team can get halfway decent again. There is way more upside at the FBS level. UConn has decent TV deal for football and the school can earn way more for payday games as an FBS than an FCS. UConn has put together decent FBS schedules going into the next decade. All of the ingredients are there for possible success as an FBS independent. The school still will be making more from the Fox BE and Football CBS TV deals than MWC schools do. I think cutting a few sports is a necessary sacrifice, travel costs will go down, ticket revenue will be up. We'll see how it goes over the next decade.

(06-25-2020 04:26 AM)XLance Wrote:  You have to hand it to UConn.
They stirred the realignment pot as well as anyone has. Multiple posters on every board trying to convince the world that UConn should be chosen for the next spot available in the ACC and then the Big Ten.
The school went for broke.....literally.

What might have been...........had it not been for that lawsuit.

The school had to shoot for the moon because the stakes were high. If UConn would have made it to the ACC, Big Ten, or Big XII, the school would be fine. They didn't and it cost the athletic program everything.

(06-25-2020 06:52 PM)chess Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 04:26 AM)XLance Wrote:  You have to hand it to UConn.
They stirred the realignment pot as well as anyone has. Multiple posters on every board trying to convince the world that UConn should be chosen for the next spot available in the ACC and then the Big Ten.
The school went for broke.....literally.

What might have been...........had it not been for that lawsuit.

The school had to shoot for the moon because the stakes were high. If UConn would have made it to the ACC, Big Ten, or Big XII, the school would be fine. They didn't and it cost the athletic program everything.

If by "everything" you mean "they cut down to larger than average"...

Moving to the Big East. Securing an above average FBS Independent schedule for several seasons to come. Lower the athletic budget deficit.

I've said it before, but Benedict has been one of the best ADs in the country over the past 12 months. You'd be hard pressed to find another AD that has incorporated as many wide-sweeping positive changes as he has.

He should be a target for future mid-to-high end P5 AD openings, IMO.

What would have been if the ACC took UConn over Louisville. The ACC made a great decision at the time but if the ACC had taken UConn, I think UConn would have stabilized and improved. In that scenario Louisville, Cincinnati, and West Virginia go to the Big 12 as a package and the Big 12 has actually 12 teams and I could see them a few years later or at the same time just going to 14 to become the Big 14 with Houston and Memphis to help the spread of the conference and to fire back on the SEC territory.

BIG XIV

NORTH
West Virginia
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State

SOUTH
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
TCU
Baylor
Texas
Houston

Would be a great basketball conference as well.

The Big East would just have dropped football at that point and cut USF loose leaving CUSA as what is now the American the best of the rest.

(06-25-2020 09:38 AM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(06-24-2020 10:02 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  Nothing thrives in the Patriot League.

Navy was in the CAA when Robinson was there.

(06-26-2020 07:46 AM)orangefan Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 09:38 AM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(06-24-2020 10:02 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  Nothing thrives in the Patriot League.

Navy was in the CAA when Robinson was there.

Correct. Army was in the MAAC, and left the same time as Fordham and Holy Cross.

(06-26-2020 07:13 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Moving to the Big East. Securing an above average FBS Independent schedule for several seasons to come. Lower the athletic budget deficit.

I've said it before, but Benedict has been one of the best ADs in the country over the past 12 months.

Yes, he's spun a lot of soiled cloth in to some gold recently.

That's why I said the article smacks of a writer desperate to find something to write about in the absence of live sports. UConn is actually kind of on the upswing right now. Will it last? Nobody knows. But eighteen months ago the article would have made a lot more sense.

I felt like it was a mistake at the time for UConn to leave the AAC, a major D1 FB conference with a deal on ABC for the wilderness of FBS independence.

Even BYU over time seems like its paying the price as the MWC is improving its TV deal to be not far in payout from what BYU receives. Their decision to leave elevated Utah State got their spot in the MWC adding even more competition.

The strategy by UConn is that if they return to dominance in men's basketball out of the Big East they'll get sympathy for Syracuse, BC, Pitt, ND for addition to the ACC using the fact they're adding a Big East team and not a G5 school. It just makes their basketball look better.

Because in the worst case scenario had they stayed in the AAC and Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF all moved to the XII they would be left behind in a really weak AAC. This is the scenario they've completely avoided by heading over to the Big East.

(06-26-2020 07:26 AM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  What would have been if the ACC took UConn over Louisville. The ACC made a great decision at the time but if the ACC had taken UConn, I think UConn would have stabilized and improved. In that scenario Louisville, Cincinnati, and West Virginia go to the Big 12 as a package and the Big 12 has actually 12 teams and I could see them a few years later or at the same time just going to 14 to become the Big 14 with Houston and Memphis to help the spread of the conference and to fire back on the SEC territory.

BIG XIV

NORTH
West Virginia
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State

SOUTH
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
TCU
Baylor
Texas
Houston

Would be a great basketball conference as well.

The Big East would just have dropped football at that point and cut USF loose leaving CUSA as what is now the American the best of the rest.

The problem is the B12 would never have taken Louisville and Cincinnati. There is a regional, cultural and institutional bias in the Big 12 against schools with their profile, location, demographics and mission.

The article reads very mean-spirited and inappropriate. UConn athletics is hemorrhaging financially. The university had been subsidizing a myriad of sports in the hopes of media rights as a “Power” conference university...given the dissolution of BE football and that they didn’t get selected for a P5 conference, UConn athletics now needs to live-within-their-means.

The author ridicules the Edsall contract and suggests to further reduce football costs by moving to FCS. It’s just mean-spirited venting at the most visible targets.

To me, it appears that UConn is now making good strategic decisions. They need their basketball teams to have good seasons so that there will be some good news in the midst of all this restructuring.

UConn had no "perfect option." Staying in the AAC would have continued concerns. And leaving for the Big East create concerns (and not just for Husky football but also because the American is better than the Big East in baseball and Husky baseball is very respectable). We all agree that UConn would have preferred moving to the ACC. That would have made so much sense for the university on so many levels. The Big East move is "better" than remaining in the American, as I see it. More UConn fans would prefer BE/football indy than full AAC. Thus, attendance, donations, etc., should increase. And Big East hoops is like the NBA compared to AAC basketball.

Most of us agree on this:

The Big East is the the best men's hoops league outside the all-sports Power 5.

The American is the best comprehensive league (hoops, football, academics, endowments, baseball, fan bases, athletic dept budgets, etc.) outside the Power 5.

Stay or leave, UConn was/is taking a risk. We'll know in three to five years if the move has been successful. I anticipate it will be "solidly successful" and that UConn admins and fans will be satisfied.

(06-26-2020 08:35 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  I felt like it was a mistake at the time for UConn to leave the AAC, a major D1 FB conference with a deal on ABC for the wilderness of FBS independence.

Even BYU over time seems like its paying the price as the MWC is improving its TV deal to be not far in payout from what BYU receives. Their decision to leave elevated Utah State got their spot in the MWC adding even more competition.

The strategy by UConn is that if they return to dominance in men's basketball out of the Big East they'll get sympathy for Syracuse, BC, Pitt, ND for addition to the ACC using the fact they're adding a Big East team and not a G5 school. It just makes their basketball look better.

Because in the worst case scenario had they stayed in the AAC and Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF all moved to the XII they would be left behind in a really weak AAC. This is the scenario they've completely avoided by heading over to the Big East.

If that is UConn's goal, which I doubt, then it is pyrite.

(06-25-2020 02:45 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 01:08 PM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 10:55 AM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 10:43 AM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  He lost me when he said they could drop to FCS and save a bunch of money. FCS isn't cheap. The only argument is to drop football or stick it out.

Have not read the article, but will do so after some meetings today. I do want to point out that there are a lot of teams in the New England area that they could play if they had an FCS schedule.

There are teams around but I still don't think Rhode Island, New Hampshire or Maine are saving a ton of money on football over UMass or UConn. Vermont might be

Vermont has been saving a lot of money on football since they discontinued it in 1974.

URI, UNH, and UMaine can bus to each other and Stony Brook and Albany are also bus-able but are about 500 and 410 miles from Orono, ME. That's four conference opponents for each school. Throw in an FBS game (maybe against Buffalo, Syracuse, UMass, or UConn) and OOC against the likes of Wagner, C Conn St, or any of the Ivy leagues and that gives you the possibility of 7 games which you or your opponent can reach by bus.

Someone suggested it in another thread recently, but I like the idea of a revived Yankee Conference. UConn and UMass drop to FCS and join URI, UNH, Maine, Stony Brook, Albany, and maybe one other. (CCSU? They could trade conferences with Hartford. I dunno.) It could either be a FB-only conference or perhaps become a wing of AmEast. CAA football can still get by with the 7 they have left. They can pick up Howard to make it 8.

Nerdinger: a new Yankee Conference is a great idea!!

(06-25-2020 09:42 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  The school had 24 sports? Why does anyone really need that many?

Four have revenue potential 20 dead weight sports is too much.
Still forty million deficit is crazy it can't be all footballs fault.
They have two great historic basketball programs and two nice arena choices. Their football stadium is a good size for an independent and their fairly close to good recruiting grounds. The Big East revenue is basically the same as AAC.

So how do you make football relevant ?
Play BYU, U Mass and NMSU annually .
Try to start a basketball tournament every year with those three and Notre Dame if possible. It would be great if ND would play them in football but that's not happening. Even with the other three its a good tournament. Fight to get the independents eligible for the Access Bowl spot. BYU is a former national champ and if ranked higher deserve the spot over a G5 champ. Do that and play a couple local P5 and obviously start winning .

(06-25-2020 04:34 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 02:49 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 02:11 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 10:55 AM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 10:43 AM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  He lost me when he said they could drop to FCS and save a bunch of money. FCS isn't cheap. The only argument is to drop football or stick it out.

Have not read the article, but will do so after some meetings today. I do want to point out that there are a lot of teams in the New England area that they could play if they had an FCS schedule.

But do fans show up for games? Will UConn’s own even show up if they drop down? I agree that they could have a yearly local schedule, but it would still lose a lot of money, especially when the stadium isn’t on campus. It’s hard to get excited on a fall Saturday when you have to drive out and see, what, Holy Cross or Monmouth in your non-conference when it could have been a P5 team or on some level of national or regional tv?

Football is the low-hanging fruit for scapegoating cuts, even if it’s a likely culprit, but, whereas that sport is a known risk for budgets, how is basketball doing? It used to be its own money-generating program to prop up other programs. But its costs have risen significantly. Football is a known drain, but I suspect this is also UConn hoops not being able to prop things up, too.

The fans don't show up now at FBS level. They average just over 10k scanned tickets per game last year. Sure that number will fall, but it beats having to self purchase 10k or more of your own tickets to try and meet the 15k rolling two year average.

UConn women's hoops are still as good as ever, and I think replacing AAC opponents with Big East opponents should be more of a draw, especially given the history with the BE teams. If UConn men's hoops can turn it around, maybe UConn should consider the Villanova model (focus on BB and Olympic sports with a strong FCS program to boot).

Fans will show up for FBS football at UConn if the team can get halfway decent again. There is way more upside at the FBS level. UConn has decent TV deal for football and the school can earn way more for payday games as an FBS than an FCS. UConn has put together decent FBS schedules going into the next decade. All of the ingredients are there for possible success as an FBS independent. The school still will be making more from the Fox BE and Football CBS TV deals than MWC schools do. I think cutting a few sports is a necessary sacrifice, travel costs will go down, ticket revenue will be up. We'll see how it goes over the next decade.

They may want to keep their friends up in Amherst on speed dial. It's not that I don't believe they could succeed. I just believe this is the start of an opportunity to walk back the sport a bit. Covid shifts everything now, though, but, while I think a return to FCS is in their future, I also think UConn is hanging on in FBS just long enough as the next plates start shifting to see where their football (or more) can land. If football independence is still the result after some of these other things fall, they'll be knocking on the CAAF's door.

As long as the P5 teams are making mega bucks, they will toss out millions for one-off games. Independent schools like UMass and UConn have the ability to schedule a few of these each season. They can make up ground by making a more interesting schedule. They’re not going anywhere; remember, they chose independence.

(06-26-2020 08:56 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  And leaving for the Big East create concerns (and not just for Husky football but also because the American is better than the Big East in baseball and Husky baseball is very respectable).

If the second worst thing that can be said for a move is a negative impact on baseball, that has the ring of a pretty solid move. Like Hockey in the right area or Lacrosse in the right area, Baseball in the right area can be a break-even to modest surplus sport, unlike the true "subsidy" sports like track or men's volleyball ... but it's a long way away in potential impact from the two money sports.

(06-28-2020 08:24 AM)CoastalVANDAL Wrote:  

(06-25-2020 09:42 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  The school had 24 sports? Why does anyone really need that many?

Four have revenue potential 20 dead weight sports is too much.
Still forty million deficit is crazy it can't be all footballs fault.
They have two great historic basketball programs and two nice arena choices. Their football stadium is a good size for an independent and their fairly close to good recruiting grounds. The Big East revenue is basically the same as AAC.

So how do you make football relevant ?
Play BYU, U Mass and NMSU annually .
Try to start a basketball tournament every year with those three and Notre Dame if possible. It would be great if ND would play them in football but that's not happening. Even with the other three its a good tournament. Fight to get the independents eligible for the Access Bowl spot. BYU is a former national champ and if ranked higher deserve the spot over a G5 champ. Do that and play a couple local P5 and obviously start winning .

Are you saying a schedule of BYU, UMass, NMSt and a couple P5s is more deserving of a Access Spot than running the gauntlet of UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, Navy and a couple P5s? Get out of here!