(02-13-2014 05:24 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(02-13-2014 04:41 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  

(02-13-2014 03:17 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(02-13-2014 02:44 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  The Turf issues thing as it relates to BC and CT is so comical to me. To even suggest that a private university in Boston should have any sort of market protection over CT because it happens to be a New England state is so galling. It is bad enough as it pertains to NY and Boston claiming dominion over CT as far as pro-sports are concerned but for BC trying to claim some kind of market presence in CT, that's all kinds of ridiculous. New England is not a state.

Just curious: Does UConn market itself outside of Connecticut at all, or just in-state?

UConn obviously markets itself nationally and internationally and views itself as a national and global institution. USNWR ranks it the 19th public university in the US. That is not really my point though. My point is about protected markets as it pertains to marketing athletic programs. It just makes no sense for one school to try to claim all of New England, a region that spans 6 states. Maybe that's just the way I'm looking at it though. I can understand Ohio St. vs Cincy and Florida vs FSU to the SEC as those institutions represent the same state. BC doesn't represent anything about the state of CT so them blocking UConn due to turf simply makes no sense. Not that that is the major factor keeping UConn from gaining an ACC invite.

I was curious as to whether the state line is an important factor in the northeast, given that the states are much smaller and closer together. UConn is much closer to Boston than Penn State is to Philadelphia, for example.

Boston and NYC are the two cities with the most UCONN alum so there is a following in both places. I think that one NYC poll had UCONN as the 4th most followed college team in the city (especially since the southwest part of Connecticut is part of greater NYC). SNY is a New York-based sports channel. While we are not "New York's college team" this is the reality: http://syracusefan.com/threads/looks-lik...yed.40752/. Also, New England residents tend to root for New England teams. It's not uncommon to have Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, and even some Massachusetts residents following/rooting for UCONN. I've followed the Hockey East conference for quite a while now (even though UCONN doesn't join until next year) because it's full of New England-based teams.