(05-22-2020 09:44 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(05-22-2020 08:43 AM)GTFletch Wrote:  Another great Article on why it just made since for UCONN to leave the AAC. I guess time will tell if it was a smart move, but with ECU dropping 4 sports any early indication is that UConn was wise!

Financial breakdown of UConn's move to the Big East
Link
https://connecticut.rivals.com/news/fina...e-big-east

So many many many mistakes in that article. UConn women’s basketball doesn’t get anything from SNY in the Big East (the money goes to FOX), Football buy games are available to UConn in either league. The guy can’t multiply. The AAC 34 basketball credits would be worth 50% or more than the Big East 60 credits (not less than 50%). UConn would be responsible for production cost for 50 events on ESPN+, which should cost about $300-500K.

Again, I think it’s the right move for UConn, but financial picture being painted with this article’s fantasy land of ice cream mountains and chocolate syrup rivers is silly uninformed homerism. I think the move was to re-energize the fan base and place the flagship basketball brand in its best position for success. Personally, I think that’s worth 2-3 million a year they lose in the shirt run. They can make some budget adjustments to deal with the slight shortfall, plus increased ticket sales and a money from the successful MSG BE tourney could off set that a bit.

Yeah, that's a pretty brutal analysis. He's off by multiple millions on both sides of the equation. He didn't even factor in the payout from the CFP and it's impact on UConn. No idea why he thinks UConn is getting money for the women's programs that isn't owned by them. That's not new information. They can be mad they are losing that revenue stream, but that was happening regardless of any conference move.

The SNY deal is overestimated, but as it was written in August of last year, I understand it was just an estimate. But the true value looks somewhere closer to $300k.

Basically, in an optimistic viewpoint, UConn MIGHT be breaking even on an annual basis as part of this deal. When you factor in the exit/entrance fees, there is no way to spin UConn coming out ahead of this financially. Which still can be ok as there are other benefits to the move.

I still completely understand why UConn did this move, and I think it can make sense for them, but it was not and is not about the money. It's about aligning their central athletic program in a conference that will allow it to thrive as best it can. There's no reason not to call a spade a spade.