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Timid ACC should have added Cincinnati, UConn, too
Published Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:45 pm EST
By Mike DeCourcy Sporting News
Follow on Twitter Archive Email RSS 6 Comments
Join the conversation Tweet Text size A A A On a day when it might have been making a bold statement about its intent to solidify a substantial future in college athletics, the Atlantic Coast Conference spoke softly. The presidents of member schools got themselves on a conference call at 7 a.m. ET, a fittingly quiet hour of the day to be taking such a meager action.

We’ll add Louisville, they whispered.


Cincinnati drew plenty of fans when it hosted Oklahoma at Paul Brown Stadium in 2010. (AP Photo)It was great news for the Cardinals, easily the best run athletics department in the land. They will evacuate the now-decimated Big East they tried their best to keep functional. At the least, they will be reunited with Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame. It keeps them in the game.

And for the ACC, this move does what, exactly? It gives the league one more warm body. Let us be wholly honest about this: It does not deliver a substantial new region to conquer.

Louisville ranks No. 48 among Nielsen markets, and the Cardinals do not own all of that. There is a substantial penetration of Kentucky fans in the city and its suburbs. When The Courier-Journal surveyed Louisville residents in 2005 regarding their favorite team, 33 percent chose UK and 57 percent went for the Cardinals. You know what 57 percent of the No. 48 market is? It’s Shreveport.

Had the ACC wanted to be truly bold about its place in college sports, the move to make was all or nothing: Take Louisville, Cincinnati and Connecticut and assure there would be almost no attractive programs remaining for anyone else looking to expand.

Hayes: What took ACC so long to add Louisville?

As it is now, the ACC is the same sort of wobbling vessel the Big East was 18 months ago, except the life rafts are better. That $50 million exit fee can be accommodated for a university jumping on the Big Ten money train. And maybe a move to the SEC could make it worthwhile, but perhaps only if the league gets its own television network functional and profitable.

Should Maryland win the lawsuit filed by the ACC to assure the Terps pay that exit fee, or should it be settled for a more manageable sum, Florida State’s reticence to depart the league that existed last summer might not hold with the Terps gone to the Big Ten and North Carolina itching to follow, most likely with its Duke rivalry in tow.

The ACC’s gamble today is that Connecticut and Cincinnati always will be there for them, and that’s probably true in the case of UConn because of its geography. And it might be true, as well, with Cincinnati, but the Bearcats can present themselves as a pretty formidable candidate for Big 12 expansion.

Essentially what lifted Louisville above Cincinnati was facilities. Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium is a sweet place to watch a football game, and the KFC Yum! Center is a basketball palace. Cincinnati could attempt to counter that to the ACC, but it largely would be a bluff.

If it were a part of the Big 12, however, Cincinnati could move its conference football games out of its charming but obsolete Nippert Stadium and into the Paul Brown Stadium, one of the three or four best places in America to watch a football game. Perhaps they’d need to tarp off a few seats to create a manageable capacity in the NFL stadium, but Oklahoma’s trip to Cincy in 2010 drew more than 58,000 fans.

Cincinnati is the No. 35 television market, and though there are UK fans across the river and those who prefer Xavier in basketball, the Bearcats own the greatest portion of college sports fans in the region.

In addition, were the Big 12 to add Cincinnati it would allow West Virginia to be less isolated. They’re not exactly next-door neighbors. It’s about a 5-hour drive from Cincy to Morgantown. But at least they are in adjoining states and have a brief history of competition. WVU fans would have at least one drivable road game in the conference instead of what they have now, which is none.

However remote that possibility might be — and who knows how strong it is, given that few presaged the moves of Maryland to the Big Ten and Tulane to the Big East — the ACC could have shut it down by making a daring move on Wednesday morning. If some of its core members bolted, it would have a new core. It’d be a lesser core but still attractive and competitive. Instead, the league chose to be timid.

The last league to fit that category still calls itself the Big East, but only out of habit.

Great article...just nailed it

Fact is, we are wanted by neither the ACC nor the B-XII, or else we'd be in one of them by now. We need to fill our stadium/arena, and update both of them as well, regardless of schedule, if we're going to even sniff either league. It depends on how much the school and its supporters want it at this point. Just hope the train hasn't left for good.

Even formally announcing stadium expansion would put UC in a better place, realignment wise, than it is right now.

(12-17-2012 01:50 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  Fact is, we are wanted by neither the ACC nor the B-XII, or else we'd be in one of them by now. We need to fill our stadium/arena, and update both of them as well, regardless of schedule, if we're going to even sniff either league. It depends on how much the school and its supporters want it at this point. Just hope the train hasn't left for good.

This. It's obvious UC isn't wanted. I love UC but looking at it objectively lets be honest. The facilities absolutely suck and I'm pretty sure the athletic budget sucks too compared to most of the schools in the Big 5 conferences.

The Maryland lawsuit is the only thing holding up more realignment. If Maryland wins, then I see FSU and Clemson leaving, more than likely to the Big 12. If that happens, UC will receive an invite, but may be in a position to choose which conference to join - the ACC or Big 12 - because UC is the "best of the rest"; academically, geographically, TV market-wise and athletically.

This whole mess may turn out best for the Bearcats after all.

C'mon guys.....tell me something that we all don't know.

DeCourcy did. He told me that he is willing to help shill the Bearcats into a better situation. That's certainly more than any other member of the mainstream media has been willing to do, including all of our local guys.

" The intentions of Cincinnati, Connecticut, the ACC and possibly more. So far, the two schools have not been thrown lifelines to BCS leagues, but are on record as being willing to jump. Cincinnati has a surprising amount of juice at this point. It has been to a BCS bowl. It draws surprisingly good TV ratings in basketball. Call it the best player left on the board.

"Cincinnati is more valuable than what is being let on," an industry source said."


http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...rence-no-6

^^^^ this type of talk gives me great hope for my Cats

(12-17-2012 03:08 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  " The intentions of Cincinnati, Connecticut, the ACC and possibly more. So far, the two schools have not been thrown lifelines to BCS leagues, but are on record as being willing to jump. Cincinnati has a surprising amount of juice at this point. It has been to a BCS bowl. It draws surprisingly good TV ratings in basketball. Call it the best player left on the board.

"Cincinnati is more valuable than what is being let on," an industry source said."


http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...rence-no-6

Good article. Nice to see some nice comment about our program from a national source. Question: Why would our basketball television ranking be "surprisingly" good? We are a top 25 program all-time.

I can't find a link, but I read somewhere that Greater Cincinnati area was in the top 5 watching college basketball behind Louisville.

All indications are we should sit tight , be a good little member of this Big East patchwork until the next round of shuffling starts up . Continue with facility improvement plans and keep winning on the field . We seem to be up next.

(12-17-2012 03:31 PM)True Bearcat Wrote:  I can't find a link, but I read somewhere that Greater Cincinnati area was in the top 5 watching college basketball behind Louisville.

Correct, Ville, then Cincy-Columbus-Indy are all real close. per capita.

(12-17-2012 03:19 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(12-17-2012 03:08 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  " The intentions of Cincinnati, Connecticut, the ACC and possibly more. So far, the two schools have not been thrown lifelines to BCS leagues, but are on record as being willing to jump. Cincinnati has a surprising amount of juice at this point. It has been to a BCS bowl. It draws surprisingly good TV ratings in basketball. Call it the best player left on the board.

"Cincinnati is more valuable than what is being let on," an industry source said."


http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...rence-no-6

Good article. Nice to see some nice comment about our program from a national source. Question: Why would our basketball television ranking be "surprisingly" good? We are a top 25 program all-time.

Possibly surprising to those outside of our area.

(12-17-2012 03:31 PM)True Bearcat Wrote:  I can't find a link, but I read somewhere that Greater Cincinnati area was in the top 5 watching college basketball behind Louisville.

This has us as #7

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releas.../11/60498/

Also just to confirm what we already know, Football driving the bus

Stewart Mandel ‏@slmandel

Why are there so many bowls? Overnight ratings from Sat: New Mexico Bowl (ESPN): 1.9. Butler upsets No. 1 Indiana (CBS): 1.5.

(12-17-2012 03:41 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  All indications are we should sit tight , be a good little member of this Big East patchwork until the next round of shuffling starts up . Continue with facility improvement plans and keep winning on the field . We seem to be up next.

If realignment has taught me anything, it's that there's usually ZERO benefit to being the happy little soldier and waiting quietly for your turn.

(12-17-2012 12:50 PM)KCat Wrote:  http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketb...n-big-east

Timid ACC should have added Cincinnati, UConn, too
Published Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012 at 3:45 pm EST
By Mike DeCourcy Sporting News
Follow on Twitter Archive Email RSS 6 Comments
Join the conversation Tweet Text size A A A On a day when it might have been making a bold statement about its intent to solidify a substantial future in college athletics, the Atlantic Coast Conference spoke softly. The presidents of member schools got themselves on a conference call at 7 a.m. ET, a fittingly quiet hour of the day to be taking such a meager action.

We’ll add Louisville, they whispered.


Cincinnati drew plenty of fans when it hosted Oklahoma at Paul Brown Stadium in 2010. (AP Photo)It was great news for the Cardinals, easily the best run athletics department in the land. They will evacuate the now-decimated Big East they tried their best to keep functional. At the least, they will be reunited with Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame. It keeps them in the game.

And for the ACC, this move does what, exactly? It gives the league one more warm body. Let us be wholly honest about this: It does not deliver a substantial new region to conquer.

Louisville ranks No. 48 among Nielsen markets, and the Cardinals do not own all of that. There is a substantial penetration of Kentucky fans in the city and its suburbs. When The Courier-Journal surveyed Louisville residents in 2005 regarding their favorite team, 33 percent chose UK and 57 percent went for the Cardinals. You know what 57 percent of the No. 48 market is? It’s Shreveport.

Had the ACC wanted to be truly bold about its place in college sports, the move to make was all or nothing: Take Louisville, Cincinnati and Connecticut and assure there would be almost no attractive programs remaining for anyone else looking to expand.

Hayes: What took ACC so long to add Louisville?

As it is now, the ACC is the same sort of wobbling vessel the Big East was 18 months ago, except the life rafts are better. That $50 million exit fee can be accommodated for a university jumping on the Big Ten money train. And maybe a move to the SEC could make it worthwhile, but perhaps only if the league gets its own television network functional and profitable.

Should Maryland win the lawsuit filed by the ACC to assure the Terps pay that exit fee, or should it be settled for a more manageable sum, Florida State’s reticence to depart the league that existed last summer might not hold with the Terps gone to the Big Ten and North Carolina itching to follow, most likely with its Duke rivalry in tow.

The ACC’s gamble today is that Connecticut and Cincinnati always will be there for them, and that’s probably true in the case of UConn because of its geography. And it might be true, as well, with Cincinnati, but the Bearcats can present themselves as a pretty formidable candidate for Big 12 expansion.

Essentially what lifted Louisville above Cincinnati was facilities. Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium is a sweet place to watch a football game, and the KFC Yum! Center is a basketball palace. Cincinnati could attempt to counter that to the ACC, but it largely would be a bluff.

If it were a part of the Big 12, however, Cincinnati could move its conference football games out of its charming but obsolete Nippert Stadium and into the Paul Brown Stadium, one of the three or four best places in America to watch a football game. Perhaps they’d need to tarp off a few seats to create a manageable capacity in the NFL stadium, but Oklahoma’s trip to Cincy in 2010 drew more than 58,000 fans.

Cincinnati is the No. 35 television market, and though there are UK fans across the river and those who prefer Xavier in basketball, the Bearcats own the greatest portion of college sports fans in the region.

In addition, were the Big 12 to add Cincinnati it would allow West Virginia to be less isolated. They’re not exactly next-door neighbors. It’s about a 5-hour drive from Cincy to Morgantown. But at least they are in adjoining states and have a brief history of competition. WVU fans would have at least one drivable road game in the conference instead of what they have now, which is none.

However remote that possibility might be — and who knows how strong it is, given that few presaged the moves of Maryland to the Big Ten and Tulane to the Big East — the ACC could have shut it down by making a daring move on Wednesday morning. If some of its core members bolted, it would have a new core. It’d be a lesser core but still attractive and competitive. Instead, the league chose to be timid.

The last league to fit that category still calls itself the Big East, but only out of habit.

Explain how TV markets in the Big 12 are better Ohio. The Big 12 has two teams in Kansas a small state (5 million). They have two teams in Oklahoma (5 million people)a small state, They have four teams in Texas a very large state (25 million people) West Virginia is a small markets (2 million people). There are more TV sets in Metro Cincinnati then in West Virginia. So market potential should be better from a TV perspective. College football fans in Ohio will watch Cincy play when they are on TV even if they are not fans per say.
If Cincy had a schedule of Oklahoma, Okla St, WVU, Texas, there would be a lot of interest in Cincy football. the Oklahoma game at PBS was an example of this.

Many programs in the B12 draw the entire state, in addition to fans outside of the state. Cincinnati is a regional draw and we don't even have a solid hold on our city. In football, we lose a large number of sets to OSU. In basketball, we're sharing the market with OSU, XU, UK, and IU.

Plus, a lot of those B12 areas have very little pro-sports competition.