(06-26-2019 09:26 AM)quo vadis Wrote: I think UConn leaving and this Cincy analysis shows the weakness of the new deal Aresco inked with ESPN. One of the hallmarks of a good deal is that a school can't do better on their own. E.g., regarding the B1G and SEC deals, not only could lower level teams like Purdue and Ole Miss not do better by going football indy, Michigan and Alabama couldn't do better either. Both would make less as an indy, much like Notre Dame makes less as an indy than they could in a P5.
But UConn, and probably Cincy, could get paid more going football indy and joining the Big East for other sports.
The Aresco deal was a soft deal. One we waited 7 years for.
I personally think you are making this into something it's not to satisfy you passive-aggression towards the AAC. I have yet to see any scenario where Uconn is actually going to profit from this move.
Even if you reduce travel cost it does not eliminate travel costs. I'm not really in a mood to look it up, but realistically we are probably talking about $50-$70 per person level savings here. Flying to Cincinnati to play Xavier is not really that much cheaper than flying to Houston.
UConn is not going to make a profit from this move:
- They likely will have to pay the AAC exit fee and legal fees
- There is going to be costs associated with rebranding
- A flight to Xavier is really not much cheaper than a flight to Houston
- No matter how we twist things, the Big East makes less money
- Their football team was losing money with a decent schedule.
This move simply does not make sense unless they secretly plan on ending their football team in the future. If they did that then this would be a fantastic move for UConn.