UCONN POLL

[Hall2012]

Why anyone thinks the Big12 would take UCONN football only is out of their mind. And yet some hack mentions this on his paid website and people run with it. Zero chance. Not happening people.

You're right, getting its football league more attention in the world's #1 media market and most densely populated area of the country couldn't possibly provide any financial benefit to the Big XII. No chance they would ever consider it. How stupid I am for even mentioning it as an option...

Time will bear out who's right and who's wrong, but I would be willing to put a substantial wager in Vegas on UCONN football not solely being invited to the Big12. In fact, I'd wager similarly on UCONN not being invited at all. The Big12 hates having West Virginia on an island by itself and we think they will want UCONN football?

I'm not saying it's likely...or even the smartest choice for them to add UConn for just football (though I think a reasonable argument could be made that that it would be smarter than adding UConn for all sports). But I think it's absolutely an option worth considering. Is UConn football any good? No, but that's far secondary to money and UConn football gives the rest of the Big XII a link to the lucrative NYC-Metro market.

Personally, although I get the attraction of those shiny NYC lights and $$$, I think the Big XII would be best served focusing on dominating the southwest- but I'm also old school in thinking conferences should be as least somewhat geographically based.

Plus, another benefit to adding UConn is that it helps get West Virginia off of that Island a bit. At least when teams get sent to the north east, they can get 2 games out of the trip instead of 1.

[Hall2012]

Supposedly the Big XII is considering offering expansion candidates football only invites. While it would certainly be weird for them to take only UConn's worst sport, it would give them east coast/NYC exposure (same reason the B1G took Rutgers) without all the wasted money of shipping the Olympic sport teams up to Storrs.

So in this unlikely event (that UConn gets a Big XII invite for football only), is that good enough for us? Do we take the rest of their sports? I'd be inclined to vote yes.

I think you make a valid point, but timing is all wrong for UConn to be considered for football-only. Their football program has deteriorated and attendance has dropped under 30,000. When Rutgers was taken by the B1G, their football program had established a reasonably good track record for a decade and attendance was around 50,000 fans. With them as the flagship of a state of 9 million, they were pretty bankable for the B1G network. Although UConn has a reasonably high ceiling for football, I think they present value only for basketball right now, so it's all sports or nothing until football improves and attendance increases.

Just my 2 cents.

Perhaps, but Rutgers wasn't regularly selling out football games in the Big East either. Sure they sold out the big ones with Louisville and West Virginia, but that's about it. When they announced joining the B1G, football season tickets sold out in a flash. The initial UConn-Big XII hype train would instantly inject life into the fan base for the short term, just like the B1G did for Rutgers. After that, of course, it's on the program to turn that hype into sustainable success (or at least respectability), but that's not really the important thing. The point of the Big XII adding UConn football wouldn't be about UConn football, it would about getting Texas football, Oklahoma football, etc. on to more NYC TVs and billboards. And if UConn can't sell out football games on their own long term, those schools have plenty of NYC alums to help them out. Any sort of on-field success UConn could ever build up would just be bonus.

[ArmyVet]

Supposedly the Big XII is considering offering expansion candidates football only invites. While it would certainly be weird for them to take only UConn's worst sport, it would give them east coast/NYC exposure (same reason the B1G took Rutgers) without all the wasted money of shipping the Olympic sport teams up to Storrs.

So in this unlikely event (that UConn gets a Big XII invite for football only), is that good enough for us? Do we take the rest of their sports? I'd be inclined to vote yes.

I think you make a valid point, but timing is all wrong for UConn to be considered for football-only. Their football program has deteriorated and attendance has dropped under 30,000. When Rutgers was taken by the B1G, their football program had established a reasonably good track record for a decade and attendance was around 50,000 fans. With them as the flagship of a state of 9 million, they were pretty bankable for the B1G network. Although UConn has a reasonably high ceiling for football, I think they present value only for basketball right now, so it's all sports or nothing until football improves and attendance increases.

Just my 2 cents.

Perhaps, but Rutgers wasn't regularly selling out football games in the Big East either. Sure they sold out the big ones with Louisville and West Virginia, but that's about it. When they announced joining the B1G, football season tickets sold out in a flash. The initial UConn-Big XII hype train would instantly inject life into the fan base for the short term, just like the B1G did for Rutgers. After that, of course, it's on the program to turn that hype into sustainable success (or at least respectability), but that's not really the important thing. The point of the Big XII adding UConn football wouldn't be about UConn football, it would about getting Texas football, Oklahoma football, etc. on to more NYC TVs and billboards. And if UConn can't sell out football games on their own long term, those schools have plenty of NYC alums to help them out. Any sort of on-field success UConn could ever build up would just be bonus.

Honest question- does anyone in NYC watch UConn football or any college football for that matter? If I was Oklahoma or Texas and wanted a bigger stage and more eyeballs, I'd be asking the SEC or B1G to let us in.

[ConnersvilleBulldog]

I think there may be an old vs. new dichotomy among the fan bases at least on this issue (Definitely seems like the 3 additions are more opposed to adding Uconn than anyone else. I suspect it's from some insecurity about how the rest of the conference would prefer Uconn to them. Don't worry there's room in our hearts for both ). But I do not think there is a split in terms of the schools or presidents and that's all that matters.

I really haven't seen a whole lot of Butler people on here screaming no to UConn. So I'm not sure where where you're getting the 3 new additions being opposed? I'd actually love to get to the point where there is no designation for the new and old BE teams.

Now, as a Butler fan - I will try to overcome my "insecurities about how the rest of the conference would prefer Uconn to them" - long enough to post my thoughts.
- First off, I love the BE as currently constructed. I'm really starting to both cheer for each team in the conference while simultaneously hating them. So that's what a good conference is all about, right?
- I LOVE round-robin scheduling, and wouldn't want to depart from it unless the teams the BE is gaining are completely worth it. UConn? Yes. Dayton & SLU? No.
- I'd be all for UConn joining the BE (obviously with the BE protecting itself by implementing massive exit fees)

[GumbyDamnit!]

Always wondered about the travel partner argument and UConn. Cincy is 300 miles from WVU--closer to the rest of the conference. UCONN is 500 miles in the opposite direction. If the conference thought that they were spread with WVU, imagine adding UCONN.

The Big XII should have grabbed L'ville and Cincy when they had the chance and been done with it.

[Hall2012]

Honest question- does anyone in NYC watch UConn football or any college football for that matter? If I was Oklahoma or Texas and wanted a bigger stage and more eyeballs, I'd be asking the SEC or B1G to let us in.

College football certainly isn't big in New York (result of not really having any relevant teams), but I'm willing to bet most of the bars have it on their TVs on Saturday afternoon. And the city is flooded with thousands of UConn fans/alumni. You could view it as a college football dead zone, or you could view it as an opportunity to penetrate a lucrative market that hasn't already been monopolized (unlike most southern and western cities).

[ArmyVet]

Honest question- does anyone in NYC watch UConn football or any college football for that matter? If I was Oklahoma or Texas and wanted a bigger stage and more eyeballs, I'd be asking the SEC or B1G to let us in.

College football certainly isn't big in New York (result of not really having any relevant teams), but I'm willing to bet most of the bars have it on their TVs on Saturday afternoon. And the city is flooded with thousands of UConn fans/alumni. You could view it as a college football dead zone, or you could view it as an opportunity to penetrate a lucrative market that hasn't already been monopolized (unlike most southern and western cities).

My opinion is that the Northeast US will always be NFL > college. While I am sure that UConn fans will promote the "opportunity" it seems like a big stretch to me. The impending UConn-Texas Tech and UConn- Iowa State matchups are not exactly made for TV events and won't move the needle at the ticket office.

[Xudash]

I think there may be an old vs. new dichotomy among the fan bases at least on this issue (Definitely seems like the 3 additions are more opposed to adding Uconn than anyone else. I suspect it's from some insecurity about how the rest of the conference would prefer Uconn to them. Don't worry there's room in our hearts for both ). But I do not think there is a split in terms of the schools or presidents and that's all that matters.

I really haven't seen a whole lot of Butler people on here screaming no to UConn. So I'm not sure where where you're getting the 3 new additions being opposed? I'd actually love to get to the point where there is no designation for the new and old BE teams.

Now, as a Butler fan - I will try to overcome my "insecurities about how the rest of the conference would prefer Uconn to them" - long enough to post my thoughts.
- First off, I love the BE as currently constructed. I'm really starting to both cheer for each team in the conference while simultaneously hating them. So that's what a good conference is all about, right?
- I LOVE round-robin scheduling, and wouldn't want to depart from it unless the teams the BE is gaining are completely worth it. UConn? Yes. Dayton & SLU? No.
- I'd be all for UConn joining the BE (obviously with the BE protecting itself by implementing massive exit fees)

Agree with this absolutely and completely.

We're now THE BIG EAST. Our collective performance to-date and Nova's NC sealed that deal. We need to keep it going. We appear to be well on our way to keeping it going, given our collective recruiting results.

IF UCONN comes available and is willing to sign into a prohibitive exit fee that, at worst, could be negotiated down to a substantial exit fee (or not), then board them into the conference and maintain the RR at 11 teams.

BTW, you don't see much commentary from non-football expansion candidates at this point for what most likely are two reasons:

1. We simply don't need to expand right now, period.

2. The gap between UCONN and any non-football candidate is so striking that it pays not to draw any attention at this point.

Again, the Presidents held at 10 members initially for good reasons.

[Hall2012]

Honest question- does anyone in NYC watch UConn football or any college football for that matter? If I was Oklahoma or Texas and wanted a bigger stage and more eyeballs, I'd be asking the SEC or B1G to let us in.

College football certainly isn't big in New York (result of not really having any relevant teams), but I'm willing to bet most of the bars have it on their TVs on Saturday afternoon. And the city is flooded with thousands of UConn fans/alumni. You could view it as a college football dead zone, or you could view it as an opportunity to penetrate a lucrative market that hasn't already been monopolized (unlike most southern and western cities).

My opinion is that the Northeast US will always be NFL > college. While I am sure that UConn fans will promote the "opportunity" it seems like a big stretch to me. The impending UConn-Texas Tech and UConn- Iowa State matchups are not exactly made for TV events and won't move the needle at the ticket office.

Perhaps. I agree adding UConn isn't going to put the Big XII anywhere close to taking over New York, but in such a big market all it needs to do is carve out a small niche to make it profitable. The "opportunity" of New York was enough for the B1G to reach out for Rutgers despite being awful (both on the field and in the stands) in both revenue sports. It's also the main reason the ACC wanted Syracuse (also terrible at their important sport, football). I wouldn't be shocked at all to see the Big XII do the same thing. Proximity to New York is the only reason UConn is even under consideration.

[hoyahooligan]

I think there may be an old vs. new dichotomy among the fan bases at least on this issue (Definitely seems like the 3 additions are more opposed to adding Uconn than anyone else. I suspect it's from some insecurity about how the rest of the conference would prefer Uconn to them. Don't worry there's room in our hearts for both ). But I do not think there is a split in terms of the schools or presidents and that's all that matters.

I really haven't seen a whole lot of Butler people on here screaming no to UConn. So I'm not sure where where you're getting the 3 new additions being opposed? I'd actually love to get to the point where there is no designation for the new and old BE teams.

Now, as a Butler fan - I will try to overcome my "insecurities about how the rest of the conference would prefer Uconn to them" - long enough to post my thoughts.
- First off, I love the BE as currently constructed. I'm really starting to both cheer for each team in the conference while simultaneously hating them. So that's what a good conference is all about, right?
- I LOVE round-robin scheduling, and wouldn't want to depart from it unless the teams the BE is gaining are completely worth it. UConn? Yes. Dayton & SLU? No.
- I'd be all for UConn joining the BE (obviously with the BE protecting itself by implementing massive exit fees)

Seems like it's mostly Xavier and Creighton fans against it, but then again those two fan bases also seem to have the most posters on this forum.