Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[AACguy]

I'm sure all AAC fans are prepared for the worst, but that's sort of par for the course.

[DudeAnon]

I have no horses in the race and still the Big 12 is exhausting.

[MUPanther]

Big East administrators can sit back, smoke cigars, and admire the national championship trophy during this round of realignment. What a dramatic change from years past.

You said it!

When the Big 12 does add 2 to 4 schools and one might and won't be UConn. Val will be picking up her phone to Storrs.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

If UConn doesn't go to the Big 12, they will come to the Big East.

With all due respect, it may not be as straightforward as that. Below are some excerpts from a very lengthy NY Times article, well worth a read:

Football Drags on UConn’s Power 5 Ambitions - New York Times - March 13, 2016

The financial gap between a Power 5 program and one in the A.A.C. is enormous. Last year, the Southeastern Conference distributed $31.2 million to its member universities. The A.A.C. distributes $1.5 million to its members.

UConn was once a proud member of the Big East, the greatest basketball conference ever. Today, eight of the old Big East universities are in the Power 5, including Syracuse, UConn’s former Big East rival, and Rutgers, which mainly competes for the title of America’s worst-run athletic program.

UConn lacks the thing that the Power 5 conferences care most about: big-time football. Its curse is to be a great basketball university in a football-centric world. As Len DeLuca, a former television sports executive, put it, “All discretionary action in college sports is football-related.”

In 2002, UConn decided to upgrade its football program to Division I status from Division I-AA, as it was then called.

This was not a wise decision, but the desire to play in high-profile bowl games like its rivals was irresistible. The Connecticut Legislature spent $92 million building a football stadium in East Hartford. UConn raised an additional $45 million to build an indoor practice facility.

The biggest blow to UConn’s athletics came in late 2012, when the A.C.C., needing to replace Maryland after it had also departed for the Big Ten, picked Louisville instead of UConn. Most of the A.C.C.’s presidents wanted UConn, which has a much higher U.S. News ranking than Louisville. But two of the A.C.C.’s most important football programs, Florida State and Clemson, insisted on Louisville, whose football team was ranked 13th that year. Fearing that the two universities might leave the A.C.C., and thus diminish the value of its television contracts, the conference reluctantly opted for Louisville.

It’s fair to say that the Huskies have never really recovered from the rejection they experienced during the conference realignment. In addition, the UConn athletic department faces a big financial hole. As a member of the Big East, the Athletic Department was more or less self-sufficient. Now it loses around $20 million a year on $70 million in revenue. In effect, the athletic department funds its teams as if they were in a Power 5 conference, but without Power 5 revenue sources.

Susan Herbst, UConn’s president, understands the importance of the Huskies to the state and believes in sports as an important component of university life. But the state of Connecticut is facing a $900 million budget deficit, and there is a real question about how long Herbst will be able to subsidize the athletic department out of the university’s general budget. It won’t be forever.

One solution — indeed, the most practical solution — would be for UConn to de-emphasize or drop football and rejoin the Big East, which has been reconstituted as a basketball league and includes old Huskies rivals like Georgetown and St. John’s. When it was reformulated, the Big East signed a 12-year, $500 million television contract with Fox. Without the expense of football, UConn athletics could well be back in the black.

But UConn officials resist that idea. The state and a handful of donors have spent a lot of money on football, and they fear angering important constituencies.

[MUPanther]

From Katz: "If UConn found a home for football, the Big East would seriously consider the Huskies for all other sports, according to a source with knowledge. The Big East would be a natural fit. So far the 10-team Big East only has all sports members, but doesn't offer Division I (FBS) football. UConn is in all sports in the AAC. If given the choice, the Huskies would want to be in the Big 12 in all sports. But the chances that offer ever comes is still too hard to predict now."

[whiteandblue77]

The B12 was screwed over by Texas and has no hope of recovery. Oklahoma and Texas are going to join the SEC and the B12 will become a "group of six" conference in FBS.

[ArmyVet]

From Katz: "If UConn found a home for football, the Big East would seriously consider the Huskies for all other sports, according to a source with knowledge. The Big East would be a natural fit. So far the 10-team Big East only has all sports members, but doesn't offer Division I (FBS) football. UConn is in all sports in the AAC. If given the choice, the Huskies would want to be in the Big 12 in all sports. But the chances that offer ever comes is still too hard to predict now."

There is zero chance that the Big 12 would want UCONN for football only if that's what he is suggesting.

[Irishdawg]

Geographically, the schools that make sense would be Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis. What's really odd is that other than Houston and BYU (if they're actually considering them), the basketball programs at UConn, Cincinnati and Memphis are far more popular and valuable than their football programs, so the fact that the B12 wants to stay at 10 teams for basketball tells me they likely aren't considering the Huskies, but administrators do incredibly dumb things all the time so who knows.

UConn as a school makes little sense to put in the Big East as currently constructed, but I'm just talking strictly in terms of an academic institution. In terms of athletics, they absolutely make sense and would make it much harder to ignore the strength of this league. The real question is whether the league would want to add another team, or if they would consider playing 20 league games to keep the round robin format, which IMO, is huge.

[Gopher+RamFan]

UConn as a school makes little sense to put in the Big East as currently constructed, but I'm just talking strictly in terms of an academic institution. In terms of athletics, they absolutely make sense and would make it much harder to ignore the strength of this league. The real question is whether the league would want to add another team, or if they would consider playing 20 league games to keep the round robin format, which IMO, is huge.

This was the only scenario where it would be plausible that UConn would join the Big East. The B12 will take Memphis and Cincy. Not worth it to UConn to stay in the AAC. Thankfully enough, if the Big East really wants UConn - they might pair their inclusion with another public (can't hurt to dream a bit).

[Jet915]

The two best all around candidates are BYU and Cincinnati. If they go to 4, they should add Colorado State and Memphis (if they dont care about academics).

UCONN can join the Big East if they complete drop FBS football. We are in a position of power now.