Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[hoyahooligan]

If Uconn wants to come back for all sports besides football I'd be all in favor of adding them and stopping right there. With 11 teams you could still do a round robin format with 20 conference games which is totally reasonable and doable. If you add a 12th you'd likely have to get rid of the round robin.

[DeltaV]

UConn still is not a like minded institution, and never will be. They'll still sit and wait for the ACC to expand to 16, or post BIG/SEC raid.

We just wait and see what happens. Nothing wrong with 10, and we can see if anything exciting falls out of the mix. Yeah, Duke is a pipe dream, but you never know what could.

[gtmoBlue]

FieldhouseFlyer...

good post. great link.
Question: Where does the quote irt Connecticut's $900 Mill deficit come from? I had read a similar quote in earlier CR threads, but wondering the source of that dollar figure.

[gtmoBlue]

Re-admitting UConn to the BE would be a mistake of astronomical proportions. Adding any public institution will negate the advantages the President's and their universities have enjoyed these 4 years (includes this year). They remember what is was like in a mixed conference with all of the required reportings, filings, FOIA requests, et al; and the memories are not Fond.
I still contend that any expansion will be with Private schools only.

The Big 12 may have a surprise or 2 up its' sleeve, so it is not a cakewalk for the supposed frontrunners for the league's expansion purposes. Regardless of how any proposed expansion shakes out...individuals dreaming for UConn's return to the BE is an administrative and political nightmare for the conference, by losing its' immunity to inquisitive minds and the government.

Give me Duke and Vandy for a 12 team league. Give me those 2 plus the Zags and St Bonnie's for a 14 team league.

Duke and Vandy will never happen. Zags are just too far away, the Big East is welcome to have SBU (They'd definitely come and no A10 member would put up a fight to keep them).

Every other major/mid major conference deals with FOIA requests. I understand wanting to keep like minded institutions, but if the major argument is to avoid these requests - well that's pretty foolish. I can't think of anything that FOIA requests have really uncovered. If all the other conferences can do this, please inform me of the leverage the BE has by not associating athletic departments with a public.

As per ususal...here comes a person whose craw gets stuck on a solitary, singular point within the context of multipoint post.

The old BE was a public/private mix. The Dept of Education and other governmental entities require regular reporting on many aspects of a university's life...investments and dividends, REITs, salaries and employee benefits, taxes, budgets, real estate holdings, trusts, foundation assets, research grants, endowment holdings, etc. There are governmental inquiries and reports on student life and scholastic aspects, environmental aspects of the physical plant and expansion projects, environmental and economic impact of the university on the city/county. The list above is probably just the tip of the iceberg, as the government intrusions go on and on. FOIA is possibly the least of the issues faced by public or mixed public/private conferences. Adding public schools opens the conference to said increased reporting, scrutiny, inquiries, etc., much of which is not ordinarily required of private schools.

As a major conference comprised of solely private schools, which do not have to report the same massive volumes of reports, government inquiries, and the lesser evil-FOIA requests, etc., there is much less intrusion and burden on the universities. I submit the Presidents of the BE schools like the increase in relative privacy afforded by less government and media intrusion into the activities and business of their universities. My small contention is that as the Presidents and their respective universities have grown accustomed to this increase in privacy, they will be mindful of the past and less likely to want to return to the "good old days" of massive governmental oversight nor will they be enthused by the return of requirements for voluminous reporting to that government.

I believe they like and value their new privacy...as much as you like yours...and will very guarded in wanting to give up said privacy for a public university in the BE mix.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Let UConn suffer in the American. They made their bed, let them sleep in it. They won't get an invite to the Big 12, nor will they get one from the B1G or the ACC. They can try building up a competitive football program losing to ECU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, USF, Memphis, Houston and SMU.

[Gopher+RamFan]

Re-admitting UConn to the BE would be a mistake of astronomical proportions. Adding any public institution will negate the advantages the President's and their universities have enjoyed these 4 years (includes this year). They remember what is was like in a mixed conference with all of the required reportings, filings, FOIA requests, et al; and the memories are not Fond.
I still contend that any expansion will be with Private schools only.

The Big 12 may have a surprise or 2 up its' sleeve, so it is not a cakewalk for the supposed frontrunners for the league's expansion purposes. Regardless of how any proposed expansion shakes out...individuals dreaming for UConn's return to the BE is an administrative and political nightmare for the conference, by losing its' immunity to inquisitive minds and the government.

Give me Duke and Vandy for a 12 team league. Give me those 2 plus the Zags and St Bonnie's for a 14 team league.

Duke and Vandy will never happen. Zags are just too far away, the Big East is welcome to have SBU (They'd definitely come and no A10 member would put up a fight to keep them).

Every other major/mid major conference deals with FOIA requests. I understand wanting to keep like minded institutions, but if the major argument is to avoid these requests - well that's pretty foolish. I can't think of anything that FOIA requests have really uncovered. If all the other conferences can do this, please inform me of the leverage the BE has by not associating athletic departments with a public.

As per ususal...here comes a person whose craw gets stuck on a solitary, singular point within the context of multipoint post.

The old BE was a public/private mix. The Dept of Education and other governmental entities require regular reporting on many aspects of a university's life...investments and dividends, REITs, salaries and employee benefits, taxes, budgets, real estate holdings, trusts, foundation assets, research grants, endowment holdings, etc. There are governmental inquiries and reports on student life and scholastic aspects, environmental aspects of the physical plant and expansion projects, environmental and economic impact of the university on the city/county. The list above is probably just the tip of the iceberg, as the government intrusions go on and on. FOIA is possibly the least of the issues faced by public or mixed public/private conferences. Adding public schools opens the conference to said increased reporting, scrutiny, inquiries, etc., much of which is not ordinarily required of private schools.

As a major conference comprised of solely private schools, which do not have to report the same massive volumes of reports, government inquiries, and the lesser evil-FOIA requests, etc., there is much less intrusion and burden on the universities. I submit the Presidents of the BE schools like the increase in relative privacy afforded by less government and media intrusion into the activities and business of their universities. My small contention is that as the Presidents and their respective universities have grown accustomed to this increase in privacy, they will be mindful of the past and less likely to want to return to the "good old days" of massive governmental oversight nor will they be enthused by the return of requirements for voluminous reporting to that government.

I believe they like and value their new privacy...as much as you like yours...and will very guarded in wanting to give up said privacy for a public university in the BE mix.

They are already reporting data. The Department of Education (one of my groomsmen is part of a team who overseas a certain area of the country to ensure institutes of higher learning are conforming to DOE regulations) has a variety of levels needed to report depending on how much federal $ the institution takes in. Georgetown is required to give up some information simply due to the large amount of GI Bill users, like myself, enrolled in classes there.

Having a public institution in the ATHLETIC conference will not open up other members to further scrutiny or FOIAs for specific information outside of the dealings of the conference. being associated with a public doesn't open up the rest of the schools to OPSEC issues. I don't think anything I say will change your mind, so I'll withdraw after this post.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

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

The state of Connecticut is facing a $900 million budget deficit...

Fieldhouse Flyer...

good post. great link.

Question: Where does the quote irt Connecticut's $900 Mill deficit come from? I had read a similar quote in earlier CR threads, but wondering the source of that dollar figure.

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy.

News about Connecticut's $900 million deficit broke on February 25, 2016, with many articles being published – including this one:

Budget Deficit For Coming Year Hits $900 Million As Economic Woes Worsen - Hartford Courant - February 25, 2016

Political gridlock has worsened the situation, with no resolution in sight:

Connecticut Budget Deficit Grows ... and is Expected to Keep Growing - Hartford Patch - May 1, 2016

The state’s projected deficit for fiscal 2016-17, which begins July 1, has increased from $920 million to $960 million, and a case could be made that it’s actually at $1 billion even.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN 18 minutes ago

BYU & Houston (5 votes each) top @ESPN poll of Big 12 coaches on expansion. Next: Cincinnati, Memphis (4 votes each); CSU, UCF (1 vote each)

This highly-significant tweet is the unofficial obituary of the Huskies’ football program and UConn’s aspiration to join a P5 conference.

If two or four of the schools who received at least 4 votes eventually join the Big 12 conference, AAC football be become an even poorer relative of the P5 conferences, which will seriously hurt the conference’s football recruiting and make UConn even less desirable as a future P5 conference addition.

The quality of AAC basketball will also take a big hit, eventually diminishing UConn’s ability to attract Big East-calibre basketball recruits.

Older HLOH posters might remember the San Francisco Dons. This may be the future of the Huskies’ basketball program if UConn continues to hope for an invitation to join a P5 conference.

[HoosierPal]

No one has mentioned the possible scenario at the other end of the spectrum, where Texas says FU to the Big 12 and jumps ship. The Big Ten or SEC would be waiting with open arms. Here we come, 16 team Mega conferences. If Texas jumps, there is nothing left for the Big 12. OU would follow, and then the league is done. Let the others start picking over the corpses left. Baylor may be dead in the water anyway, so what's my bid for the Iowa State Cyclones? Anyone want a Wildcat in Manhattan KS? Anyone want to put up with a horrible Jayhawk football program?

Think it won't happen? Which alternative do you think Longhorn fans prefer, a football game in Storrs CT, or a football game in Columbus OH? Big 10, Pac 12, SEC and ACC aren't simply sitting by idly watching this clown show proceed. They are on the phones.

[FDS]

No one has mentioned the possible scenario at the other end of the spectrum, where Texas says FU to the Big 12 and jumps ship. The Big Ten or SEC would be waiting with open arms. Here we come, 16 team Mega conferences. If Texas jumps, there is nothing left for the Big 12. OU would follow, and then the league is done. Let the others start picking over the corpses left. Baylor may be dead in the water anyway, so what's my bid for the Iowa State Cyclones? Anyone want a Wildcat in Manhattan KS? Anyone want to put up with a horrible Jayhawk football program?

Think it won't happen? Which alternative do you think Longhorn fans prefer, a football game in Storrs CT, or a football game in Columbus OH? Big 10, Pac 12, SEC and ACC aren't simply sitting by idly watching this clown show proceed. They are on the phones.

Texas willingly giving up the Longhorn Network and the cash associated with it.... don't see that happening.