Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[alduflux]

Expansion is about business and the bottom line on business is money. Does adding a given school make the current shareholders (member teams) more money then they currently make?

The Big East brand is basketball. Will the current Big East brand improve by adding UCONN? Will the current Big East members make more money if UCONN were in the Big East? If anyone thinks the answer is no, please explain that rationale (specifically, how the Big East current members won't make more money with UCONN in the conference). UCONN should have an open invite regardless of the state of their football team. Additionally, the possibility of them being short term members should also be irrelevant if the current members make more money for whatever period of time UCONN would be a potential member.

Also, don't be surprised if within ten years Kansas finds itself in a similar circumstance as UCONN.

[NJRedman]

Expansion is about business and the bottom line on business is money. Does adding a given school make the current shareholders (member teams) more money then they currently make?

The Big East brand is basketball. Will the current Big East brand improve by adding UCONN? Will the current Big East members make more money if UCONN were in the Big East? If anyone thinks the answer is no, please explain that rationale (specifically, how the Big East current members won't make more money with UCONN in the conference). UCONN should have an open invite regardless of the state of their football team. Additionally, the possibility of them being short term members should also be irrelevant if the current members make more money for whatever period of time UCONN would be a potential member.

Also, don't be surprised if within ten years Kansas finds itself in a similar circumstance as UCONN.

I was with you until your last sentence. KU is the 3rd most valuable member of the Big XII. They can easily find themselves in the B1G or at the very least the Pac-12/

[Jet915]

Expansion is about business and the bottom line on business is money. Does adding a given school make the current shareholders (member teams) more money then they currently make?

The Big East brand is basketball. Will the current Big East brand improve by adding UCONN? Will the current Big East members make more money if UCONN were in the Big East? If anyone thinks the answer is no, please explain that rationale (specifically, how the Big East current members won't make more money with UCONN in the conference). UCONN should have an open invite regardless of the state of their football team. Additionally, the possibility of them being short term members should also be irrelevant if the current members make more money for whatever period of time UCONN would be a potential member.

Also, don't be surprised if within ten years Kansas finds itself in a similar circumstance as UCONN.

I was with you until your last sentence. KU is the 3rd most valuable member of the Big XII. They can easily find themselves in the B1G or at the very least the Pac-12/

I agree, I can see the B1G picking up Kansas when the Big XII eventually falls apart....the Kansas States, Iowa States are gonna be screwed.

[alduflux]

Expansion is about business and the bottom line on business is money. Does adding a given school make the current shareholders (member teams) more money then they currently make?

The Big East brand is basketball. Will the current Big East brand improve by adding UCONN? Will the current Big East members make more money if UCONN were in the Big East? If anyone thinks the answer is no, please explain that rationale (specifically, how the Big East current members won't make more money with UCONN in the conference). UCONN should have an open invite regardless of the state of their football team. Additionally, the possibility of them being short term members should also be irrelevant if the current members make more money for whatever period of time UCONN would be a potential member.

Also, don't be surprised if within ten years Kansas finds itself in a similar circumstance as UCONN.

I was with you until your last sentence. KU is the 3rd most valuable member of the Big XII. They can easily find themselves in the B1G or at the very least the Pac-12/

People overvalue basketball in the P5 football world. There is a reason Rutgers is in the B1G and not Kansas, and the answer isn't because Kansas declined an invite.

If the B1G wanted Kansas, then Kansas would already be a B1G member. When the then Pac-10 was in negotiations to raid the Big12 and become a Pac-16 Kansas was not one of the teams they were in negotiations to add. Texas Tech, and Okie St were on that list.

[alduflux]

Expansion is about business and the bottom line on business is money. Does adding a given school make the current shareholders (member teams) more money then they currently make?

The Big East brand is basketball. Will the current Big East brand improve by adding UCONN? Will the current Big East members make more money if UCONN were in the Big East? If anyone thinks the answer is no, please explain that rationale (specifically, how the Big East current members won't make more money with UCONN in the conference). UCONN should have an open invite regardless of the state of their football team. Additionally, the possibility of them being short term members should also be irrelevant if the current members make more money for whatever period of time UCONN would be a potential member.

Also, don't be surprised if within ten years Kansas finds itself in a similar circumstance as UCONN.

I was with you until your last sentence. KU is the 3rd most valuable member of the Big XII. They can easily find themselves in the B1G or at the very least the Pac-12/

I agree, I can see the B1G picking up Kansas when the Big XII eventually falls apart....the Kansas States, Iowa States are gonna be screwed.

Kansas State and Kansas will be in the same place.

[marquette]

I almost wonder if the AAC being raided for 3 or even 4 teams would just cause UConn to dig in even more. As I understand it, UConn is still getting payouts from exit fees and NCAA units from the old Big East, at least for a little while longer. The AAC has a $10 million exit fee if I'm not mistaken, which would help sustain UConn for at least a couple more years. The ACC is not going to be raiding any conference from the F5 other than possibly the Big 12, and even that is doubtful. If Cincinnati is taken, then UConn is far and away the most valuable property still out there. In their minds they are probably the last best option for the ACC if they get raided or decide to go to 16. The ACC network could also be helpful since UConn brings an entire state (no, not New York) of eyeballs. They will probably wait it out for quite a while longer, IMO.

All that said, if you have the chance, then you take UConn.

[adoraz]

Expansion is about business and the bottom line on business is money. Does adding a given school make the current shareholders (member teams) more money then they currently make?

The Big East brand is basketball. Will the current Big East brand improve by adding UCONN? Will the current Big East members make more money if UCONN were in the Big East? If anyone thinks the answer is no, please explain that rationale (specifically, how the Big East current members won't make more money with UCONN in the conference). UCONN should have an open invite regardless of the state of their football team. Additionally, the possibility of them being short term members should also be irrelevant if the current members make more money for whatever period of time UCONN would be a potential member.

Also, don't be surprised if within ten years Kansas finds itself in a similar circumstance as UCONN.

Business is about much more than how much money you make in a single year. Perception, brand value, marketing all count for a lot. We kept the name Big East and rights to MSG precisely for these reasons. Yes, it was less money short term but we were trying to keep our branding and perception.

If UConn comes for a year and leaves that would, without any doubt, be terrible perception wise for the Big East. Not a single president or AD would sign up for that. It's not good business. The amount of additional revenue brought in would be miniscule.

Now, if they came for 10 years and then left I'd say it's debatable if that's worth it. The problem is it could be one year or ten years and nobody knows. You'd be taking a gamble.

[SJHooper]

UConn simply put, is a school that sold its soul for football and is on the verge of collapse. It's hilarious reading The Boneyard where so many UConn fans are so sure they will get an invite and then go on to compete with Texas, Oklahoma, etc. It's cute, it really is. But sad too. They have turned into football zombies totally forgetting they are tragically horrific at it. They completely forget they are a basketball school. It's also hilarious to me how they assume they will just keep winning in basketball because of the 4 titles they won recently even though they were ALL from Calhoun or Calhoun players. Calhoun's fingerprints are now gone, they are not Big East anymore, and boom they are pretty much irrelevant compared to where they were just a few years ago. Their women are still obvious champs each year, but there is zero parity in women's hoops and no one cares anyway. If UConn gets left back, what recruits are going to want to go to a school that competes against Tulane in conference? Even at best, UConn has a chance to totally dominate their conference if it loses Memphis & Cincy, but they will have to do a lot more work to be ranked high. That's what happens when you become a mid major...you have to totally dominate your conference just to be a #20 team. One mistake, and you are out. This is why the Big East is awesome. You can face about 6+ ranked teams each season if not more some years. You can lose a game or 2 but if you win 3 of those ranked games you will jump in the rankings way quicker. Playing in big time conferences gives you more margin of error.

Either way even if they do get picked up by the Big12 or ACC somehow, will it be worth it? Do you want to see your team play against a team with the Texas logo just because it looks legit, or do you actually want to win? Do you want to sit back and collect money, or win and also make money simultaneously? I can see it now, Big12 scores Texas: 42 UConn: 10, Oklahoma: 62 UConn: 3. But hey, we play with the big boys though!

By the way, if UConn doesn't get in, you have to take them. Who cares if they want to run after a few years? Make the penalty astronomically high. We don't need them, they need us. And it's funny because they used to say just the opposite in the old Big East. Oh, how times have changed. If they really insist on their football going big time and getting killed every game, then let their football go Big12 and keep all other sports in Big East. No one cares how good football programs are, they just want markets and money. Look at Rutgers.

[Jet915]

Pat Forde predicting the demise of the Big XII.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/big-12s-status-among-the-power-five-clearly-in-jeopardy-215007897.html

[SJHooper]

Word is that ESPN & FOX pushing back at the idea of expansion at all. They don't believe the candidates bring the same caliber of football as those currently in Big12 and they are not wrong. Texas and Oklahoma must be scared of watering the conference down. UConn wears big boy clothes, but they play at the level of Stony Brook (a solid FCS program that also nearly beat Cuse in football). I think Villanova football would beat UConn 7/10 times if they played each other.