UCONN POLL

[DeltaV]

[quote="Hall2012"}
Would I take their arrogant, entitled fans? No way in hell.

And you wonder why X fans hate Dayton. You're starting to get it.[/quote]

But do their fans pay money to watch games and turn on their TV sets? Yes.

Sometimes I think we get a little to emotionally invested in these things, and don't think like business people enough.

[redmen9194]

what is so funny about it- if UConn does become available- they are a 100% lock. Fox would pretty much demand it- and could grease the wheels to make it happen- like pay UConn to go Indy in football.

Fox and the Big East are partners, and would make any decision together based on how sensible it is. No demands or arm-twisting are necessary like you're implying.

Having said that, a scenario where Fox pays UConn to go indy in football with BE hoops might make sense for everyone. It would screw ESPN while further boosting our ratings. I'm not sure UConn has big enough cojones nor are they daring enough to pull something like indy football off though.

And having said that, looking back, the 10 of us showed some serious, huge, big time brass stones to take the leap to FS1 and break away from the football schools. Amirite?

Fox would lets just say strongly encourage it. And BE needs to start to at least think about 8 years from now. if BE refused to add UConn here when Fox wanted them- that's going to be remembered when the contract comes up in a few years. Fox would make it known pretty well that the Big East needs to add UConn.

Let's just say this- Fox would make it known pretty much to everyone that the Big East needs to add UConn.

FOX is not going to demand or make it known that the Big East needs to add UConn. That is ridiculous. Especially if UConn does not at all fit the conference - which if it plays FBS football it simply doesn't. The Big East does not need UConn. It does not need UConn. I know we haven't won a basketball national championship in four months but we will turn this thing around eventually. If UConn wants in they meet our requirements fully. Drop FBS football and you are in. You want to keep football? Stay where you are. We are not a temporary destination for anybody anymore. Those days are done. Fox is not going to make a fuss at all. They have the current national champion exclusively on their family of networks - I'm sure they are fine with that.

[stever20]

lol. To act like Fox wouldn't want and wouldn't make it known that the Big East needs to add UConn- and would sit idly by- is pretty ignorant. You better believe that Fox absolutely would. And I could even see Fox upping the money a smidge for everyone to make it happen. For Fox- Big East plus UConn is worth more than just the Big East. Not just men's but women's basketball of course.

And folks say Fox and Big East are partners. Well- if Fox comes to the Big East and says that the Big East needs to add UConn- the Big East can't just dismiss it out of hand like you are suggesting they would(should). Especially in the long run the Big East needs Fox frankly more than Fox needs the Big East.

[GumbyDamnit!]

I know we haven't won a basketball national championship in four months but we will turn this thing around eventually.

Quote of the thread...well done RM9194.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Regardless of whether or not UConn ends up in the Big East, I can confidently state that UConn will not be in the American in five years.

Setting aside the traveling to conference opponent-sites in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina regularly, they cannot sustain the mass amounts of spending within their athletic budget making only $1.7 million per year from their current TV deal with ESPN. For comparison's sake, we make nearly $5 million per year on basketball alone, where as the American gets a fraction of that for both football/basketball. In the near future, the substantial war chest - that which UConn/Cincinnati/USF received during the AAC/BE separation - will run out and become dry. In a current culture in which the B1G, SEC, ACC, PAC-12 and Big 12 all receive tens of millions of dollar per year, the gap is growing wider and wider with each passing day.

The counterargument that many would make regarding UConn's current TV deal is their exposure on ESPN. However, being solely on ESPN is not the gold standard of what it used to be with a variety of networks and streaming content that now purchase and acquire sports properties. The other counterargument is that the AAC will get a huge raise from ESPN or another network after its current deal runs. However, no network will just throw additional money and TV time for an even further watered-down and diluted product (especially if Houston and Cincinnati are leaving for the Big 12) just because it is asked. There has to be value in the content. At that point, the AAC is a lot closer to the MWC and C-USA than to the P5.

Bottom line, the whole status-quo not remaining the same is not just very true but is also an incredibly tough pill to swallow for AAC/G5 teams not selected into a power conference. No school will be able to play catch-up with the amount of revenue that power schools are making. For UConn, the AAC and the G5, they are competing in a race that the P5 started already. It will be a very tough challenge for them to get close to the pack, especially when the pack has had a tremendous head-start.

[redmen9194]

lol. To act like Fox wouldn't want and wouldn't make it known that the Big East needs to add UConn- and would sit idly by- is pretty ignorant. You better believe that Fox absolutely would. And I could even see Fox upping the money a smidge for everyone to make it happen. For Fox- Big East plus UConn is worth more than just the Big East. Not just men's but women's basketball of course.

And folks say Fox and Big East are partners. Well- if Fox comes to the Big East and says that the Big East needs to add UConn- the Big East can't just dismiss it out of hand like you are suggesting they would(should). Especially in the long run the Big East needs Fox frankly more than Fox needs the Big East.

Yes. The Big East can. They are not going to be dictated to as to who joins and when. I'm sure Fox wanted 12 teams in the league to up the inventory but they didn't get it. Before you throw ignorant around, you should read some of your own previous posts and predictions about this league. Some are funny. The Big East is not broken, it doesn't need to be fixed. UConn needs us more than we need them. We are locked in with Fox for a long time - for better and for worse. I would love UConn as a member - but on our terms only. And term number one should be FBS football disqualifies you from membership. Fox isn't going to go to bat for UConn. There is no reason to.

[NJRedman]

Fox and the Big East are partners, and would make any decision together based on how sensible it is. No demands or arm-twisting are necessary like you're implying.

Having said that, a scenario where Fox pays UConn to go indy in football with BE hoops might make sense for everyone. It would screw ESPN while further boosting our ratings. I'm not sure UConn has big enough cojones nor are they daring enough to pull something like indy football off though.

And having said that, looking back, the 10 of us showed some serious, huge, big time brass stones to take the leap to FS1 and break away from the football schools. Amirite?

Fox would lets just say strongly encourage it. And BE needs to start to at least think about 8 years from now. if BE refused to add UConn here when Fox wanted them- that's going to be remembered when the contract comes up in a few years. Fox would make it known pretty well that the Big East needs to add UConn.

Let's just say this- Fox would make it known pretty much to everyone that the Big East needs to add UConn.

FOX is not going to demand or make it known that the Big East needs to add UConn. That is ridiculous. Especially if UConn does not at all fit the conference - which if it plays FBS football it simply doesn't. The Big East does not need UConn. It does not need UConn. I know we haven't won a basketball national championship in four months but we will turn this thing around eventually. If UConn wants in they meet our requirements fully. Drop FBS football and you are in. You want to keep football? Stay where you are. We are not a temporary destination for anybody anymore. Those days are done. Fox is not going to make a fuss at all. They have the current national champion exclusively on their family of networks - I'm sure they are fine with that.

Such an ignorant statement. Yes, of course we don't NEED UConn to survive, but we'd be stupid to pass on an opportunity to better the conference and cement ourselves as a power basketball conference. UConn helps us to take that next step to be considered an equal to the P5 in all sports but FB. We need the whole college sports world to think of us in the same breathe as them and we need to continue to add value to the conference. IF (thats an if which means hypothetical question to follow) the P5 splits off from the NCAA we need to guarantee that we are in that group. UConn helps us with that perception. Yes, we just won a national title but UConn has won more than the rest of us combined. Thats star power you don't balk at. Not to mention helping fill MSG every year and with the east coast schools helping to sell tickets to regular season games.

[stever20]

lol. To act like Fox wouldn't want and wouldn't make it known that the Big East needs to add UConn- and would sit idly by- is pretty ignorant. You better believe that Fox absolutely would. And I could even see Fox upping the money a smidge for everyone to make it happen. For Fox- Big East plus UConn is worth more than just the Big East. Not just men's but women's basketball of course.

And folks say Fox and Big East are partners. Well- if Fox comes to the Big East and says that the Big East needs to add UConn- the Big East can't just dismiss it out of hand like you are suggesting they would(should). Especially in the long run the Big East needs Fox frankly more than Fox needs the Big East.

Yes. The Big East can. They are not going to be dictated to as to who joins and when. I'm sure Fox wanted 12 teams in the league to up the inventory but they didn't get it. Before you throw ignorant around, you should read some of your own previous posts and predictions about this league. Some are funny. The Big East is not broken, it doesn't need to be fixed. UConn needs us more than we need them. We are locked in with Fox for a long time - for better and for worse. I would love UConn as a member - but on our terms only. And term number one should be FBS football disqualifies you from membership. Fox isn't going to go to bat for UConn. There is no reason to.

Fox isn't going to go to bat for UConn? You are delusional. Fox absolutely would do so. And The Big East would listen.

[gosports1]

I'm still not convinced that the BE would be totally welcoming to UConn. (as long as they have FB aspirations) The BE has been down that road before. In 1979 it was just Syracuse and BC. Then Pitt came along Next came Miami and the FB only schools, eventually, with the exception of Temple and delayed Virginia Tech,, became full membership. Some point during that time offers made to the lower level FB schools to upgrade and secure a spot in the BEFB conference.

Obviously times have changed but where do you draw the line? If the BE has one fbs fb member why no bring in more? After a few years the divide grows etc

[hortle]

I'm still not convinced that the BE would be totally welcoming to UConn. (as long as they have FB aspirations) The BE has been down that road before. In 1979 it was just Syracuse and BC. Then Pitt came along Next came Miami and the FB only schools, eventually, with the exception of Temple and delayed Virginia Tech,, became full membership. Some point during that time offers made to the lower level FB schools to upgrade and secure a spot in the BEFB conference.

Obviously times have changed but where do you draw the line? If the BE has one fbs fb member why no bring in more? After a few years the divide grows etc

There hasn't been football in the Big East since 2013. Any team that has a football program that wants to join our conference will have to place football elsewhere. Our leaders as a conference will have to decide on a case by case basis if allowing a program to do so is worth it in terms of risk/reward for the BE. In the case of UConn I would say its pretty cut and dry. But to suggest football will somehow permeate our league's integrity again is ludicrous. They voted to split as seven for the sole reason of never having to directly deal with a football program again.