Conference Realignment Thread v. 2016

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

The lengthy article excerpted below is well worth a read for those of you still interested in UConn:

Big 12 Votes Unanimously Not To Expand, Keeping UConn Out Of Power Five - Hartford Courant – October 18, 2016

"The announcement against expansion was not unexpected and is indicative of the volatile world of college athletics administration," UConn President Susan Herbst said.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby called Herbst before his press conference to inform her of the decision.

"He communicated to her they have chosen not to expand," UConn athletic director David Benedict said. "Obviously this is second hand from Susan to me, but the communication to me was that they were not expanding and don't plan on having any further conversations about expansion. The word tabling was not used. They are not expanding and don't have any future plans of discussing expansion."

ESPN and Fox – which were reportedly against expansion because of the financial obligations both would share in reimbursing the conference about $25 million for each new member.

It is expected that the Big 12's television partners will eventually pay the conference something less than the $25 million in return for the no expansion vote.

What's left to be decided is the direction of UConn athletics and, most important, how it will be financed. The Huskies basically have two choices to make.

Choice No. 1: They can remain in the AAC and share in revenue that is far below the level they would have enjoyed in the Big 12. The AAC signed a seven-year, $126 million rights agreement in 2013; the Big 12 is the midst of a 13-year, $2.6 billion media rights deal. The Big 12 recently announced that its 10 members each would draw $30.4 million from the TV deal last year. The AAC reportedly earned $18 million in revenue for the entire conference.

Choice No. 2 (the less-likely option): UConn can petition to leave the AAC, something that would require a 27-month waiting period and cost a $10 million exit fee. Where would the Huskies go? Well, there is the suggestion the Big East Conference, currently a 10-team non-football league, would take the Huskies back for basketball and other minor sports.

However, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman told The Courant last week that the conference had no plans to expand, despite how the presence of the Huskies stands to make its next television package more lucrative.

As for football, the Huskies would have to come to a harder decision. Since the AAC would not allow UConn to keep only its football team in the conference – and UConn would not consider doing so – the athletic administration would have to find it a new home – perhaps the Mid-American Conference, which currently has 12 members.

But that move threatens to devalue the football program to the extent no conference would be interested in UConn during what inevitably will be the next wave of expansion.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued a statement after hearing the Big 12 would not expand:

"UConn offers any athletic conference a unique combination of stellar academics and championship-level athletics. We have communicated with UConn throughout this process and we stand proudly in support of them in whichever conference they compete. As all of us know, Husky athletes and fans are some of the best in the nation – we will continue our legacy of supporting the university both academically and athletically to ensure UConn remains a world class institution."

Previously posted on Page 62 of this thread:

The MAC doesn't want football-only members.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/U ... onferences

UMass was effectively kicked out of the MAC football conference after the 2015 season. It was offered full membership, but declined.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... l/6918677/

After two years as a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference, the University of Massachusetts will leave the league in 2015, MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told USA TODAY Sports.

In February 2014, MAC league presidents enacted a clause that started a clock on UMass' membership. According to the clause, UMass could either accept full membership in the MAC or serve only two additional years as a football-only member.

Rather than join the league across all NCAA sports – including basketball, the school's premier athletic program – UMass opted for another two years as a football member before leaving the conference altogether.

Link to listing of FBS Conferences, FBS Independent Institutions, and FCS Conferences.

To the information above, I would like to add:

1. It is extremely unlikely that any FBS conference would accept UConn as a football-only member.

2. It is very unlikely that UConn would downgrade to FCS football prior to Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12, which will not occur prior to 2025.

3. UConn is not in any way an institutional fit for the Big East, and never will be.

4. Last week, Val Ackerman threw a bucket of cold water on UConn (or any other school) joining the Big East.

5. The Big East is perfect with its ten present members and round-robin schedule, and the conference is getting stronger every year.

[admin]

I simply don't agree with this assertion which is stated as fact by the Hartford Courant:

However, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman told The Courant last week that the conference had no plans to expand, despite how the presence of the Huskies stands to make its next television package more lucrative.

I also believe that if UCONN made a TV contract more lucrative it would be for a league that doesn't already have a presence in the Northeast and New York, ala at the Big 12. The Big East is doing just fine in that area as currently constructed. Personally, other than renewal of past rivalries, I personally don't believe that UCONN adds anything to the Big East.

[ArmyVet]

I simply don't agree with this assertion which is stated as fact by the Hartford Courant:

However, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman told The Courant last week that the conference had no plans to expand, despite how the presence of the Huskies stands to make its next television package more lucrative.

I also believe that if UCONN made a TV contract more lucrative it would be for a league that doesn't already have a presence in the Northeast and New York, ala at the Big 12. The Big East is doing just fine in that area as currently constructed. Personally, other than renewal of past rivalries, I personally don't believe that UCONN adds anything to the Big East.

Couldn't agree more.

[cu blujs]

I'd like to think that now, 71 pages later, this thread can die. But, alas, I fear that will not be so.

[DudeAnon]

Welp. UCONN released all their documentation about the Big 12 and the rumors were true. They did offer to be a football only member and pursue all other sports in the Big East.

http://static0.cloudapp.net/uconn/conte ... igence.pdf

iii. Willingness to consider a football-only membership and competitive plans for other sports programs in that scenario.

UConn would accept football-only membership, and subsequently would pursue
membership in the Big East Conference for other sponsored sports currently competing in
the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

Personally. I think this is a much bigger blow to Cincinnati than it is to UCONN. UCONN still has decent hopes for the ACC or BIG 10 in 8 years. Cincinnati on the other hand, I really think this is the first step in them giving up big-time football.

[GoldenWarrior11]

A couple of thoughts after yesterday's decision by Big 12 not to expand:

1.) It should finally cement the notion that UConn is not coming back to the Big East. While it was a pipe dream to begin with, it never was really a fit. The Big East, as currently configured, is Private/Catholic-based. While it is a basketball-first league, it would take an extraordinary situation for them to invite an outsider (like UConn). While a program with UConn's credentials would/should absolutely be considered, stability for the conference was a priority since the reorganization in 2013. Adding a school like UConn, which has publicized its intentions to get into a power football conference, would only add instability for the other 10-schools.

2.) Since yesterday's decision was a huge win for the AAC, and due to the continued battle for supremacy from the BE/AAC split, it is imperative that the BE continue to perform well and out-perform the AAC. If the AAC is now able to get a larger contract from ESPN (or any other network), then the Big East should absolutely be able to make a similar argument with Fox once our contract comes up as well. Even though we don't play football, we do offer a power basketball conference that has proven it is a nationally competitive league, on par with the B1G, ACC, SEC, PAC-12 and Big 12. The BE needs to continue to cement itself as the top basketball conference not in the Power 5 group, and not let the AAC wiggle its way in that spot.

3.) Expansion in the Big East will not happen at least until new contract negotiations come up, and even by that point, we aren't expanding unless Saint Louis, Dayton, or any other Private/Catholic university proves that it belongs. 10 is a perfect number for basketball. Unless we get paid even more to add by Fox, we should stay that way until a viable and realistic opportunity presents itself.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

I simply don't agree with this assertion which is stated as fact by the Hartford Courant:

However, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman told The Courant last week that the conference had no plans to expand, despite how the presence of the Huskies stands to make its next television package more lucrative.

Good catch, admin. Here is my explanation, which may or may not be correct:

1. Val Ackerman told the reporters who wrote the article [John Altavilla and Jeff Jacobs] that the conference had no plans to expand (which has been publicly known ever since the Big East's last Annual General Meeting in Florida).

2. John Altavilla and/or Jeff Jacobs embellished the sentence by adding their own opinion despite how the presence of the Huskies stands to make its next television package more lucrative.

The key here is that Altavilla/Jacob did not phrase Val Ackerman's supposed statement as a quote from her, which would be much better journalism.

The Harford Courant is in the business of selling newspapers and attracting viewers to its on-line edition. To the Hartford Courant's target audience, it is a given that the addition of Huskies basketball would make the Big East's next television package more lucrative, but I don't believe that Val Ackerman actually said that to Altavilla/Jacobs.

I have seen this type of 'innocent distortion' employed by a number of reporters over the years - in both sports and political articles - and I consider it to be shoddy journalism at best, or deliberately misleading at worst. A sentence which combines something someone actually said with the writer's opinion can many times be spotted by the absence of quotation marks, as in the present case.

Furthermore, I am going to assume that Val Ackerman is an intelligent, shrewd businesswoman, and as such, she would not tell a reporter that the addition of Huskies basketball would make the Big East's next television package more lucrative. It would be a stupid thing to say after stating that the conference had no plans to expand.

[Xudash]

A couple of thoughts after yesterday's decision by Big 12 not to expand:

1.) It should finally cement the notion that UConn is not coming back to the Big East. While it was a pipe dream to begin with, it never was really a fit. The Big East, as currently configured, is Private/Catholic-based. While it is a basketball-first league, it would take an extraordinary situation for them to invite an outsider (like UConn). While a program with UConn's credentials would/should absolutely be considered, stability for the conference was a priority since the reorganization in 2013. Adding a school like UConn, which has publicized its intentions to get into a power football conference, would only add instability for the other 10-schools.

2.) Since yesterday's decision was a huge win for the AAC, and due to the continued battle for supremacy from the BE/AAC split, it is imperative that the BE continue to perform well and out-perform the AAC. If the AAC is now able to get a larger contract from ESPN (or any other network), then the Big East should absolutely be able to make a similar argument with Fox once our contract comes up as well. Even though we don't play football, we do offer a power basketball conference that has proven it is a nationally competitive league, on par with the B1G, ACC, SEC, PAC-12 and Big 12. The BE needs to continue to cement itself as the top basketball conference not in the Power 5 group, and not let the AAC wiggle its way in that spot.

3.) Expansion in the Big East will not happen at least until new contract negotiations come up, and even by that point, we aren't expanding unless Saint Louis, Dayton, or any other Private/Catholic university proves that it belongs. 10 is a perfect number for basketball. Unless we get paid even more to add by Fox, we should stay that way until a viable and realistic opportunity presents itself.

I agree with you, except as follows:

Re #1 - - Had we brought UCONN back in, it would have been under mutually acceptable terms. In the Big East's case, those would have included a nasty exit fee, at the very least. Besides, were they to come back to the Big East, UCONN's ability to then subsequently get into a P5 conference would be diminished well beyond where they stand in that area today.

Re #2 - - Agree totally. We're well positioned to do that, because we're more well heeled than the AAC, and we don't have football dragging us down to boot.

Re #3 - - I'll place a slightly different spin on your #3. The first and foremost consideration for us moving forward IS US AND HOW WE'RE DOING TOGETHER. In other words, JOB ONE must be to make sure we track forward as strongly as we're tracking now, improving along the way (e.g. St. Johns and DePaul and what they mean with their large fan bases and with NY and Chicago locations). In other words, if we expand later by adding one of the existing basketball schools, that will mean that we lost traction as a group of ten. Each of us now earn about $4 million per year from Fox. If we wake-up one day to find that an A10 school is performing at a higher level than our lead schools, we're in trouble. We have everything going for each of us, as compared to an A10 school that makes $300k a year from its media agreement and otherwise sits in a conference that sends an average of 3 teams per year to the NCAA, with their NCAA unit money then divided 14 ways. Bottomline: if we add those schools moving forward, we will have screwed the pooch somewhere along the way. ADDITIONS MUST ALWAYS BE STRATEGIC IF THEY ARE TO OCCUR. Those schools are no where near fitting that bill.

[whiteandblue77]

2.) ... yesterday's decision was a huge win for the AAC

Agree with all GW11's comments save the above. It was more of a break, or dodging a bullet. It's not a good thing when ZERO of your conference schools were judged worthy of F5 status, especially since the B12 is by far the weakest, most unstable of the 5. Prolly didn't help the AAC's image that they pandered on bended knee for the past three months like homeless refugees desperate to get out of the American.

[_lh]

I thought the B12 would just stay at 10 because the options for expansion other than BYU were just meh and BYU had plenty of warts too.

I love the BE with 10 teams. UCONN is going to stick with the slow death in the AAC in hopes that something changes in 8 years. I don't think it will but time will tell. Even if the B12 does implode, what does UCONN get if they join a league with the B12 leftovers?

UCONN makes sense only in the ACC but the ACC doesn't want/need UCONN anytime soon.

I'm glad UC took the blow too. UC will also stick with the slow death and will see their recruiting in football and basketball continue to decline.