The Gonzaga Thread... with Poll...

[DudeAnon]

UCONN has only been DIA since 2002. If they can't get into a P5 or P4 conference, UCONN can't play a lower version of football? Seems silly to continue to throw bad money after bad money.

Is it possible you are overestimating the costs of operating a high-major football team? UCONN very well could be running a profitable operation regardless of their conference affiliation.

[Savannah Jay]

UCONN has only been DIA since 2002. If they can't get into a P5 or P4 conference, UCONN can't play a lower version of football? Seems silly to continue to throw bad money after bad money.

Is it possible you are overestimating the costs of operating a high-major football team? UCONN very well could be running a profitable operation regardless of their conference affiliation.

According to this http://senate.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1323/2017/05/2017-0501-Senate-UBC-Report-on-AD-Subsidy-to-Senate.pdf , UCONNs athletic department expenditures went from $47MM in 2005 to $80MM in 2017. Revenues over the same time were relatively flat, so the athletic department was subsidized to the tune of $31MM in 2017.

For football, revenues were $7,554,290 and expenses were $15,380,357.

Some interesting data in the report, which must have been commissioned because of the alarming increase in the subsidy. The report also compares UCONNs subsidy to other universities. UCONNs subsidy, in dollar amount, is second only to Rutgers. I think I counted about 38 universities that subsidize their athletic departments at a higher percentage than UCONN (47.4%).

[GoldenWarrior11]

My comments about Notre Dame football joining the ACC were originally made in response to XUdash's post about a move to a 4 x 16 format. Under these conditions, there is little doubt that Notre Dame would have to move its football to a conference. Because of contractual commitments, this conference would be the ACC.

Without a 4 x 16 format, anything's possible, so I have no argument with any of your comments in this post.

Travel would not be for all non-football sports. That's not the way it works. It would only be for a handful. This has been discussed on this board several times before.

No to St Mary's. Gonzaga has access to a bigger arena, which would have to be a requirement if they were added. Gonzaga has achieved a stature that generates viewership beyond their immediate market. Moreover, they are not a commuter school which only has followers in their immediate metro area. Like all Big East schools they draw their student body regionally and they have alumni concentrations regionally - especially in Seattle. Home/home doesn't do anything for the Big East as a conference other than to guarantee a good OOC game here or there.

Inevitably??? The ACC and Notre Dame thought that the need for ND to place its football in a conference is a realistic enough possibility that they wrote that contingency into their contract. If/when that happens, UConn is the logical choice as #16.

Even if UConn doesn't make it to the F5, they are still a football school and the Big East doesn't sponsor football. I don't see a marriage here unless things change drastically.

Well, a conference cannot be selective in which Olympic sports you can take in. Gonzaga's basketball, soccer, baseball, cross country, tennis, track and field and women's volleyball would all need to fall under the Big East banner because we sponsor it. We can't just pick and choose what to take in based on convenience. No conference can operate that way. If we sponsor it, it needs to come with. The only sport that we don't sponsor that Gonzaga participates in is rowing (which Georgetown is the only BE member). The location of Gonzaga is simply too distant to realistically consider full-membership. No President will willingly agree to such a demand placed on student-athletes for travel, especially Gonzaga's - despite what Mark Few may have to say. The realistic compromise is some type of scheduling alliance. It helps their scheduling, and improves a handful of our teams' SOS in a given year.

Even if a 4x16 model occurs, Notre Dame is still not going to join the ACC as a full member because that model will not lock them out of the playoff. Again, exceptions are made for Notre Dame (whether or not you agree with them is your opinion).

The Big East does not sponsor football, but that doesn't stop many of our schools from participating in it at the FCS level. Butler, Villanova and Georgetown all play FCS football. If there is a clear separation between the P5/G5, which is inevitable, UConn (and not by its choosing) is deregulated to the lower level. UConn's fate was sealed when they started the pursuit of D1/FBS football so late in the 90's. They were decades behind the competition and simply could never catch up in the race. UConn was very successful at the D2/FCS level. They should look to do so when they are locked out.

The ACC has had numerous and repeated opportunity to add UConn and hasn't since 2005. Since that time, they have added Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Louisville as members. That's seven Big East members they took before UConn. Why was that? The simple answer is two-fold: 1.) UConn is awful at football and has limited potential and 2.) they have already made their northeast presence with BC/SU/Pitt/ND. There is no need to add more. UConn, quite simply, does not add more value to the ACC. Florida State and Clemson will absolutely vote against them, because of their weak football tradition, and I have no doubt that the Tobacco Road schools will also vote against them in order to keep their southern presence/majority. Boston College may or may not vote against them, but history is not on UConn's side. That's over half of the league right there. Any new addition would come after Notre Dame (which again, isn't happening), but in the likely event it did, Cincinnati and Temple would get greater consideration due to the new markets and football potential.

[Bluejay]

I do not think Notre Dame will ever join a conference. The only reason they did their little deal with the ACC was for bowl access. I think bowls have jumped the shark as I will discuss below. First, however, if Notre Dame is somehow forced to join a conference, I see them joining the Big 10, not the ACC. The Big 10 just makes more sense geographically and has more historical rivals (Michigan, MSU, Purdue).

As to bowls, we just saw the first example of top tier players skipping bowl games to avoid injury. McCaffrey and Fournette said no thanks to their respective bowl games. That trend will only get larger and larger outside of the Playoff games. With big stars skipping bowl games and TV money dropping or remaining stagnant, interest in bowl games will continue to wane. Interest is already significantly down in any bowl game that isn't part of the playoff. Stadiums are sitting nearly empty as more and more the games simply do not matter.

With bowl games becoming less and less significant, Notre Dame's forced assimilation into a conference also seems less likely.

[stever20]

I do not think Notre Dame will ever join a conference. The only reason they did their little deal with the ACC was for bowl access. I think bowls have jumped the shark as I will discuss below. First, however, if Notre Dame is somehow forced to join a conference, I see them joining the Big 10, not the ACC. The Big 10 just makes more sense geographically and has more historical rivals (Michigan, MSU, Purdue).

As to bowls, we just saw the first example of top tier players skipping bowl games to avoid injury. McCaffrey and Fournette said no thanks to their respective bowl games. That trend will only get larger and larger outside of the Playoff games. With big stars skipping bowl games and TV money dropping or remaining stagnant, interest in bowl games will continue to wane. Interest is already significantly down in any bowl game that isn't part of the playoff. Stadiums are sitting nearly empty as more and more the games simply do not matter.

With bowl games becoming less and less significant, Notre Dame's forced assimilation into a conference also seems less likely.

few things-
1- contractually ND is required to join the ACC now thru I think something crazy like 2034 or 2036.
2- bowls. realistically 2 guys skipped bowl games. 3 of the top 4 picks played in the Sun, Sun, and Texas Bowls. I think we'll see more guys skipping bowl games- but not anywhere near the extent that you say.
3- if it goes to 4 power conferences for football, the odds of it becoming champions only become so much greater. And that forces ND to join a conference.
4- even if it doesn't go 4 power conferences, ND has to watch and see how the CFP committee rolls. If they miss out on the playoffs several times barely to conference champions, with that extra CCG game, the algebra could easily change for ND.

[_lh]

UCONN has only been DIA since 2002. If they can't get into a P5 or P4 conference, UCONN can't play a lower version of football? Seems silly to continue to throw bad money after bad money.

Is it possible you are overestimating the costs of operating a high-major football team? UCONN very well could be running a profitable operation regardless of their conference affiliation.

Possible? Yes, but not according everything I have been reading on multiple sites and articles all over the web. Savanah Jay elaborated on it as well.

[CrawfishBucket]

Really? I haven't read anywhere they'd want to bring a bunch of schools. If that's true, disregard my above post. If it's only 1 other school I'd gladly take them, but absolutely no more than that.

They are not dumb enough to just make an open demand like that, but their stance on this issue seems obvious to me. This is Few's quote just 2 months ago...

“I actually think the Big East is positioned, if they want, to expand,” Few told William C. Rhoden of the New York Times last March. “If they wanted to expand nationally, I think that would be really, really crafty, and they could be a national basketball-only conference.”

Few isn't really alluding to anything other than the Zags with that comment. Hypothetically, if Gonzaga were added, that does open up the field for future candidates if a Gonzaga program were to separate themselves at a later date. Imo, they are simply too good to pass up, even with travel considerations. They are just one school. One extra date on the calendars in the other sports for every other NBE school. Its Gonzaga that will be spending mucho dinero on travel. Not the rest of us.
Every other candidate, especially those with football are pipe dreams. Even in the AAC, UConn plays good opponents on ESPN. I don't see the lure to go to FS1. In the East its VCU and everybody else. Nothing against VCU at all. They would be in the top half of the conference if invited, but Gonzaga is marquee quality. They would give the NBE another leading man to go with Nova. Everyone else is a character actor.

[gtmoBlue]

Creighton has Rowing also. Jays are in the WCC with the Zags and 7 other Catholic schools - Sort of a lesser version "the West Coast Little Big East" type deal.

Looks as though Creighton's Rowing matches/duels are all local/midwestern (Drake, KU, Tulsa, etc.). Only travel West for the conference Championships (this week).

[Bill Marsh]

UCONN has only been DIA since 2002. If they can't get into a P5 or P4 conference, UCONN can't play a lower version of football?

Of course they can, but why? What do they really save? 20 scholarships? They're really only a paper cost anyway. They've already made their in eat me too in facilities.

What they lose moving to a lower level is revenue. They no longer get playoff revenue sharing. They no longer have bowl tie-ins with the dollars that the conference doles out to the members. What's the gain by dropping to a lower level?

[Bill Marsh]

UCONN has only been DIA since 2002. If they can't get into a P5 or P4 conference, UCONN can't play a lower version of football? Seems silly to continue to throw bad money after bad money.

Is it possible you are overestimating the costs of operating a high-major football team? UCONN very well could be running a profitable operation regardless of their conference affiliation.

Possible? Yes, but not according everything I have been reading on multiple sites and articles all over the web. Savanah Jay elaborated on it as well.

Colleges count scholarships as a cost. What cost? Does adding an extra student to a class them to hire another professor. There are paper costs and there are real costs. There may be times when athletes add classroom costs, but they are Few and far between.