Entice an invite from the ACC? The ACC did not invite UConn back when the basketball program was good and football was coming off of a Fiesta Bowl game. Why would the ACC invite them now?
UCONN back to Big East, per report
- Thread starter mikemarc1
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Regarding attendance numbers, it looks like you quoted numbers from the 2017-18 season, not 2018-19. Rutgers attendance increased about 33% in 2018-19. Considering that Rutgers hasn't been to the NCAA tournament in about 25 years, low attendance shouldn't be surprising. But the UConn numbers are surprisingly low for a program only 4 years removed from a National Championship and 2 years removed from a Round of 32 appearance. Despite the recent National Championship, UConn's attendance was lower than Seton Hall, a program that at that point had 2 first-round losses over the previous 10 years.
Regarding your arguments on FCS costs vs FBS costs:
* As noted above, Scholarship money is funny money. It is money the Athletic Department pays to the University. It doesn't really cost the University anything to have an extra 22 students enrolled. The only real cost is room and board, since the schools have to pay for the food and if a football player is sleeping in a room, they can't rent that room to someone else. UConn estimates cost of room and board at $13,000 per year. Let's say it is $20,000, so that is $440,000 per year for the extra 22 full rides.
* There is no requirement that FBS football programs have to pay their coaches more. Most do, because they bring in enough money they can afford to pay coaches more. But UConn can pay their coaches the same as what they want to pay in FCS. They also don't have to hire tons of assistants. So there is no structural difference between the cost of coaching staffs in FCS vs FBS.
* Maybe travel expenses for the team are lower. If UConn puts football in the CAA, their travel is limited to the eastern seaboard, from SC to Maine. UConn spends a little over $2MM per year on football team travel. If they cut that in half, they save $1MM. More realistically, they save $500K.
* The big expense of FBS football is the cost of facilities. But UConn has already spent that. So they can't save that by dropping to FCS.
So at the high end, UConn can save $1 MM to $1.5 MM per year by dropping to FCS. In exchange, they give up $2+ MM per year in ticket revenue, parking, concessions, and donations. Plus they give up FBS bowl revenue, FBS television money. And there is no hope of increasing revenue. And their financial woes just get worse.
I have no idea if the ACC would ever be interested in UConn. But if the ACC expands to 16, UConn with a power basketball program could be a reasonable choice. But if UConn football falls into an abyss, or if UConn drops football, there is no chance that the ACC would consider UConn.
If the ACC expands to 16 and TV market size drives the decision then Temple, Central Florida, South Florida and Cincinnati would be better options. Cincinnati is a slightly smaller TV market than Hartford-New Haven (I would think that the ACC already gets NYC thanks to Syracuse), but will those people even bother watching college football? Granted, FSU and Miami would have to agree to allow USF and UCF in, and the ACC's old guard would have to be willing to allow four schools from a state (other than their precious state of North Carolina).
Initially UCF, USF and Cincinnati would be competitive with mid and lower tier ACC football teams. Once they were able to attract higher level players they might even challenge for conference championships. Basketball would take a bit longer but if TV market size and football drive the decision there are several programs from Ohio eastward that would be better options than Connecticut.
Russ, after the Longhorn Network contract ends for Texas with ESPN, if Texas ends up in the Big Ten or PAC 12 and the Big 12 explodes, could you see the ACC going after some of the remaining schools? I know this is wayyy out of the traditional ACC area, but could you see them interested in some of the schools for football and/or basketball?
I guess. Is that the conventional wisdom? That When the Longhorn Network contract ends ESPN will not renew?
I used to love the ACC. Then love turned to "like" around 2004 or 2005. Then sometime around 5 or 6 years ago I reached a point where I almost have lost interest in what happens in the ACC.
Swofford and his boys will jump in the their Ford F-150s, head to a Waffle House in Greensboro, North Carolina, and figure out what they want to do.
ND will be the 1st target for the ACC if they expand.
I for one would like to see us join for football and become a full fledged member but with the current Administration I can't see it happening.
But they won't be there forever.
When the LHN goes kaput, they are going to look for the biggest revenue generating opportunity. Imagine how much higher the revenues would be in the B1G with Texas added.
I wonder if ESPN would renew if Texas shows it's going to be a constant top 10 football program again under Herman.
2031 is a long time away and anything could happen, but so far it looks like the deal hasn't been good for ESPN and if renewed ESPN will not overpay.
Tbh, when the Longhorn Network was created I thought it was a bad idea & could lead to the break-up of the Big 12.
However, I do hear that if you watch the LHN these days there are two things you will see A LOT of:
1. WinStar Casino Commercials
2. A feature on a five-star WR Bru McCoy
Ironically, McCoy decided to transfer to USC, yet the LHN acts like they don't know this and continue airing the feature. Oh and repeated exposure to this one WinStar commercial would probably make me want to stab a baby
According to some tweets, the staff was at Big Shots last night for Nick Farrar.
I think Maryland paid $50 million to leave the ACC for the B1G.
When RU left The American it was a fledgling conference that was also losing Louisville but the conference got its ish together and added powerhouse programs like Tulane and Tulsa, football only Navy and everything but football Wichita State. So the exit fee must have gone up.
Btw, UConn is so broke they are going to pay this exit fee in installments.
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17 million to leave
AAC exit fee 10 mil but UConn paying an extra 7 to leave early.
Russ (above post) said :"Btw, UConn is so broke they are going to pay this exit fee in installments."
UConn will finally have paid off the exit fee and early exit charge by the end of 2026
Add the 3.5 million entrance fee into the Big East
and they're paying a heavy price.
UConn better hope the move pays off financially.
Their FB program went independent (FBS ) and only has 4 games lined up so far for the 2020 season.
2019 will still be a AAC conference schedule.
AAC exit fee 10 mil but UConn paying an extra 7 to leave early.
Russ (above post) said :"Btw, UConn is so broke they are going to pay this exit fee in installments."
UConn will finally have paid off the exit fee and early exit charge by the end of 2026
Add the 3.5 million entrance fee into the Big East
and they're paying a heavy price.
UConn better hope the move pays off financially.
Their FB program went independent (FBS ) and only has 4 games lined up so far for the 2020 season.
2019 will still be a AAC conference schedule.
Has any conference had more to do with exit fees than the AAC (fka Big East)? They are the king of exit fees.
Interestingly, I read yesterday that the Mountain West conference has a zero buyout and zero waiting period. I thought it was a unique concept.
To add on to this, has any commissioner ever slept through so many members leaving as Aresco has?
When news of the potential exit leaked into media reports on a Friday night last month, conference commissioner Mike Aresco was asleep. He realized what was going on when he woke up and checked his phone. He spoke with Benedict and UConn president Susan Herbst and got the sense things were moving in that direction, though it wasn’t final. Shortly thereafter, it was.
UConn is paying the AAC more than Nebraska did to leave the Big 12...in 2010. Let that sink in.
Is there really any amount a team wouldn't be willing to pay to get out of that conference?
It’s certainly not ideal and it’s a mosh-mosh of schools and locations, but it’s not terrible for a conference out of the P5. It’s a crap shoot as to whether UConn sports will be better off doing what they are doing but to pay that exit fee makes me wonder whether it makes sense.
Wait, UConn is paying a total of 20.5 million to leave the American Conference and enter the Big East ? Are they automatically full members of the Big East? How much will they get per year from TV for basketball and are they looking at close to zero for wherever their football goes ?
UConn will be full members. I believe that the Big East TV deal pays less than the AAC TV deal.
Russ, are they full members from day one? Curious if you think there is much difference between the MAC and the Atlantic 10? In a thread on the football site, I was talking if it made sense for UMass football to leave the MAC just so their basketball could remain in the Atlantic Ten. Unless, of course, they were promised by the American that they would fill UConns spot should they leave one day, which they now have.
The total conference payout for the Big East is significantly less than the AAC.
https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/ot-dan-hurley-to-uconn.142069/page-4#post-3240016
I have a relative who is a UConn grad so I've had to hear him run his mouth for the last 20 years.
According to him, they are full members from Day 1 but they don't get to share any NCAA credits earned before they arrive.
Maybe the crazier part is that UConn nation believes that they will actually thrive as an FBS Independent and that SNY will pay them $10-12MM/yr for their football rights.
I don't know enough about the value of TV rights but I told him that seemed really high. Of course, his response was that SNY will pay whatever UConn wants because SNY values UConn
The AAC contract is higher but slightly skewed in that , in the new contract, the universities are responsible for their own TV production costs (so subtract 2million) and the majority of games are not on TV that you or I can see on regular TV. The worry for Uconn fans was that no TV would result in reduced recruiting.
Also, the BE contract is structured that payments will increase for adding a team (there are rumblings that a new deal adding 2million per team and more years is being worked on right now). And the AAC contract with ESPN is structured so that ESPN can renegotiate with a loss of a team, and losing Uconn is huge as just the women's team brought in higher TV rating than any of the AAC men's BB ratings.
Also, the BE contract is structured that payments will increase for adding a team (there are rumblings that a new deal adding 2million per team and more years is being worked on right now). And the AAC contract with ESPN is structured so that ESPN can renegotiate with a loss of a team, and losing Uconn is huge as just the women's team brought in higher TV rating than any of the AAC men's BB ratings.
