Kinda crazy. When UI flies out to play USC in football, it will fly over probably 80% of the Big 12 footprint. Contiguous conference boundary lines cease to exist.
Conference Realignment
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Why UConn? - likely why the Big12 took UCF (Orlando and Florida), TCU (2012) & Houston (Texas and they have TT), Cinci (Ohio/KY), BYU (best they could get, a good rep for all Mountain states). It's how they beat the Pac12, that and not outkicking your value.
I've said this once, twice, and again, this is a wholistic look at things - It's empire building. It goes beyond just athletics. It's recruiting areas - both for athletics and academics. population masses, alumni areas, more reps in DC, etc.... and not just today but for the future.
It's why once USC and UCLA left the Pac12, the Pac12 was effed. They had only their arrogance left and not much else. It's like when a mama racoon gets slaughtered on the road, her babies have no idea what to do, they can't survive on their own and they get slaughter too. Washington, Oregon, Utah, San Fran and Arizona isn't going to cut it today as a power conference. It was just too late once they figured it out.
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The only empires being built here are named ESPN and Fox, and both of them are castles made of sand.
UConn’s average home football attendance in 2019 was 10,032. In 2021 they improved that number to 10,216.
According to Thamel, UConn is being discussed as the Big XII commissioner believes in the market, the donor support, and college basketball being undervalued when it comes to these conference realignment moves. There's also a belief that the football program has turned a corner after making a bowl game last season. UConn would also jump at the TV money they'd get in the Big XII compared to the Big East.
the national
- the Front Range
I graduated from a b12 school before CU bolted. They had some rooted history with the old big8 schools. KU, KSU, ISU, OSU & OU. CU playing the Texas schools from the old SW conf was always fun back then. But you’re right, thier biggest rival Neb and to a lesser extent Miz won’t be there. Most Big8 fans still wish those schools were back together.
As a side note, you can always spot a big8 school by its name. You will always know, no matter where they go.
U of Neb = NU
U of Kansas = KU
U of Colorado = CU
U of Oklahoma = OU
U of Missouri = MU
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If I remember correctly those schools were added because the B10 network had already negotiated a carriage agreement with the cable providers that required them to include the B10 network in the standard cable package instead of being relegated to a sports package if a B10 school was within the state or within a certain radius.
After negotiating that deal they added Rutgers and Maryland forcing the cable providers to pay the B10 network subscriber fees for every single cable subscribers in those states.
From what I understand Delaney‘s B10 was brilliant. I don’t know if it was him, or his staff, but they were outsmarting everyone and don’t get enough credit.
My opinion is the only reason the B10 survived and made it as one of the Top 2 conferences and the financial leader of the NCAA is because Delaney’s B10 outsmarted everyone- it’s not because of the product on the field or on the court. That’s why the other conferences are so salty against us.
I agree with ESPN but not Fox. I do think the era of sports exclusivity is nearing an end and leagues will start retaining their streaming rights for themselves, and games will be aired via the leagues’ own apps or via multiple streaming partners in simulcast, but they’ll still need production partners which I imagine is what ESPN will be relegated to in the future.
It just seems so disjointed/clumsy/costly for there to be 2 schools in a conference so distant from the others. Adding OR, WA, AZ and Stanford may dilute monetary value for the current schools but would add a regional and scheduling "balance". Just my two cents.
And in 2022 their average attendance was 22,095--a 50.4 percent increase. Which demonstrates the value of hiring a competent coach who has a 6-6 season and goes to a bowl game. UConn football's instant turnaround under Jim Mora
This is why I thank my lucky stars we have Whitman, Coach Bielema and the excellent coaching & recruiting staff he's assembled.
I totally agree about the value of competent coaching. Even 6-7 is great. For UConn.
Taking a more macro perspective, UConn, by doubling ticket sales, in their best season for attendance in over a decade, having achieved bowl eligibility for the first time in seven years, elevated themselves into the class of other CFB national powerhouses like Liberty (20,954), UNLV (22,112), and James Madison (22,966). Some of that increased attendance was because they hosted Syracuse and Boston College in 2022 and their stadium was half full of their fans. Apparently they also had great success with a promotion where they gave away free basketball tickets with the purchase of football tickets. But look at the upside—they drew more fans last year than Bowling Green and Louisiana-Monroe, an accomplishment they hadn’t achieved since the early 2010s. No wonder the Big 12 is beating a path to their door.
So, the rationale, if I understand it, for the Big 12 to add UConn as it’s 14th member, is to expand their “empire” to the Northeast which gives them more leverage negotiating their next TV contract. Interesting thought process there, considering the Big 12 does not have its own network (Texas killed that off a decade ago) so there are no cable subscription fees to collect from the NYC and Boston markets. I live 111 miles from Rentschler Field (UConn’s stadium, but you all knew that, right?), which is about the same distance as Champaign to Joliet, and none of the regional sports networks here (SNY, MSG, etc) pick up the UConn games that aren’t broadcast nationally on the CBS sports network. But make UConn part of The Empire, along with West Virginia and Florida’s fifth most popular team, and I’m sure ESPN, which is headquartered in Connecticut and is surely familiar with that program’s draw, will really be feeling all of that irresistible leverage.
I agree, the original Big 8 — and we’re going back 40 years now — was a cohesive and very fun conference. You had six state flagship and three land-grant universities all sharing borders with a 100+ history together. I lived in Colorado but the Oklahoma-Nebraska rivalry was epic, and late 80s/early 90s CU v Nebraska and CU v Missouri was no slouch either. Baylor and Texas Tech did not really fit the paradigm but I suppose you take that in exchange for adding Texas and A&M, which definitely did.
But that’s not the conference that Colorado is rejoining. With the B1G and SEC, even though those conferences have made additions (or subtractions by addition, depending on your viewpoint), the core is intact and remains the same. I think that’s an element of their superior brand strength, that despite all the chaos, the B1G and SEC are still more or less recognizable (for now). What is the Big 12 anymore? What is its identity? A mishmash of jilted brides and overachieving never-weres. And also, Kansas.
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<<But make UConn part of The Empire, along with West Virginia and Florida’s fifth most popular team,<<
The Big 12 isn't vying to be #1 or #2 or even realistically, with the ACC still strong, #3. Perhaps in the future they'll have an argument for #3. They are picking up programs that will never be in the B1G or SEC but still, overall, good programs. These programs provide a lot of stability unlike the chaos in the PAC and smoke in the ACC. That's important.
A UConn addition wouldn't be perfect but the Big 12 isn't looking for perfection. You can cherry pick issues. There are a lot of parts of UConn that make it attractive to the Big 12 especially given they aren't looking for B1G or SEC money. It's a different business plan.
The Big 12 isn't vying to be #1 or #2 or even realistically, with the ACC still strong, #3. Perhaps in the future they'll have an argument for #3. They are picking up programs that will never be in the B1G or SEC but still, overall, good programs. These programs provide a lot of stability unlike the chaos in the PAC and smoke in the ACC. That's important.
A UConn addition wouldn't be perfect but the Big 12 isn't looking for perfection. You can cherry pick issues. There are a lot of parts of UConn that make it attractive to the Big 12 especially given they aren't looking for B1G or SEC money. It's a different business plan.
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I just don’t understand that logic. The Big 12 is going to out-leverage the Pac-12 and ACC and establish itself as America’s number three conference by adding revenue-diluting lower-tier MAC equivalent programs that neither the ACC or PAC-12 would have any interest in?
The B1G cut the heart out of the PAC by taking on USC and UCLA.
Would be quite the Game of Thrones move by doing the same to the ACC by taking on UNC and ND.
Would be quite the Game of Thrones move by doing the same to the ACC by taking on UNC and ND.
One down - one to go. As far as going slow - the Big 12 inked the 2.3B media deal beating PAC to the punch. That's a fact - took their lunch money. Exactly what happens to the ACC is unknown - so just be in a position to capitalize when the time is right.
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ACC 'absolutely' open to expanding membership
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said the league continues to actively consider adding teams but has thus far not found enough value in any expansion option.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
ACC 'absolutely' open to expanding membership
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said the league continues to actively consider adding teams but has thus far not found enough value in any expansion option.www.espn.com
It could happen but I won't believe Oregon to Big 12 until the contracts are signed.
I also don't believe the Commish can only work on one project at a time.
Only problem with them using that clip is that the Pac 12 ends up getting proved right in the end and Colorado is in the wrong.
I don't ever recall the PAC predicting their own implosion thereby getting it right. They froze when the landscape was changing. Adapt or die. That's not getting proved right. And I'm not sure there really is any right or wrong, just change or more accurately, rightsizing. Know your value, the PAC didn't
It's why the ACC is on shaky ground. It's a good conference but a team like FSU (and a few others) are worth far more than they get from the ACC. They are worth top tier B1G or SEC payments and the spread btw SEC and ACC is getting wider. That causes the imbalance. FSU (as an example) is in the heart of SEC country. Surrounded on all sides. Do they sit back and allow a South Carolina to simply buy their way past FSU as an athletic program? They won't, it's just a matter of when and how they escape - they won't pull a PAC move.
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