CaptainEric37
New member
I agree, I would prefer to expand eastward, if we expand at all.
Conference Realignment - What's next?
- Thread starter GratefulPoke
- Start date
I agree, I would prefer to expand eastward, if we expand at all.
The media partners disagree with you and they are the ones writing the checks so...
They add a CA market and I guess you missed it but they just played for the national championship in basketball. So yeah they do add something. We will not be adding them if they are not a pro rata add anyway so why worry about it.
Newpoke
New member
I didn't miss it, but this year was a one-off. They're not a traditional power in bball, and they play football in a 40K seat stadium that's half empty.
Hard to argue with that until those checks start to bounce. I mean, ESPN lost almost a million more viewers in Q1. CFB is the only thing keeping it alive. All sports strategy decisions should be football first.
NBA and college basketball have been trending down for nearly a decade and it's only getting worse. Basketball will be a revenue negative sport in the next 5-10 years.
Feel free to save this. If I'm wrong, I'll gladly eat my crow.
On that we agree. Our only hope is to get back into a power conference when everything happens. Wish it wasn't so.
Wishful thinking, I hope. They have no business in the Big 12. No offense to any UConn Poke fans on here.
CaptainEric37
New member
The PAC leadership is a joke. Two conferences got media deals in combined less time than they have put together a working framework.
Agreed. The CW deal is a bit funny for the ACC though.
Probably firms up the idea that the Pac-12 will have some games on the CW. I am also wondering if this is the ACC finding a replacement for failing Regional Sports Networks?
This would be SO hilarious if even the CW got tired of waiting on PAC12 and locked up the ACC deal which seems to be a much needed supplement to their horrible TV deal
Yeah, it takes their Raycom product and gives it national distribution instead of regional.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - this is a done deal. I have a very, very prominent source in UConn athletics who has had one-on-one meetings with Yormark. He told me Yormark’s plan for UConn in the Big 12 and how he envisions it playing out long term.
I won’t share too many details or reveal that source, but yeah this is much further along than is being reported. I haven’t seen any reputable news source get this one right yet.
As a CT native and current resident, I’m excited for the Big 12 to come to my state. But I also agree with you - UConn as a full member doesn’t make sense. They make sense in hoops, no question. But football is going to be another Kansas.
Also worth noting - the UConn fans I’ve told this to want NONE of it. This won’t be a popular move in the state of Connecticut.
Yeah, from what I have read is that UConn fans love being back in the Big East. Are they pro moving football back to the FCS? Outside of Notre Dame, independence is untenable in the new landscape (UConn, UMass, and Army have decisions to make).
Yep - you nailed it with this post. UConn fans, and the state of CT in general, gets their identity from the men’s and women’s basketball programs.
They look at the men’s basketball failure in the AAC as the fault of the football program. Which, isn’t true. The Big East was also trying to prioritize football during the that round of conference shakeup and it failed.
Their thought is they won’t be able to recruit regionally if they leave the Big East. I personally don’t agree. I think the Big 12 is much more enticing to northeast kids than the AAC obviously was. Not to mention, UConn has one of the largest athletic department deficits and a move to the Big 12 and the accompanying revenue would help on this front.
On the whole - UConn fans would like to see the football program die and stay in the Big East before they’d entertain a move to the Big 12 that would hurt their men’s program.
I can tell you - the women’s program doesn’t agree. They want in the Big 12.