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UConn

Without FOX, the alternative was a MAAC-style bus league so FOX is great in that sense, just not in comparison to what was and could have been financially.

Right, I'm certainly not saying we're better off financially than we would have been with that ESPN deal. Just better off than anything we still would have gotten by staying with the AAC schools after Pitt and Syracuse left.
 
The good fathers of the C7 made the right call even if it cost something financially. Without Pitt and Syracuse how much were ongoing contracts going to be worth? The depleted BE had no identity after those schools left and the commissioner was flying all over the country begging teams to join. It was an embarrassment. As I recall, Tulane and East Carolina (East Carolina!) were the last straw.

And eight years later the AAC is still a hodgepodge of left out schools still searching for an identity. Meanwhile the NBE (not so new anymore) has a clearly defined identity and is relevent on the college basketball landscape. Who’d a thunk it in 2014?
 
BTN got placed on basic cable (packages, not systems).

As an example, I don’t pay extra for sports on Comcast, and I get BTN but not any of the other channels you mentioned. Not even ESPNU or ESPN News.

Those decisions were made by people a lot smarter than us. Same thing was a factor getting Maryland invited in their area. It sounds crazy that Rutgers could warrant BTN on basic throughout the area, but that’s what happened.
Got it, thanks. Does seem crazy that RU could drive that addition, from afar.
 
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I remember PSU not wanting to join and convincing RU not to join cause they were going to spearhead and all sprort conference, back in the beginning. We got Pitt instead. Was PSU rejected later? (If so, did Pir8tes have the controlling vote?)

The bb onlies were in an impossible situation. Continued fb expansion was needed to keep up and that diminished our power in the conference. I suggested back when that fb expansion should be allowed, but the bb only schools would keep a 50% voting percentage so we were not squeezed oujt of the conference created for schools like ours.

The converence saved our school. But it outgrew itself and no longer made sense. And like it or or not, adding Uconn the best step we could take to make sure we can survive for the long term.
PSU wanted to join. They lost by one vote.
 
Nope.

Here's what they've been:

2014 = $3,038,869
2015 = $3,157,276
2016 = $3,280,526
2017 = $3,406,882
2018 = $3,534,236
2019 = $3,665,295

Of these amounts, approximately 32% goes towards conference expenses.
Worse than I thought.
 
Has any football team in Div. I history plummeted more than UCONN from 2011 to today, or even as rapidly as to about 2015? I realize this has little to do with BE basketball ---- or does it?--- but an interesting thought.
Comparing Villanova dropping D 1 football and UCONN dropping it de facto are two completely different sets of circumstances.
Sure. Drops happen all the time in 1A football. The better question is has any D1 team ever risen as meteorically as UConn football going from FCS to BCS after 3 years as independent (Only team to have done so) and rising to the Fiesta Bowl in just 10 years as a BCS school. (Also the only team to have done so.)
 
RU and Maryland are there for BTN carriage fees in the NYC/NJ and DC/Baltimore media markets. Also I remember reading a few years back that under Big Ten bylaws for expansion that candidates must be in a state that borders an existing Big Ten member state, which NJ and MD do share borders with PA but CT does not, Same goes for Nebraska bordering Iowa. Also I think Big Ten required all candidates to have Middle States accreditation or some other exclusive academic accolades which I forget the specifics of, RU and MD have it, I think Nebraska might not which was a source of minor controversy at the time. I forget if UNL actually ended up getting that accreditation or if the BIG just waived the requirement for them. I’m not sure if UConn has that or not. I think they do but I have no idea for sure. One of both of those technicalities I believe was cited as reasons for the BIG not inviting UConn but it’s just splitting hairs since they couldn’t come right out and say “Connecticut doesn’t have enough TV eyeballs for us” even though everybody knows that’s the real reason.
They have to be AA
The Big Ten wasn’t taking Rutgers unless Maryland said they were joining. If Maryland didn’t say yes they weren’t even asking Rutgers. Most Big 10 schools are members of the AAU.
Everyone is except for Nebraska, who was when they were admitted.
 
Ah so you don’t think they would have gotten that without RU? Because I have a pretty standard sports package with a basic cable provider (optimum) and I have the SEC, ACC and Big 10 networks.
They could have with UConn as well, but NJ has 9M to CT's 3 million and RU is AAU. To be fair, from everything but a sports standpoint, it was the right decision.
 
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The Big Ten wasn’t taking Rutgers unless Maryland said they were joining. If Maryland didn’t say yes they weren’t even asking Rutgers. Most Big 10 schools are members of the AAU.
Probably but the Big 10 had been talking with RU for a while, telling them the things they coul do to make themselves more attractive.
 

1982

Mike Tranghese: I look back on the 30 years, and I think we made one major mistake. We had a chance to take Penn State in 1982 and we didn't. You look back on it and the whole face of college athletics would be changed now. If we had taken Penn State in 1982, we may still have football independents. The idea wasn't to take Penn State and start a football league. It was to give Penn State a place. And then they would have been aligned with Syracuse and Boston College. We probably would have brought Pitt in, too, and the four of them probably would have agreed to play and continue as independents. I think the whole face of college football would have changed. I don't think Florida State would have moved and Miami would have moved. All of it came about when Penn State made the decision to go to the Big Ten. I thought that in 1982, I was just a young staffer at this meeting. Dave [Gavitt] wanted to go to Penn State and extend the invitation. But he couldn't if we didn't have the votes. And we had eight teams and needed six votes and it was a 5-3 vote. It was probably the only time that Dave couldn't drive a final decision in the years that he was the commissioner. I was just a staffer. I could say whatever I wanted to Dave. At the end of our meeting, Dave asked what I thought. In fact, it's in our minutes. I said, 'We will rue the day over this decision.' And it's been pretty prophetic.

 
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Sure. Drops happen all the time in 1A football. The better question is has any D1 team ever risen as meteorically as UConn football going from FCS to BCS after 3 years as independent (Only team to have done so) and rising to the Fiesta Bowl in just 10 years as a BCS school. (Also the only team to have done so.)
Huh?
 
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