15 million if you leave after the 2025-26 season but you can’t leave then per BE bylaws so you’d have to buy your way out then unless you wait another year.
Waiting For UConn To Make A Statement
- Thread starter ed odowd
- Start date
Did you take a look at the pictures? The on-campus facilities are P4 level, and are easily in the top half of the P4. Remember that Connecticut was a BCS conference member. (equivalent of the P4) when they were built.
I'm not making the decision, obviously, but if you count forward 27 1/2 months, which is required, we end up in the $15 million buyout section of our contract, which is still more than than anyone else would pay to leave the conference. If we were getting a full share of big 12 money, then a buyout makes sense because it would be paid off in one year's worth of increased media distribution. If we are offered, it looks as if we will get a partial share, so I'm not sure the math works for an early buyout. We will see.
Keep in mind, though, Connecticut has been through this dance multiple times before. I'll believe that we are moving when somebody's painting big 12 logos on floor at Gampel. Until then, we continue to be members of the Big East conference and likely will be for at least another two years. So, hopefully, in addition to our exit fee, we will also be leaving 10 to 20,000,000 in NCAA tournament credits. If we leave the big east is going to be fine financially, at least for the near term.
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I already did up above, but here's a link to a virtual tour:
Keep in mind these are only the on-campus facilities. In addition to this we have Rentschler field.
You are not getting a full Big12 share until at least 2031.
No, a half billion dollars is a shit ton of money, but it's an investment for the next 30 years at least. if the legislature is faced with a choice of investing $175 million in our current 20 something year old facility or a half billion on campus, I'm not sure which way they'll go. If the big 12 makes an on campus facility a condition of joining, there's not a doubt in my mind that the legislature will pony up.
Keep in mind when I say a half billion, it may well be less than that, but it's gonna be a big number, because that's what things cost. The good news is that we already have all the on-campus facilities that we need, so all we need to do is build the stadium. Could that only be say $375 million? Possibly, I just don't know.
As to NIL, we are currently beating out P4 programs for recruits. Granted it's only the Pittsburgh's and equivalent programs, but we're able to compete now. I'm inclined to believe that a jump up to the P4 would motivate our existing donors and create new donors so that those numbers will go up. That's just an expectation, though.
The Big East should bill UConn a hefty penalty every time they enter into negotiations with another conference. Make it a rule in the conference.
Yep. Which is why I don't think will be buying out our big east contract. That means no move will take place for 27 1/2 months after we give notice and we will be ponying $15 million.
For what it's worth, the devil is going to be in the details here. If between now and 2031, we need to make certain infrastructure improvements, for example, either building on campus stadium, or increasing Rentschler field to 50,000 capacity, that's some thing I think the university will agree to. if there are performance requirements, say making six bowl games, or being ranked in the top 20 three out of the next seven years, then I'm not sure we move basketball to the big 12 and just hope for the best.
Right now there's not enough detail out there to know whether this is a feasible deal or not. All we know is the two sides are talking.
Funny that you would say that, because there was a penalty built into our existing contract if Connecticut talked to any P5 conference after signing the contract, but prior to joining the big east. So the parties expressly decided that there would be no penalty provision for us looking for a P five spot once we were a member.
You can say what you want about Val Ackerman, but she's not an idiot. She and everyone else in the deal understood that if an opportunity to go to what was then the P5 opened up, we would take it our contract with the Big East conference considers that and has penalty provisions in place should that happen. But, reasonably, those penalty provisions decrease the longer where in conference. For example, I believe if we stay in the big East for 10 years or more, then we just have the normal exit fees of any other conference member. so, if we leave here before we're in conference for six years, we pay an extra $20 million for the privilege of leaving. If we leave here after six years of membership, but before 10 years of membership, we pay an extra five million dollars for the privilege of leaving.
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The exit fees arent high enough. Anyway, I tend to think UConn basketball is going to suffer from this move, just as Syracuse, Louisville, et al. did when they joined the ACC.
However, if a couple of superconferences break with the NCAA, then the college basketball landscape will be radically altered and potentially destroyed forever. If UConn still stinks at football upon entering the Big 12, then they could once again be left out of the new superconferences.
Depends on whether you want them to be punitive or compensatory. Basically the contract says hey look if you get in out fast that injures us so we want you to compensate us, but, if you hang around for a while, then that injury is less, and completely disappears if you stay for a decade. (We still would have to pay the normal exit fees of $10 million, though.)
I absolutely agree with this. Moving to a P4 conference allows us to make a stronger argument when that future consolidation happens. Will it be a strong enough argument? Probably not, but in the meantime, we will have received nine figures of income. That at least should allow us to position ourselves with the "best of the rest".
This is the American with more money.
Now you have trips to Arizona, Colorado and Utah, no opponent within 500 miles and only two within 1,000 miles.
Travel costs are going to chew up a good chunk of that higher payout.
Now you have trips to Arizona, Colorado and Utah, no opponent within 500 miles and only two within 1,000 miles.
Travel costs are going to chew up a good chunk of that higher payout.
Maybe Danny is thinking twice about not having taken the Laker job.....
or maybe this was partly why he gave it such consideration...
Yep. And it's miserable. Is flying to Kansas that much worse than flying to Marquette?
100%. Both sides have greatly benefited. It was tacitly acknowledged by all sides that UConn is actively looking to leave.
Yeah, but, every flight is well over an hour+ (WVU) and some are six hours. And there will be no bus rides to SJ, PC, SHU, NOVA to break up the travel requirements. Hey the hoops players are getting paid so that’s the deal but all the non revenue/no NIL athletes making those flights, many I would imagine are non charter, will be difficult. But nobody cares about them.
Yeah, I agree with this. It sucks. It doesn't suck so much that we wouldn't take the extra money and deal with it, but it definitely sucks.
Big 12 presidents pitched on potential UConn addition, but lack of consensus likely to prolong decision
CBS Sports verified that six Big 12 schools are in favor of adding the Huskies if a vote were taken today
www.cbssports.com
CL82,Big 12 presidents pitched on potential UConn addition, but lack of consensus likely to prolong decision
CBS Sports verified that six Big 12 schools are in favor of adding the Huskies if a vote were taken today
Assuming it plays out per the article, how does UConn sustain massive deficits for the next 7 years and maintain football facilities? What will its brand be after another 7 years of irrelevance or worse. Once it plays football in the B12, how can it fund $22mm per year for NIL? How long after 2031 will it earn a full payout. This can’t be a good financial deal for the University or State. Thanks
I just do not get them thinking they can be a big time football program . Their problem is that they invested big money in the program and they are stuck with it . Instead of eating their losses they are continuing to put good money into a bad product hoping that going into a football conference will help build their program. They will take the money and run . Good luck with that. Remember when anybody says it's not about the money IT ALWAYS IS !!!
Football's current deficit is about 14 million. The Connecticut governor has indicated his support for both the football program and the university. I believe that Connecticut currently has a budget surplus so the money is there. They've committed to $100 million in renovations to Gampel, 125 million, I think, in renovations to the XL center, and additionally are planning 175 million in renovations to Rentschler field. That's 400 million right there. I don't think the annual $14 million football deficit is particularly daunting to them.
Like it or not, and I don't particularly like it, football is where the money is. UConn's most recent athletic department deficit is $35 million, if I recall correctly. A full share in the big 12 would pay it off so we would essentially be breakeven. Of course that doesn't take into account the additional travel cost, which been estimated at about 2 million a year and other additional costs of membership in that conference. Of course it also doesn't take into account that a full share of college football playoff money is an additional $15 million.
At this point, especially given the considerable amount of money Connecticut has already invested in football, it would be dumb not to chase full membership in a P4 conference.
Again, because I'm a basketball first fan, I don't love it, but not loving it doesn't mean I don't recognize that, for the time being, the future of college athletics is closely linked to big-time football.
Yep. Without the taxpayers footing the bill, there's no way we could compete at this level. Since I'm a New Jersey resident, I don't pay it, but, on the other hand, both of us paid to subsidize Rutgers.
It is what it is.
Someone sent me this link along the lines of Uconn's importance to the league (Big East 2024 TV ratings across each game): https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/9815f157-ea60-478f-a481-2dc93fae6ca8/page/tWDGB.
I don't know how to digest all these numbers or what they mean in the grand scheme, but a few takeaways:
-Uconn was first in TV viewership by several million (17.3 million). Marquette the only other team that was close with approx. 15 million. After that you have Creighton, St. John's and Nova all in the 10m viewership range, in that order. No on else close to that 10 million mark in TV viewership, including us, Gtown, Providence etc. So there was a real drop off once you got past Uconn (king of the hill), Marquette, Creighton, St. John's and Nova.
-No coincidence, the common thread among the top 10 most watched games is either Uconn, Marquette or St. John's.
- The top 5 rated Fox games were the two times Uconn played Marquette and the 3 times they played St John's.
-Uconn is basically at the top of every most watched FS1, Fox and CBS game
- Our game v. Uconn was the second most watched Big East-related game on CBS, trailing only Uconn v. North Carolina, and slightly ahead of Creighton v. St. John's on CBS.
I don't know how to digest all these numbers or what they mean in the grand scheme, but a few takeaways:
-Uconn was first in TV viewership by several million (17.3 million). Marquette the only other team that was close with approx. 15 million. After that you have Creighton, St. John's and Nova all in the 10m viewership range, in that order. No on else close to that 10 million mark in TV viewership, including us, Gtown, Providence etc. So there was a real drop off once you got past Uconn (king of the hill), Marquette, Creighton, St. John's and Nova.
-No coincidence, the common thread among the top 10 most watched games is either Uconn, Marquette or St. John's.
- The top 5 rated Fox games were the two times Uconn played Marquette and the 3 times they played St John's.
-Uconn is basically at the top of every most watched FS1, Fox and CBS game
- Our game v. Uconn was the second most watched Big East-related game on CBS, trailing only Uconn v. North Carolina, and slightly ahead of Creighton v. St. John's on CBS.
Agree; can't accept the fact that a good portion of the NY-NJ area UConn fans are cretins, either.
When the BE opened their arms to accept them back you had to be a fool to think Uconn wouldn't jump at the first major conference invite they received. Evidently the Big 12 commissioner & Uconn AD are aggressively trying to get a deal done but there is major push back from the actual Big 12 schools.
