Sounds likely that they’ll just go independent and use their football program as a way to bring in money via body-bag games at places. Basically, they don’t care if their program is good anymore.
Honestly, what’s a drag on their budget is the fact that they still maintain 22 programs. Houston carries 15 programs right now, which is right where most schools in the AAC are. UCONN sees themselves as a B1G equal, but they don’t have the money to continue to support that. Their administration and their boosters are just not good and it’s coming back to bite them.
Those of you throwing around possible programs to replace UCONN with…what is your reasoning? Just to do it? For a round number of 12 again? It shows me absolutely no thought process.
ESPN, so I’ve read, has said it will not lower the contract which gives each conference member about $7M (with 12 schools). With 11 schools, the share goes up to shy of $8M. So, you’re willing to leave money on the table for a program like UTSA…LOL.
So the church that runs BYU has been playing church ball for about as long as there has been basketball. But, education and religious training are the focus at BYU which isn’t saying that they don’t want a good athletics program just that they won’t comprise on their religious precepts for the sake of big money athletics.
There is a very funny movie called “Church Ball” that is worth watching if you can find it. It could be any church basketball but it seems to fit in to the church culture of BYU from what I know of it. Church Ball (2006) - Plot - IMDb
Ptb, I don’t know if the AAC will or won’t replace UConn. However, I think most are speculating about who may be good candidates should the AAC decide to replace UConn. Its up to others to decide and we are speculating because that’s what these boards are for.
Bearcat fan here. I can’t speak for the rest of us in Cincy, but here’s my take on what the AAC should do.
There’s nothing wrong with holding steady at eleven schools, unless the NCAA treats us differently than they did the B12, who were allowed to conduct a football championship game with fewer than twelve members and no divisions. I imagine that ABC/ESPN would lobby for that in our case as well. They have the rights to the game, which is in the category of their highest rated programming … live game action.
It also wouldn’t hurt on the basketball side either, with the AAC following other conferences in moving to a twenty-game round-robin schedule, again without divisions. That makes scheduling OOC games less of a hassle, since there would be fewer of them, although it will hurt low majors who rely on buy-in road games.
Plus, $8M media cash per team versus $7M can’t hurt.
UConn people are saying they are to good for the AAC. Their football and mens basketball teams suck. all they got going is the women’s basketball and soccer. Stupid move by Uconn no way they get pick for P5 now.
UConn are losing so much money that they actually have no choice but to pull back. Their athletics department lost $41M in 2018. They can’t sustain that.
Trips to Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Florida for their minor sports (much less football and basketball) placed an undue burden on their finances. They geared up their football program when the Big East expanded to that sport, then got left behind when the private schools pulled the plug back in 2013. Now, they’re isolated. Football became the sacrificial lamb.
Now, they can bus their teams to Providence, St. John’s, Nova and Seton Hall; maybe even Georgetown. With the 22 sports, that should save quite bit. (They’d save even more by cutting some sports, which they eventually may have to do.)
UConn just needed to win men’s football, & basketball games to fill the seats. A six year drought of not winning will drain any budget. You have to put butts in the seats. We got rid of CMA for losing butts in the seats. All teams have to travel. When you lose all of you conference games in football, you got money problem.
UCONN could not recruit nor compete in football and so the Big East is a better fit. There is a reaction
against football going on, because of brain injuries, and that might be a part of it.
UConn football program was blindsided by this move. UConn just paid over a million dollars for new men’s locker room and upgrade. The athletics department just drop the ball for six years. Hired bad coaches.
Only issue with standing pat at 11 for basketball is that the bottom of the conference tends to bring the RPI down. That was the reason we added Wichita State was to not only add a good team, but to make it where the top teams didn’t have to play ECU and Tulane twice every year. Until those schools, and others at the bottom, can bring their programs up to speed, or at least schedule better OOC, I’d be for adding another non-football school and sticking with an 18 game conference schedule. VCU would be ideal as they have a strong basketball program, fit the profile, and have other strong programs as well.
As far as football, see if BYU/ESPN are interested, otherwise, no need to expand right now.