Conference carousel to start spinning again?

[xudash]

At what point does UConn scrap football (or at least drop to FCS) to join the Big East? This has to be a real discussion now.

• Big East schools are profiting more on a per-school basis than the AAC schools starting next year.
• UConn's (and UC's and USF's) athletics budget is getting decimated by this move.
•*They can't drop any women's programs due to Title IX and the pressure that having FBS football applies to gender equality
• 9 out of 10 conference opponents are a 10+ hour drive away. That means every conference away game for baseball, volleyball, soccer, etc will be a flight with the exception of Temple.

I simply don't understand how these schools will operate at the status quo with the lack of revenue that their previous BCS deal gave them. Yeah, Houston, UCF, Temple, SMU, etc are also disappointed but they'll still be making about the same as they were in the CUSA/MAC/A10. If you're going to have a conference that is as spread out as this one is, there better be a reason for it. Usually that reason is $$$. Here, I don't know what it is.

(As a side note, I can't imagine it being an option for Cincinnati or USF because I don't think there is any sort of guarantee they'd get into the Big East anyway. I think Villanova, Georgetown, St Johns and Providence would have a hard time turning away UConn even though they are a large, public university.)

Excellent question, but a huge - HUGE - dilema for UCONN. Why? Because the University's President gets to stare out his window each day at a 40k seat stadium built for $91million, which opened in 2003. Taxpayer money. The state owns the damn thing.

I don't think people there are into tractor pulls and other absurd uses for what might otherwise become a monument to abject failure on the part of a university.

[xudash]

...and this, for UC related news:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnat...vSDJvwN&page=2

[SM#24]

At what point does UConn scrap football (or at least drop to FCS) to join the Big East? This has to be a real discussion now.

While if in the long run UConn cannot get into one of the Big 5 football conferences, I think their best move is to try and get a football only deal with the American or CUSA (I know the American would balk, but it's worth an ask since they gave that deal to Navy); in the short term, I'm guessing they cannot leave the American without leaving a pile of money on the table from the BE separation.

[GoMuskies]

Because the University's President gets to stare out his window each day at a 40k seat stadium built for $91million, which opened in 2003. Taxpayer money. The state owns the damn thing.

The football stadium is in E. Hartford and campus is in Storrs. So he is at least spared having to look at the thing from his office. Pretty nice stadium but certainly very small for "big-time" football. A helluva lot nicer than Boston College's dump, though.

[GoMuskies]

College Football Playoff. Very creative. Don Draper's work?

[xudash]

The football stadium is in E. Hartford and campus is in Storrs. So he is at least spared having to look at the thing from his office. Pretty nice stadium but certainly very small for "big-time" football. A helluva lot nicer than Boston College's dump, though.

I was doing a little "story telling" with respect to what the President can see out his window.

[Caveat]

The hard reality is that any school not in the "Power 5" is effectively a D-1AA program anyway -- the financial disparity is off-the-charts, the talent disparity will follow.

Schools like Cincinnati and UConn, who have traditions in basketball they can support, would be well-advised to understand that and act accordingly.