Oso planning to go pro
It would look very weak if Southern Connecticut and Central Connecticut can play the sport but the flagship university cannot.
I disagree. UCONN as a FBS school is a stronger BE member. That said, I'm not a Conneticut resident or alum. Perhaps some of you are and have a dog in the fight. This is a non issue to 99% of BE fans not from UCONN.
UConn needs to play football. 48 of the 50 flagship state schools in the US play football, Alaska and Vermont excepted. It would look very weak if Southern Connecticut and Central Connecticut can play the sport but the flagship university cannot.On a secondary issue, I would like to see UConn schedule the other three Big East football schools in its non-conference rotation. There are issues which would limit this, of course, but it's worth considering.
Yes. It’s options are very limited in a Covid world. UConn does have a bit of a window in the post-vaccine world, but it’s a very narrow window.
You are giving wayyyy too much importance to "playing football." It is FBS or bust. Literally no one cares about FCS football. The difference between having a FCS team and not having football is basically zero.
UConn's future schedule is pretty good. Some good payday games at power schools in Clemson, Michigan, Tennessee, NC State and Ohio State. Some home and homes with Purdue, Syracuse, Boston College, UMass and Duke.
They've had no problem filling the future schedule. And they have a multiyear TV deal with CBS Sports Network.The state has invested too much in the program and they will not drop to FCS or outright alltogether.
I hear it's pretty popular in Montana.
True...but you have to wonder how many schedules and TV deals will be renegotiated in light of Covid. And how much increasingly thin state budgets can afford to invest in sports programs, especially a football program that has entered the near-impossible world of FBS independents.I don't profess to understand the local politics of this nearly as well as you do, but it just seems like a dead-end proposition.
FWIW the football TV deal with CBS Sports was made in the middle of Coronavirus.