the issue is the big east broke up and they went to a smaller conference but didnt rein in spending. There will be contraction outside the power 5 conferences. Would not be surprised to a few more teams move from FBS to FCS.
This is deeper than just the Big East split, a conference built on basketball and ruined by football. It doesn't surprise me that UCONN football, fairly recently moved up from the I-AA/FCS ranks (2000), is losing money. The fact that both UCONN men's and women's basketball are losing big chunks of money should be the really troubling issue. With all those national titles between the two hoops programs, you would think they would be shoveling money into the coffers.
Part of the problem is that college and professional sports have failed to realize the tradeoff between ticket sales and increased visibility, whether on TV or internet streaming. For years, they have acted like these are individual, separate streams of revenue which can both grow equally. However, it really appears that the allure of sitting in a frozen stadium watching a bad football team has plummeted, particularly if the consumer can sit in the man cave out of the weather and watch on his hi-def big screen tv for the sunk cost of his cable/dish/directtv package. Similarly, does the average fan prefer the man cave to upper section hoops tickets, where they get to watch seemingly ant-sized players run around on the court?
I sit in Memorial Stadium and see people who don't bother looking at the field, they are too busy watching the game on the jumbotron or on their phone...When the guy sitting in the stadium would rather watch on his phone, the stadium experience is over...and kids today are better watching a screen than watching live.
