Kentucky will never become Indiana.

[USARMYWILDCAT]

College sports has became all about the almighty dollar. I believe big corporations like ESPN, CBS ext. have way more power and influence over major college sports than we know. Kentucky basketball is a cash cow for ticket sales and TV viewership. Just like Alabama is in football. ESPN, CBS ext. pay millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast these sporting events. There are certain programs like Kentucky basketball, Alabama football, Notre Dame, Michigan football ext. that move the ratings needle for these companies. Why do you think Kentucky constantly gets the late game in the middle of the week? They get that time slot because there’s less viewership for the 9 o’clock games. They know if they put Kentucky in the 9 o’clock slot they’re gonna have better ratings for that time slot. You can’t tell me that if ESPN stops getting those ratings. Because people have stoped viewing Kentucky games like they did in the past. I guarantee you the powers that be at ESPN is gonna have a conversation with the SEC commissioner. When the bottom dollar of rich corporations starts to be affected. People will start being held accountable and changes will be made quickly. If Alabama football has a bad year next year and it affects ESPN ratings. There will be a coaching change at Alabama. Pope might get a third year depending on just how bad this season goes. I believe there are powers above Kentucky’s administration and the SEC that have a lot to say on how these things go. When those powers start pulling strings change happens.

 

[KentuckyStout]

Nobody is going to read that wall of text.

 

[wildcatsincebirth]

This is peak coping

we are already Indiana dude. We havent won the conference in 6 years now. Havent made it past the sweet 16 in 7, haven’t made a final four in 11. We are not going to the tournament this year and we have no recruits and a lame duck coach that won’t be fired. We are an irrelevant laughingstock

Who gives a **** about tv ratings what are you talking about lmao

 

[wildcatsincebirth]

Nobody is going to read that wall of text.

I did but wish I didn’t, it’s nonsensical rambling about nothing

 

[megablue]

Look at what has happened to Nebraska and USC in college football. You cannot rest on your laurels.
You must compete each year and prove your status. There is no standing still.

 

[Tri-Countycat]

This is peak coping

we are already Indiana dude. We havent won the conference in 6 years now. Havent made it past the sweet 16 in 7, haven’t made a final four in 11. We are not going to the tournament this year and we have no recruits and a lame duck coach that won’t be fired. We are an irrelevant laughingstock

Who gives a **** about tv ratings what are you talking about lmao

The ESPN crew like Bilas and Greenberg are finding joy in this. We are the biggest joke in college basketball this year. Top ten preseason and look like a 7th grade team.

 

[FreedomWallace]

It is a business.

In fact an overtly, legal professional one now.

When revenues to UK drop, the UK Trustees should act in theory (fiduciary responsibility) but with foolish college/university leadership and trustees, it is not always a given (based on experience dealing with these clowns).

I will add, that many of the traditional pundits are misguided and saying UK season is still defendable and NCAA within reach.

My question is why? Is it partly driven by retaining TV viewership and respective revenue? That would make sense.

But I advise to look in the mirror and face the facts.

UK is failing again and this team play offers zero evidence of turning the season around.

I come from old/vintage school saying you are who your record says you are (at least directionally).

UK is no longer the premier college basketball program, certainly over the last 7 years. The record supports this claim.

To compare UK to Indiana is not a stretch.

If you accept the above reality, then shitcanning Mitch NOW and Pope at end of season is right path forward.

That assumes you are a fan and “bleed blue” and care about the state institution that is UK men’s basketball as I do.

 

[TortElvisII]

Uh....yeah.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

I did but wish I didn’t, it’s nonsensical rambling about nothing

You’re naïve if you think this was just rambling. You you think a company like ESPN that gives millions to the SEC and relies on viewership to recoup their money. You think they’re just gonna sit back and say nothing when one of their major viewership audiences stopped watching? That’s not how business works. When one of your business revenue streams stop producing you make changes. How do you think all the SEC executives make all the money that they do? It’s from companies like ESPN writing checks. It’s not far-fetched to say companies like ESPN have a big say and how things go in college sports. If Mark Pope doesn’t get his **** together. That doesn’t just affect Kentucky. It affects people all the way up the chain.

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

Nobody is going to read that wall of text.

It's visible from space

 

[wildcatsincebirth]

You’re naïve if you think this was just rambling. You you think a company like ESPN that gives millions to the SEC and relies on viewership to recoup their money. You think they’re just gonna sit back and say nothing when one of their major viewership audiences stopped watching? That’s not how business works. When one of your business revenue streams stop producing you make changes. How do you think all the SEC executives make all the money that they do? It’s from companies like ESPN writing checks. It’s not far-fetched to say companies like ESPN have a big say and how things go in college sports. If Mark Pope doesn’t get his **** together. That doesn’t just affect Kentucky. It affects people all the way up the chain.

You are way way way overestimating how much of espn’s bottom line depends on college basketball lol. It’s a distant 5th on the list behind NFL, college football, NBA, and their daytime shows. The best college basketball games don’t get the ratings of a mediocre and pointless college football bowl game. They paid the SEC for football, not for basketball. We love college basketball here but it’s not really cared about nationally at all outside of hyping the next popular freshmen and that’s just to get nba fans to watch.

no, they do not care about UK basketball enough to meddle in our affairs lol

 

[Ukwazoo3]

Throw in a paragraph break here and there

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

Look at what has happened to Nebraska and USC in college football. You cannot rest on your laurels.
You must compete each year and prove your status. There is no standing still.

Nebraska has been down since the 90s. Way before we had the SEC and Big Ten networks pumping millions into the conferences. USC is in LA they never had a big TV following. What I’m saying has nothing to do with tradition anyway. Kentucky basketball puts fans in seats and eyes on televisions. Kentucky basketball puts millions of dollars in peoples pockets. The people that are making those millions of dollars are not going to let that stop.

 

[CatPride1964]

The ESPN crew like Bilas and Greenberg are finding joy in this. We are the biggest joke in college basketball this year. Top ten preseason and look like a 7th grade team.

Do you want to be a relevant team or not? I can assure you Indiana isn’t getting the same treatment because no one cares about them enough. The worrying trend is Kentucky increasingly getting worse as a program until we ARE Indiana. In this landscape, it can happen quickly. Random teams are building great programs as we speak, especially on the west coast. We need to catch up and stay up.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

You are way way way overestimating how much of espn’s bottom line depends on college basketball lol. It’s a distant 5th on the list behind NFL, college football, NBA, and their daytime shows. The best college basketball games don’t get the ratings of a mediocre and pointless college football bowl game. They paid the SEC for football, not for basketball. We love college basketball here but it’s not really cared about nationally at all outside of hyping the next popular freshmen and that’s just to get nba fans to watch.

no, they do not care about UK basketball enough to meddle in our affairs lol

Have you ever ran a business? It doesn’t matter that Kentucky basketball is not producing at the same level as collegefootball. It is still a revenue stream nevertheless. A revenue stream that ESPN still puts millions of dollars into. ESPN is a multi billion dollar corporation. They care about every revenue system they have. That’s why there is a successful business. They don’t just put college basketball on for the fun of it.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Have you ever ran a business? It doesn’t matter that Kentucky basketball is not producing at the same level as collegefootball. It is still a revenue stream nevertheless. A revenue stream that ESPN still puts millions of dollars into. ESPN is a multi billion dollar corporation. They care about every revenue system they have. That’s why there is a successful business. They don’t just put college basketball on for the fun of it.

ESPN/Disney has bigger fish to fry like indoctrinating our children into loathing our country, stoking the flames of cultural warfare and undermining the necessity of the nuclear family.

 

[wildcatsincebirth]

Have you ever ran a business? It doesn’t matter that Kentucky basketball is not producing at the same level as collegefootball. It is still a revenue stream nevertheless. A revenue stream that ESPN still puts millions of dollars into. ESPN is a multi billion dollar corporation. They care about every revenue system they have. That’s why there is a successful business. They don’t just put college basketball on for the fun of it.

Lmao yeah man a multi billion dollar business doesn’t operate by illegally meddling in the affairs of a college basketball program that may affect .001% of their bottom line

you really aren’t making any sense

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

Lmao yeah man a multi billion dollar business doesn’t operate by illegally meddling in the affairs of a college basketball program that may affect .001% of their bottom line

you really aren’t making any sense

You don’t think ESPN has meetings about the ratings. You don’t think that they care if the ratings are down in a segment that they put millions of dollars into? ESPN puts millions of dollars into SEC basketball. In general, the SEC does not care about basketball. The one program in the SEC that does care about basketball. Happens to be the one program that puts more eyes on televisions during college basketball season than any other program in the country. You are naïve if you think ESPN doesn’t care about Kentucky fans not tuning in for a 9 o’clock game on a Tuesday. The millions of dollars ESPN pays the SEC, they expect eyes to be on their programming. If you don’t think they have a say on how things are ran I don’t know what to tell you.

 

[Quick Fiftino]

Keep Barnhart for another few years and we will be Indiana State.

 

[Possum]

College sports have became all about the almighty dollar. I believe big corporations like ESPN, CBS ext. have way more power and influence over major college sports than we know. Kentucky basketball is a cash cow for ticket sales and TV viewership. Just like Alabama is in football. ESPN, CBS ext. pay millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast these sporting events. There are certain programs like Kentucky basketball, Alabama football, Notre Dame, Michigan football ext. that move the ratings needle for these companies. Why do you think Kentucky constantly gets the late game in the middle of the week? They get that time slot because there’s less viewership for the 9 o’clock games. They know if they put Kentucky in the 9 o’clock slot they’re gonna have better ratings for that time slot. You can’t tell me that if ESPN stops getting those ratings. Because people have stoped viewing Kentucky games like they did in the past. I guarantee you the powers that be at ESPN is gonna have a conversation with the SEC commissioner. When the bottom dollar of rich corporations starts to be affected. People will start being held accountable and changes will be made quickly. If Alabama football has a bad year next year and it affects ESPN ratings. There will be a coaching change at Alabama. Pope might get a third year depending on just how bad this season goes. I believe there are powers above Kentucky’s administration and the SEC that have a lot to say on how these things go. When those powers start pulling strings change happens.

 

[Madhuvan]

So you don’t think we can win the national championship in football?

 

[wildcatsincebirth]

You don’t think ESPN has meetings about the ratings. You don’t think that they care if the ratings are down in a segment that they put millions of dollars into? ESPN puts millions of dollars into SEC basketball. In general, the SEC does not care about basketball. The one program in the SEC that does care about basketball. Happens to be the one program that puts more eyes on televisions during college basketball season than any other program in the country. You are naïve if you think ESPN doesn’t care about Kentucky fans not tuning in for a 9 o’clock game on a Tuesday. The millions of dollars ESPN pays the SEC, they expect eyes to be on their programming. If you don’t think they have a say on how things are ran I don’t know what to tell you.

I think they care. I don’t think they have a say in who the UK coach is, which is what you’re saying, and I find that assertion pretty dumb.

Our games against big teams have still had high ratings so your baseline opinion about this is not even true. UK still draws ratings even when they’re bad so even less reason for espn to give a **** who our coach is.

 

[1UKCatFan]

It doesn't happen overnight, it's a slow descent. If you don't think we've been descending since 2020, you haven't been paying attention. There's now way we stop the descent with Pope leading this team, I'm certain of that.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

You are way way way overestimating how much of espn’s bottom line depends on college basketball lol. It’s a distant 5th on the list behind NFL, college football, NBA, and their daytime shows. The best college basketball games don’t get the ratings of a mediocre and pointless college football bowl game. They paid the SEC for football, not for basketball. We love college basketball here but it’s not really cared about nationally at all outside of hyping the next popular freshmen and that’s just to get nba fans to watch.

no, they do not care about UK basketball enough to meddle in our affairs lol

Correct. OP taking a Kentucky view to sports media revenue. #1-Football. #2-Doesn't matter.

 

[Goingfor9]

College sports have became all about the almighty dollar. I believe big corporations like ESPN, CBS ext. have way more power and influence over major college sports than we know. Kentucky basketball is a cash cow for ticket sales and TV viewership. Just like Alabama is in football. ESPN, CBS ext. pay millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast these sporting events. There are certain programs like Kentucky basketball, Alabama football, Notre Dame, Michigan football ext. that move the ratings needle for these companies. Why do you think Kentucky constantly gets the late game in the middle of the week? They get that time slot because there’s less viewership for the 9 o’clock games. They know if they put Kentucky in the 9 o’clock slot they’re gonna have better ratings for that time slot. You can’t tell me that if ESPN stops getting those ratings. Because people have stoped viewing Kentucky games like they did in the past. I guarantee you the powers that be at ESPN is gonna have a conversation with the SEC commissioner. When the bottom dollar of rich corporations starts to be affected. People will start being held accountable and changes will be made quickly. If Alabama football has a bad year next year and it affects ESPN ratings. There will be a coaching change at Alabama. Pope might get a third year depending on just how bad this season goes. I believe there are powers above Kentucky’s administration and the SEC that have a lot to say on how these things go. When those powers start pulling strings change happens.

Less and less of our games are covered by espn and are thrown to the secN. Yes you’re correct espn depends on uk fans to bump ratings. Problem is right now I bet our ratings are way down. It’s just another way pressure will be put on Barney.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

So you don’t think we can win the national championship in football?

How’s Indiana looking right now? What did you think about their program two years ago? What would you have told me two years ago. If I told you Indiana would be the favorites to win the college football playoffs in two years? Indiana is proving that any program with the right coach and money can win at the highest level now.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

Less and less of our games are covered by espn and are thrown to the secN. Yes you’re correct espn depends on uk fans to bump ratings. Problem is right now I bet our ratings are way down. It’s just another way pressure will be put on Barney.

Exactly, I guarantee you ESPN is looking at past year’s ratings right now. They are not happy with what they’re seeing. If you don’t think that holds weight, you’re out of your mind.

 

[Kats meow]

College sports have became all about the almighty dollar. I believe big corporations like ESPN, CBS ext. have way more ….

I quit reading after “College sports have became…”

 

[Crestcat]

ESPN/Disney has bigger fish to fry like indoctrinating our children into loathing our country, stoking the flames of cultural warfare and undermining the necessity of the nuclear family.

Like Snow White and the Seven DEI's?

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

I quit reading after “College sports have became…”

Why don’t you have your mommy make you a sandwich? You need to celebrate how much of a bad a$$ you are. She’s gonna be super proud of you when you tell her you corrected someone on a grammatical error on a college basketball forum. I bet she even cuts the crust off for you just to show you how proud she is.

 

[wildcatsincebirth]

Exactly, I guarantee you ESPN is looking at past year’s ratings right now. They are not happy with what they’re seeing. If you don’t think that holds weight, you’re out of your mind.

We had several very highly rated games last year.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

NOBODY is going to save us but ourselves, and that is not a given. By any reasonable assessment UK is already on Indianas level, has been for some time now.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

Correct. OP taking a Kentucky view to sports media revenue. #1-Football. #2-Doesn't matter.

OK, let’s look at it this way. Nike, what do you wanna bet one of the best selling Nike college basketball jerseys is Kentucky? You think Nike might ask some questions when they see that their Kentucky basketball jersey sales are going down? I’m not saying Nike or he has ESPN is directly involved in a firing of a Coach. If you believe they don’t have the ability to put pressure to make things like that happen you’re crazy.

 

[TJ_Ford]

This is peak coping

we are already Indiana dude. We havent won the conference in 6 years now. Havent made it past the sweet 16 in 7, haven’t made a final four in 11. We are not going to the tournament this year and we have no recruits and a lame duck coach that won’t be fired. We are an irrelevant laughingstock

Who gives a **** about tv ratings what are you talking about lmao

This is the correct assessment. UK is now a lot closer to being labeled another Indiana, UCLA, or Georgetown than they are in being in the same class as Duke, UCONN, and Kansas. I don’t blame Pope, but more Mitch. I can believe that UK hasn’t been past the Sweet 16 in 7 years. Like WTF.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

OK, let’s look at it this way. Nike, what do you wanna bet one of the best selling Nike college basketball jerseys is Kentucky? You think Nike might ask some questions when they see that their Kentucky basketball jersey sales are going down? I’m not saying Nike or he has ESPN is directly involved in a firing of a Coach. If you believe they don’t have the ability to put pressure to make things like that happen you’re crazy.

And that Nike UK basketball jersey is about 1 millionth in the list of Nike jerseys sold. Wanna know what's first? Yep, you guessed it. Football, largely the NFL. Then college football. Then NBA jerseys. Then probably soccer. Then probably UNC jerseys. Next possibly Duke or UK. UK basketball ain't nearly important to the overall sports revenue stream that BBN believes it is.

 

[jedwar]

Saying we will never become Indiana is one step along the way to becoming Indiana.

 

[jedwar]

Indiana has been past the S16 exactly one time since 1993 (yes Calbert Cheney's last year), and that was a fluke FF run in 2002. Those saying we are already IU, we are not. But we are on the path if changes with the AD ( and head coach aren't made.

 

[CrimsonCats_rivals]

I think you’re vastly overestimating how important our basketball program is nationally to begin with. Even if I bought your premise that us being good at basketball is of great financial concern to Disney/ESPN, what are you proposing they’re going to do for us? Pay Pope’s buyout under the table and promise constant promotion of a better coach if he’ll come here? Rig a few games for us to win and stay relevant? This whole post is frankly silly.