ESPN-Comcast --- Huskies in middle

Not much time, working on a lot of thigns, but spoke with Jeff Hathaway at the media lunch and UConn has expressed its displeasure appearing on ESPNU for the fourth time this year.

The HUskies were added to the schedule again at Cincinnati, which wasn't treated well.

Hathaway feels the Big East leader should be on the more available ESPN family of networks and the team is losing the exposure for recruting and other purposes that other first place teams in the Big East got when they were in similar situatiuons.

The crux of the matter is UConn (and Rutgers also) are being exploited by ESPNU in its fight with Comcast cable to get ESPNU on Comcast. The Cincinnati game is the fourth time UConn would appear on ESPNU this year. Now that the Huskies are ranked No. 16, UConn feels it is more appropiate to be on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC.

"It clear that the Univesity of Connecticut is being utilized to help the network (ESPNU) acheive its goals," Hathaway said. "We are sitting in first palce in the Big East. We should have the opportunity to capitalize on that position."

Hathaway has expressed his views to the Big East. Waiting on a callback from the Big East on this. ESPN, as a right holder, can take any game it chooses and put it on the ESPNU family of networks.

The Huskies also lose out on exposure and compensation. When an individual school appears on a game on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC they are compensated $100,000. For ESPNU? There is no compensation.

That, and the majority of UConn fans in Connecticut won't be able to watch the No. 16 ranked team in the country play.

Got a lot of work to do. That's it for today. I'll give my views later.


Update: Here are Jeff Hathway's first thoughts when asked about being on ESPNU. The straw that broke the camels back isn't Saturday's game against Rutgers, it is Monday's annoucement that the UConn-Cincinnati game is on the U. Keep that in mind. I think it is important to understand that. As a first place team, UConn feels it should't have to play games that a large portion of the state can't see, or has to pay a premium price to do so.

"I understand that the University of Connecticut is being used by the network to leverage cable companies in our state, that are important to the network, to add ESPNU to our platform.
As the team that is in first place in the Big East, our expectation is to play on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. We understand an occasional game on ESPNU.

I have relayed my concerns to the commissioner, first and foremost, that the first place team in the Big East is giving up exposure on a national basis -- that drives recruiting and drives fan interest. Secondarily, in our revenue sharing program in the Big East, teams on ESPNU aren’t compensated on a per game basis as you are on ESPN and ESPN2.

My primary concern is our exposure. This football program coaches and student athletes have worked hard to put us in a position to be successful. The institution has invested mightily in this program and we know the exposure we should be getting today, we are not getting. The exposure created leads to recruiting success and we want everyone to know that is our expectation to be on those platforms."