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Kentucky should leave the SEC

We don’t have the donors to compete with the football powers and we can’t shake the stigma of being a basketball school. Not many want to join a place that has never won anything.

I like football more than basketball at my age and I hate that we can’t be competitive. Our best year would get coaches fired at premier programs.

All of the major football programs get whoever they want.
 
To be clear, if we change conferences you aren't getting the same quality of players to come that you get now (quality debatable after a 4 win season but it would be worse n the acc or big 12). The SEC brand gets UK better players.
I don't think that point is relevant or less and less relevant every year when you are paying players.
 
I have smoked a lot and I have never been that high where I’m turning down 50+ Million or more for being in the SEC. “It just means more” and where would we go, we would struggle to win the OVC.
The ACC generated a record $706.6 million in gross revenue in 2022-23, distributing an average of $44.8 million to its 14 football-playing members.May 24, 2024
 
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Not too many Kentuckian's tuck tail and run. We are one of the Charter members. No reason to go anywhere. Work harder, get better. Oh, lowly Vandy and lowly South Carolina can have good years and we have a horrible year and tuck tail. Nah, we need to get tougher, better, stronger and compete as much as we can and as best we can. I feel under Stoops we have had tough teams, but we have had coaching gaffs and issues from day 1. It looks like we are in for down year 2 in a row coming up. Get over it and get better, if that means all out change, so be it. We have replaced 3 and 4 star players leaving in the portal for low 3 star guys, which is what we are looking at bringing in. We only have a couple of Power 4 players that we are getting to campus. We are getting MAC level players coming to look at us now. So be it. I have seen MAC players that are great pro players. But not sure that is what we are looking at right now. No matter, stay in the SEC, take your lumps, try to avoid 16th place next year, that will be our main goal. TRY HARDER STOOPS. WORK HARDER PLAYERS, we are KENTUCKY. We do not run. United we stand!
awsome post!!!
I am from KY, became a football fan in 1951, Bear Bryant, have been a Wildcat fan ever since! Went to school at UK worked in Ky until mid 90s, moved out to TX (weather) and love that we can watch most of the KY games via SEC network.
 
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OR we could stop with the one sided contracts, up our coaching game and compete. ( Looking at you, Barnhart)
Another thing to be considered is the movement and consolidation towards just a few mega conferences. Move out of the SEC and we could get locked out of any decent conference when the musical chairs stop playing. Make Kentucky football Great Again.
 
I've said it for years I wished we could play in the ACC. Look at Louisville's soft ass schedule. We had won 6 games this year with that schedule. I know we got boat raced this year by them but that's because the team just quit and didn't show up. Buut on a practical level it's never going to happen. Too much money to walk away from. Teams are fighting to join the SEC.
 
I'm guess you were one of those kids that when he got beat in a game of horse on the playground you took your ball and went home. With that quitter's mentality, there is no wonder UK doesn't expect it's fans to want more.
 
UK CAN compete in the SEC. UK chooses to not make the commitment REQUIRED to compete in the SEC. Regardless, UK will never give up the prestige, and payday, that comes with being in the SEC. Mainly because the SEC money insulates Mitch from the demands of the detested unwashed masses (i.e., UK fans).

I think the OP is Oscar Combs - he has beat that drum for years...
 
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Curious- what’s the shared revenue of the ACC teams. If the SEC is $50 mil/ team does the ACC get anywhere around that figure?
For 2022-2023 ACC teams received $44.8 Million per team. However the new revenue plan I think starts this year. If a team makes the CFP they get $4 million extra. They would get an extra $4 million for reaching the Second round. An extra $6 million for the semi finals and another $6 for the CFP Title game. Teams also earn extra for finishing in the CFP Top 25 and going to a bowl game but not sure how much those amounts are.
 
For 2022-2023 ACC teams received $44.8 Million per team. However the new revenue plan I think starts this year. If a team makes the CFP they get $4 million extra. They would get an extra $4 million for reaching the Second round. An extra $6 million for the semi finals and another $6 for the CFP Title game. Teams also earn extra for finishing in the CFP Top 25 and going to a bowl game but not sure how much those amounts are.
Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY is reporting that the SEC projects to make $1.3 billion in revenue for its 2024-25 fiscal year provided Texas and Oklahoma join the league.

Let's see - $1,300,000,000/17 = $76.5/team (I used 17 because the SEC office typically gets one "share" of league revenues). That's just year-in/year-out revenue sharing and does not include any "extra" payments for CFP, bowls, etc. Let's say (for laughs) an ACC team wins the NC. That would be $44.8 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 = $64.8 max, according to the above numbers (I did not verify). That doesn't even include CFP incentives for SEC teams, which I am sure there will be some. So, an ACC team would have to win the NC (lol) to come within $12 million of what an SEC team annually collects, regardless of record. This is why UK stays in the SEC. But, UK needs to starting carrying their weight when it comes to football rather than being a welfare program. And don't even bring up basketball - almost all NCAA tournament basketball money goes to the NCAA, plus there are a lot more SEC Teams than Kentucky now going to and doing well in the tournament. IOW, UK being a blue-blood in basketball does not make up for being a suck in football - especially now we are moving into revenue sharing.
 
Kentucky is a charter member and is not going anywhere. We are the flagship program in basketball and respectable in football. Even though we are not going bowling in football, we will still get millions shared among the schools that do. Kentucky has been a part of that revenue the last 5 years. The conference got tougher for every team, not just us, it is what it is.
Charter member, I agree with. Flagship program in basketball, I agree we have been. Respectable in football was a, " once upon a time story." Today, we and MS State are bottom feeders, certainly not close to being respectable in any shape, size, or form. We are just "football awful" and I don't see any relief in sight. It is a shame our football program is in the top ten of most watched. I am embarrassed that many people have viewed our putrid program. GBB, let's get better!
 
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With expansion to 16 teams, or is it 18? No matter, Kentucky should explore leaving the conference. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma only served to kick us on down the ladder. Look at our schedule in 2024. Look at the upcoming 2025 schedule. There is no way in hell we can compete to even finished as high as 12th. We should leave the conference and create our own basketball and football schedule just like Notre Dame. It’s a pipe dream to think we will ever compete in football for the SEC Championship.

Another point I want to make. Looking at the level of athlete we are recruiting in the portal, is CMS intentionally taking the program back to the 2012 level before he leaves? It’s like he is intentionally tearing down what he built, returning the program to the basement of the SEC. We are bringing in guys from FCS schools and lower.
You do not even know who we are recruiting. The portal JUST opened. We have done quite well in the portal, so you are making ZERO sense with that. We are NOT leaving the millions of dollars of the SEC just so we can go elsewhere and pad our resume and make 1/3 of the money. In case you haven't figure it our, college athletics is a BUSINESS now. Teams are going to bigger conference to make more money, not leaving and going to lesser ones to lose money.
 
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UK CAN compete in the SEC. UK chooses to not make the commitment REQUIRED to compete in the SEC. Regardless, UK will never give up the prestige, and payday, that comes with being in the SEC. Mainly because the SEC money insulates Mitch from the demands of the detested unwashed masses (i.e., UK fans).

I think the OP is Oscar Combs - he has beat that drum for years...
Nope. I’m just a guy that has watched UK Football since 1977 and we have never sniffed a championship. And we never will. Some of you act like it’s a macho thing to get our heads kicked in every week, that it’s a badge of honor we wear every time we step on the field and get our asses handed to us. I want to be in the playoffs, play for something besides a Music City Bowl. I think some of you would go fight with Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. I wanna win, I don’t how we do it or from what angle we do it from. We stay in this conference and we will never get above 12th place. Go be proud of that.
 
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Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY is reporting that the SEC projects to make $1.3 billion in revenue for its 2024-25 fiscal year provided Texas and Oklahoma join the league.

Let's see - $1,300,000,000/17 = $76.5/team (I used 17 because the SEC office typically gets one "share" of league revenues). That's just year-in/year-out revenue sharing and does not include any "extra" payments for CFP, bowls, etc. Let's say (for laughs) an ACC team wins the NC. That would be $44.8 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 = $64.8 max, according to the above numbers (I did not verify). That doesn't even include CFP incentives for SEC teams, which I am sure there will be some. So, an ACC team would have to win the NC (lol) to come within $12 million of what an SEC team annually collects, regardless of record. This is why UK stays in the SEC. But, UK needs to starting carrying their weight when it comes to football rather than being a welfare program. And don't even bring up basketball - almost all NCAA tournament basketball money goes to the NCAA, plus there are a lot more SEC Teams than Kentucky now going to and doing well in the tournament. IOW, UK being a blue-blood in basketball does not make up for being a suck in football - especially now we are moving into revenue sharing.

You seem to know a good bit more about the finances than me. Does the NCAA require membership dues to receive the benefits of being a member?
 
Wtf... The only reason we've gotten the recruits and transfers who got us to 10 win seasons is being in the SEC.
....

I don't get it.

They whined that we'd never have 9 or 10 win seasons under Stoops.
Then they whined when we won 10 that we somehow "blew it" because we didnt win more.
Then one day, after the first 10 win season when we missed our chance to win the East, Stoops winning 10 was a fluke.
Then we win 10 again and people are pissed off that we won 10 again.
Another day they're screaming we should be doing what IU is doing.
They rant and rave that somehow all of these great coaches want to coach football at UK.
Then they're saying we can never be successful while we're in the SEC.

I and others have said many times that the fans don't understand football and have no idea how hard it is to win here when each staff has TO FIGHT WITH THEIR OWN FANS to get on board, but this display of psychoses really spells it out well.

Can someone with the admin PLEASE freeze this thread and pin it to the top of the board? PLEASE?!
I agree with this. I also agree that we can win 10 games because we have done it before and recently. We just need to get the right staff in here. Stoops can do it but I think his time may be up. That’s ok at least he got us to a place where we could rebuild fairly quickly. We just need to keep supporting because if we don’t we won’t ever get better in the SEC.
 
Hate to break it to ya OP but as currently constructed we couldn’t hang with the rank and file in most other conferences. I mean you got the likes of IU, SMU, ASU, Colorado, Army, Duke, Gtech, even UL balling like they’re big boys.
 
Hate to break it to ya OP but as currently constructed we couldn’t hang with the rank and file in most other conferences. I mean you got the likes of IU, SMU, ASU, Colorado, Army, Duke, Gtech, even UL balling like they’re big boys.
None of those teams you listed would ever get above 12th place in the SEC. But 3 of them are in the playoffs this year and the rest have a far better shot at making it over the next 3 years than we ever will. . You want your team in the playoffs? Then you leave the conference and play as an independent in football like Notre Dame. It’s what it is, stay and NEVER be in the playoffs or make a bold move. Who on here thinks expanding the SEC has done one thing to help our chances. And don’t use the money as a reason. The way this playoff is set up currently, you will never see more than 4 SEC teams in the playoff. If you took the 12 best teams this year, we would have 5-6 teams deserving.
 
None of those teams you listed would ever get above 12th place in the SEC. But 3 of them are in the playoffs this year and the rest have a far better shot at making it over the next 3 years than we ever will. . You want your team in the playoffs? Then you leave the conference and play as an independent in football like Notre Dame. It’s what it is, stay and NEVER be in the playoffs or make a bold move. Who on here thinks expanding the SEC has done one thing to help our chances. And do

n’t use the money as a reason. The way this playoff is set up currently, you will never see more than 4 SEC teams in the playoff. If you took the 12 best teams this year, we would have 5-6 teams deserving.
Were some teams with surprising results this year, no one expected Indiana to be in, or SMU, PSU was alwats borderline. They won their games against struggling teams. Of the 3 teams in the SEC with 3 losses, Bama was the least deserving of the three. I didn't see the SCarolina vs LSU game so don't know what happened, but have read an officials mistake cost Carolina the game. OM would have been in if they had beaten a struggling UK, or either of UF or LSU.

CMS has lost some strong assistants and it has hurt UK, The league has gotten stronger, after 20 years vols may have their guy, S.Carolina thinks they have their guy. Are they? I don't know 5-6 years ago UK thought they had their guy, now look at his lack of support from fans.
 
When Kentucky doesn't do well in the SEC tournament it means a lot less money, from a financial standpoint, it means a lot.
Meh, a loss for whom? The cities economies counting on UK fans? It's a basketball tournament. I've been to it. It's lame anywy. They'll recover

Plus, the other 50 fans of their SEC's school basketball program root against us anyway. Screw em
 
With expansion to 16 teams, or is it 18? No matter, Kentucky should explore leaving the conference. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma only served to kick us on down the ladder. Look at our schedule in 2024. Look at the upcoming 2025 schedule. There is no way in hell we can compete to even finished as high as 12th. We should leave the conference and create our own basketball and football schedule just like Notre Dame. It’s a pipe dream to think we will ever compete in football for the SEC Championship.

Another point I want to make. Looking at the level of athlete we are recruiting in the portal, is CMS intentionally taking the program back to the 2012 level before he leaves? It’s like he is intentionally tearing down what he built, returning the program to the basement of the SEC. We are bringing in guys from FCS schools and lower.
Your nuts
 
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