Why does our state university have any athletic program at all?

Taxpayers are forking over millions to coaches, multi-millions to build and maintain off-campus stadiums, and subsidizing $40-million in losses, for what?

[UConn Athletic Director Benedict] was asked about a recent report that the university’s athletics department is running at about a $40 million deficit.

He said it shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise, considering the Big East money that UConn and the other former Big East teams got when the conference split up six years ago is drying up and will be non-existent next year. Benedict also noted that the school had to renegotiate its multi-media rights deal with IMG for a lower price recently, and that ticket sales have suffered due to poor performances from several different teams.

“Is it sustainable long-term, at this level? That’s for other people to make that decision,” Benedict said. “Certainly, one of the things that I’ve come to learn about UConn and the state of Connecticut since I’ve been here is that there is a strong belief — that I think the majority of people share — that the university is what it is, not just because of our academic success, but because of the athletic success we’ve achieved. In combination, we’ve created a nationally-renowned university.”

But he added that the school had to look at how the athletic department was structured, and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of eliminating certain sports.

“That’s a really tough decision. There are a lot of athletic departments over the last few years that have had to do that. It’s probably one of the most difficult things you could do. As an athletic department, we’re gonna look at all opportunities to try to deal with this prior to that. But, sometimes there are inevitabilities.”

A full breakdown of the huge losses sustained by UConn’s athletic program can be found here

UConn's athletic department spent more than $40 million than it earned in 2018, according to the school.

Connecticut's flagship state university generated $40.4 million in revenue from sports last year, but spent almost $81 million, according to an NCAA financial statement made public Thursday. Both expenses and revenue were down slightly compared to 2017.

UConn, with a majority of its athletic programs in the American Athletic Conference, received $7.1 million in conference distribution funds and $1 from media rights in 2018, the financial statement said.

The steep deficit was plugged with $30 million in institutional support and $8.5 million from student fees.

UConn football remains the department's most expensive team to operate at more than $15.7 million last year. Also, ticket sales for the one-win team in 2018 totaled $2.4 million vs. $3.3 million in 2017.

That resulted in a $8.7 million deficit for the football team.

As of Aug. 2018, the football program's attendance at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford has declined by more than 48 percent since it peaked in 2008 when it averaged 39,331 fans per game, according to the NCAA.

UConn men's basketball lost $5 million, while women's basketball lost $3 million. It cost $11 million to operate the men's basketball team and $7.8 million to manage the women's program, the statement said.

UConn athletics spent nearly $17 million on scholarships and $14.4 million for staff and administrative support.

Possibly, maybe, one percent of UConn’s basketball team players find employment in the NBA, and maybe half that number of the football squad: That would be about three students. The rest of the athletes are just intramural players, and we could afford them that opportunity for a fraction of the cost of what we’re paying now.

Is Greenwich real estate headed for Hell?

This article in Zero Hedge suggests that it is.Greenwich Home Prices Plunge 17% As Manhattan's Weakness Shifts To The Suburbs

Zero Hedge and the rest of the media love disaster stories, and I’d take this “news” with a large block of salt, but for sure, we’re seeing some huge whacks taken by the ultra-housing market (one notable exception, yet to be reported, is a mega-million sale in the back country, all cash, for a sum only a few million less than the seller paid for it in 2012. Buyer is a Chinese weekender, I hear, looking to move his money away from the kleptocrats in his homeland. That capital flight has mostly focused on Vancouver until now, but that city’s been pretty-much bought up, so perhaps this sale will be a harbinger of a shift in interest eastward, though I suspect it’s a one-off).

Real estate brokers told BBG that the weakness in the NYC market was largely to blame.

"The weakness in New York City has definitely played a role in some of the weakness that we’ve felt here," said David Haffenreffer, brokerage manager of Houlihan Lawrence’s Greenwich office. Sellers who got less than they wanted for their city apartments "are in turn then dialing down their budgets when they get here to look at homes. Or, it’s just flat-out delaying their ability to buy here."

And just as New York led Greenwich on the way down, sellers in Greenwich will be looking to New York City to determine when the market equilibrium has shifted back into the seller's favor.

"As New York City finds its footing, so too will our markets," Haffenreffer said. "We’re just waiting for those indications."

And sellers in the high-end of the market have already largely pulled their inventory off the market, as weakness first surfaced in the market for homes selling for $10 million or more (a trend that some brokers blamed on a shift in tastes away from estates and toward more centrally located homes closer to down town and public transit like the train station).

In a town known for its $10 million-plus estates, most purchases in all of 2018 were for less than $2 million,according to a report by Houlihan Lawrence. There were 335 single-family deals in that price tier, up 4 percent from 2017.

Condos continued to be an appealing option for buyers looking to keep city-style living and amenities even after moving to the tony suburb. Purchases jumped 23 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to 48 deals, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said. The median price was $746,250, down 3.1 percent.

My advice on all this is about the same as stock brokers dish out: don’t panic. If your job requires you to hang out around here, then pick a house and settle in: Greenwich still has great schools and amenities, and it’s a nice place to live. Ten years down the road, we, especially Connecticut, probably won’t look so attractive, but the way things are going, what part of the country will?

It wouldn’t hurt to buy tinned food and load your shotgun, though.

What the hell? Greenwich hires yet another school superintendent, and it isn't Ralph Mayo

now, you won’t leave us like the others did, will you?

We’ve gone with a woman from Fairfield, and I’m sure she’ll make a fine superintendent, our 15th in 12 years (or something like that), but I had assumed the school was searching for a new candidate because acting superintendent Mayo wasn’t interested in the job. Turns out, he was.

Mayo has run our best middle school, Eastern, been part of the school system for decades and, so far as I’ve always heard, is hugely admired, by students, parents and staff. Plus, he’s shown his commitment and love for the town — he grew up here, for Crimminey’s sake — and is likely to be here three years from now, which would be a first for anyone else the town’s plugged into the superintendent’s position before.

I don’t do school board politics, but this decision is bizarre.

The only way to win this war is to lift a middle finger and cry, "sod off, swampy".*

Trump’s serving hamburgers to 18-year-old Clemson students proves he’s a racist, according to ESPN. Why? Because apparently black kids eat fast food, just like their white peers, but … well, because shut up.

After a complaint is received, Oxford University removes octopus terrine from menu because underprivileged students might feel uncomfortable.

There is simply no bottom to the endless pool of resentment and faux-outrage of the left, so Trump is exactly right in his approach: do as you see fit, and tell ‘em to screw off.

• From a memorable moment captured by The Free Republic:

• Sod Off, Swampy!
  Tech Central Station ^ | 2/21/05 | Val MacQueen 
  
  

  Posted on 2/22/2005, 9:54:31 AM by Valin

  Last Wednesday the Kyoto Protocol kicked in and Greenpeace decided to mark the event in Britain by storming London's International Petroleum Exchange, the world's second-largest energy market, with the modest ambition of closing down trading for the day. 

  Around 35 dolphin-huggers stormed the exchange just after the 2 pm resumption of trading. The sortie was well-planned. One male protester lurked around the door to the building. When he spotted an employee about to use his swipe card to exit, he accidentally dropped some coins and bent to pick them up and, as the employee, not noticing him, strode out onto the street, stuck his foot in the door for his co-protesters to rush in for the assault. The first few sidled in, and two minutes later, two Greenpeace vans skidded to a stop and out poured another 30 or so protesters who stormed through the doors held open for them. 

  Hoping to shut down "open outcry" trading, where deals are shouted across the pit, the Greenpeaceniks ran onto the trading floor, according to the London Times, "blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach." 

  But London traders, just after lunch, are more likely to be powered by two or three pints of strong ale than the milk of human kindness. 

  The trespassers were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. "They were kicking and punching men and women," said a photographer, according to The Times of London. "It was really ugly. … They followed the [Greenpeace] guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement." 

  "The violence was instant," reported one aggrieved recipient of a rain of blows to the head. "I've never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view." 

  "Sod off, Swampy!" shouted one tardy trader, steadying himself against the railings of the balcony of the pub across the street as his colleagues threw the protesters bodily onto the sidewalk. (Swampy was an enviro-protester who gained fame by living unbathed in a tunnel for eight months.) 

  Meanwhile, other traders inside the building were punching and felling men and women with a politically correct lack of sexual discrimination. Those who had already been punched onto the floor were shocked to look up and see traders trying to overturn heavy filing cabinets onto them. 

  A laconic spokesman for the IPE said, "We are dealing with the situation."

Riverside price cut

215 Riverside Avenue, in Riverside, started at $3.2 million back in August, 2017, but failed to strike a spark in buyers’ hearts. Today it’s been marked down to $2.295, and that seems like a pretty good price. These owners paid $2.025 million for it in August, 2016, and what they got for their money was a perfectly good, but modest 1976 home of 2,600 square feet. They proceeded to completely re-do it, adding 1,400 sq. ft. and installing an entirely new kitchen, all new baths, and so on. Their plans must have changed, because no sooner was that work completed than they put it back up for sale. At $2.3, almost all of that work will prove to have been done for free.

Good location, away from the road (sort of), and a short walk to Riverside and Eastern, the station, and even the yacht club and St. Paul’s church, should those be your thing.

A solid buy, in my opinion.

I thought this new listing's price was a misprint, but no — they're serious

73 Sawmill Lane, new construction, $3.849 million. In its defense, the swamp it sits in will afford shelter for peeper frogs, who will eat the mosquitos, and entertain you with their singing on hot summer nights. And with an exterior like this, this may be the only place left in town where you can leave the keys in your Range Rover with impunity — what thief would ever expect to find anything of value to steal here?

Bad lot, weak street, and a design that could only have come off the drawing board of a Yale Architectural School graduate; someone’s going to lose their shirt here. You $2.2 buyers, keep your checkbooks dry, and be ready to pounce in 2021.

At this price, you’d expect a bit more in foundation plantings than baby Brussels sprouts. And if I interpret the shadow correctly, that front door is protected by some sort of lattice work, affording no shelter from the elements. Sheesh — did I mention Yale?

swamp holler

here’s a mystery: the listing boasts of two fireplaces, but there’s nary a chimney to be seen, front or back: not even a sidewall vent for a gas feature. Virtual goggles provided?

No improvement in our Northeast Kingdom, alas

oops!

373 Taconic Road, which sold for $9.350 million in 2005, has been back up for sale since 2016, when it arrived on the market with a $9.750 price tag; it was reduced today to $5.999, and even with a nearly four-million-dollar price cut, I’m guessing it still has a ways to fall.

Exactly two years ago, when, after a year on the market, the price had been cut to $8.495, I discussed the house and its prospects, and predicted that it faced a hard slog before it found a buyer. That prediction may nor have been preternaturally prescient, but it was accurate enough for present purposes.

Our northeast corner has never commanded premium prices, so kudos to the agent who unloaded this 12,000 sq.ft. behemoth on her customer 14 years ago, * but there’s no happy ending here: not for this owner.

• credit where credit’s due: Tamar Lurie sold her own listing; just yesterday I commented on her wicked sense of humor

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?

5 Sylvan Lane, Old Greenwich, listed at $6.8 million in 2016, has sold for $4.750. Perfectly good house, and outside the flood zone, but almost-seven-million proved too steep.

Still, a good price, for its builder, and I’m sure he made out on this project.

Seems like a deal to me

95 Stanwich Road (just around the corner from Central Middle) has come off rental and is back on the market at $2.495 million— it dropped today by $255,000. The house, built by a (very) good, local builder, sold new in 2004 for $3.450 million, and resold in 2007 (remember the crazy years? I’m so glad I wasn’t involved in that sale) for $3.890. That price may have been ill advised, but the house is very nice, the location great (Pomerance property is right next door, schools: elementary, middle and GHS all in walking distance [correction, elementary school for this address is North Street, not Cos Cob, so only the most intrepid third-graders will make that hike] and it’s just a dash and a few minutes to town and the railroad). The town appraises it at $3.4 +.

If you’re looking in this area, in this price range, I’d look at this one. The photos for this listing are simply awful, but don’t be put off — you really should see it for yourself, and then decide.

Price cut on Taconic

282 Taconic, way up by Upper Cross Road, has dropped to $3.150 million. Owners paid $3.275 for it in 2004 and made enough improvements that they felt justified asking $3.895 when this saga began in 2015. Their optimism has proved unfounded.

This is one weird house, set on a long, narrow lot, much of it wetlands, and the outrageously out of scale pillars holding up an unnecessary appendage in front are, to my eye, simply absurd. That said, a friend of mine bought this back when it was new in 1995, and I’ll admit that it offers some great space for entertaining: easy flow, with plenty of room to accommodate guests.

My friend sold the place because, he said, round trips to Riverside, where he still had family ties, were 45-minute excursions, and he grew tired of them; playdates, forgotten teddy bears, it all grew old.

Personally, if I were looking for a place to throw parties, I’d rent a catering hall closer to town.

a cow skin on the floor means a stager at the door