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Officially Flagship


BrooklynBull

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Today UB was named the co-flagship university within the SUNY System along with Stony Brook.  Both are the only AAU institutions in the system.

Would have preferred being the only one, but this is better than not having the designation.

http://www.buffalo.edu/home/story-repository.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2022/01/007.detail.html

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2 hours ago, UB77 said:

Will this invite/allow discussion of Buffalo becoming "New York State University"?

Not likely is my guess. Especially with the strong local UB/Buffalo brand among many alums, some lingering private-school endowments and pomp within portions of UB, and the 'No thanks' we saw when "outsiders" Galisano and White tried their best to alter the brand. But it would be quite the impact to match other large states with a New York State University and a University of New York.

When Spitzer first brought this idea up in 2008 there was huge push back. But Hochul's plan is more specific and broader, and has the backing of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

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6 hours ago, RecoveringHillbilly said:

Not likely is my guess. Especially with the strong local UB/Buffalo brand among many alums, some lingering private-school endowments and pomp within portions of UB, and the 'No thanks' we saw when "outsiders" Galisano and White tried their best to alter the brand. But it would be quite the impact to match other large states with a New York State University and a University of New York.

When Spitzer first brought this idea up in 2008 there was huge push back. But Hochul's plan is more specific and broader, and has the backing of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

What would be nice is TV announcers said the full name of the school once at the start of the broadcast. "The State University of New York at Buffalo." Then they can just say Buffalo the rest of the way.

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1 hour ago, promotherobot said:

What would be nice is TV announcers said the full name of the school once at the start of the broadcast. "The State University of New York at Buffalo." Then they can just say Buffalo the rest of the way.

That should be something that our administration wouild be able to dictate, shouldn't it?

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8 hours ago, RecoveringHillbilly said:

Not likely is my guess. Especially with the strong local UB/Buffalo brand among many alums, some lingering private-school endowments and pomp within portions of UB, and the 'No thanks' we saw when "outsiders" Galisano and White tried their best to alter the brand. But it would be quite the impact to match other large states with a New York State University and a University of New York.

When Spitzer first brought this idea up in 2008 there was huge push back. But Hochul's plan is more specific and broader, and has the backing of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

I agree with all of this, but I think NYU might have some brand infringement with a UNY.

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19 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

Today UB was named the co-flagship university within the SUNY System along with Stony Brook.  Both are the only AAU institutions in the system.

Would have preferred being the only one, but this is better than not having the designation.

http://www.buffalo.edu/home/story-repository.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2022/01/007.detail.html

Agree that UB should be the only flagship....but it's an election year and Hochul needs both LI and WNY.

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On 1/5/2022 at 9:53 PM, UB77 said:

Will this invite/allow discussion of Buffalo becoming "New York State University"?

I actually think it helps Stony Brook more than UB to become flagship. 

I wonder how UB and Stony Brook will approach the branding?  If I am Stony Brook, I run with this to really trap the NY-metro area college market (at least in football).  And when I say "run", I mean have a 10 - 15 year plan.  NYC-LI has always been ripe for the taking in college sports, but there was not really the school with the resources and alumni to do it.  SBU (or whatever/however they will brand themselves...and I would strongly expect it to include the word "New York" prominently) is positioned to do this.  An early step is this "flagship" branding for them.   The co-part is irrelevant...they can always say "A flagship...."

Here are a few articles about SBU recently and FBS.  https://www.sbstatesman.com/2021/10/10/stony-brook-losing-out-on-conference-realignment-would-be-humiliating/

https://forgotten5.com/2019/07/03/stony-brook-has-everything-the-aac-wants-except-an-fbs-stadium/

So...I strongly suspect in 10 years time that NYSU (or whatever Stony Brook brands themselves with) will have a bigger, new stadium and have the athletic outlook/tie to NYC that some UB supporters always hoped could occur.  In contrast, in ten years time, many at UB will still be wondering whether the font used to write the word "Buffalo" somewhere is large enough (and of the correct type).  The reality is that UB is in the MAC and that's it.  I always thought UB "looked" like a B1G school in a lot of ways (but were short in others).  I fear that Stony Brook, once they join an FBS conference in a few years or so and get a better stadium, will be better positioned within this decade to make that jump.

You have to hand it to Stony Brook.  They have come a long way in a (relatively) short amount of time.  

 

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6 hours ago, UB92 said:

I actually think it helps Stony Brook more than UB to become flagship. 

  NYC-LI has always been ripe for the taking in college sports, but there was not really the school with the resources and alumni to do it.  

 

No it has not.  The area has 2 baseball teams, two football teams (allegedly), two basketball teams and three hockey teams.  It is not a college sports area.  It will not become a college sports area.  Rutgers, which is 20 minutes from the southern most part of New York City, despite being in the Big 10, is a non-entity on the New York sports scene.  Stony Brook will not take the area as the college team.

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8 minutes ago, BrooklynBull said:

No it has not.  The area has 2 baseball teams, two football teams (allegedly), two basketball teams and three hockey teams.  It is not a college sports area.  It will not become a college sports area.  Rutgers, which is 20 minutes from the southern most part of New York City, despite being in the Big 10, is a non-entity on the New York sports scene.  Stony Brook will not take the area as the college team.

I disagree.

Just because it has not happened before, doesn't mean it can't happen.  Rutgers is the state university of new jersey, not NYC-LI.  And 20 minutes might be on a Thursday morning at 3 AM.

I think there is a possibility that Stony Brook could take the area.  I am not saying they will, but I think things could be set up for them to have a real shot at it in the future.

You are obviously from NY, so you know that there is no/little interest in Rutgers in NYC or LI.  Stony Brook has a lot of alumni.  There are pieces in place that could be brought to bear on this.  Certainly they are in a better position than UB from a proximity standpoint.  Not overnight, but in the next decade (or so).

You well know that St. John's basketball was all the rage during the Mullen and Berry years in NYC-LI.  They were a #1 seed three times in four years.   They have only made the NCAA tournament 3 times in the past 20 years, never getting past the second round in that time.   If they ever have sustained success, NYC-LI will wake up to them again.

NYC-LI is a sleeping giant for college football.  If Rutgers is ever successful in a big way, there will be some interest.  But they are still in New Jersey (like the Devils).  It has to be a NY team.  And, before you make the Jets/Giants argument, I will say that the "NY Giants" and "NY Jets" are New York teams that now just happen to have a stadium in New Jersey.

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On 1/8/2022 at 11:11 PM, promotherobot said:

Here's an idea. UB, Stony Brook, smAlbany Army, URI, UNH, UMass and UConn can form their own FBS Northeast football conference.

The only way a Northeast football conference sounds appealing to me is completely unrealistic with UB, Syracuse, Army, UConn, BC, UMass, Rutgers, Penn State, Temple, and Pitt. 

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On 1/7/2022 at 3:18 PM, BrooklynBull said:

No it has not.  The area has 2 baseball teams, two football teams (allegedly), two basketball teams and three hockey teams.  It is not a college sports area.  It will not become a college sports area.  Rutgers, which is 20 minutes from the southern most part of New York City, despite being in the Big 10, is a non-entity on the New York sports scene.  Stony Brook will not take the area as the college team.

Strongly agree.  NYC is a pro sports town.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/5/2022 at 4:29 PM, BrooklynBull said:

Today UB was named the co-flagship university within the SUNY System along with Stony Brook.  Both are the only AAU institutions in the system.

Would have preferred being the only one, but this is better than not having the designation.

http://www.buffalo.edu/home/story-repository.host.html/content/shared/university/news/news-center-releases/2022/01/007.detail.html

Does this result in additional investment into athletics....the only way the Bulls align their sports teams with the the flagships of other states is with help from the NY state and investments in facilities and operating budgets.  The MAC is a nice regional conference, but not where the flagship university of NY should be participating in.  With NLI, Transfer Portal, etc., teams can get really good really fast with $$$.

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1 hour ago, Sportsfan said:

Does this result in additional investment into athletics....the only way the Bulls align their sports teams with the the flagships of other states is with help from the NY state and investments in facilities and operating budgets.  The MAC is a nice regional conference, but not where the flagship university of NY should be participating in.  With NLI, Transfer Portal, etc., teams can get really good really fast with $$$.

 

It is a big ask for the Buffalo/Niagara Falls regional area to support sports at the level of a typical flagship because it is something that they have never done before.  That's risky.   Stony Brook (the other flagship) sits within a regional area almost 20x the size of Buffalo/Niagara Falls and I would wager that they have a better shot than UB of making this happen someday (though both would be longer odds).

 

But you are right...there is a changing landscape (with NIL and the transfer portal).  Depending on how the stadium shakes out will go along way towards making the odds of what you say 100 - 1 or 20 -1.  

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1 hour ago, UB92 said:

 

It is a big ask for the Buffalo/Niagara Falls regional area to support sports at the level of a typical flagship because it is something that they have never done before.  That's risky.   Stony Brook (the other flagship) sits within a regional area almost 20x the size of Buffalo/Niagara Falls and I would wager that they have a better shot than UB of making this happen someday (though both would be longer odds).

 

But you are right...there is a changing landscape (with NIL and the transfer portal).  Depending on how the stadium shakes out will go along way towards making the odds of what you say 100 - 1 or 20 -1.  

The push to name the flagships campuses was because it is to help with getting research dollars and to expand support education.  It was not done for athletics.

Also UB has a better chance of getting the necessary support from the community than Stony Brook.  Stony Brook is not even a blip on the radar in the area.  UB is much more than a blip on the Western New York radar.

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1 hour ago, BrooklynBull said:

The push to name the flagships campuses was because it is to help with getting research dollars and to expand support education.  It was not done for athletics.

Also UB has a better chance of getting the necessary support from the community than Stony Brook.  Stony Brook is not even a blip on the radar in the area.  UB is much more than a blip on the Western New York radar.

 

I disagree about the Stony Brook part.  It wasn't a blip for a long time...but now it is a blip.  Sure...it is behind UB, but UB has had a much, much longer head start (100 years).  

Stony Brook is the only large comprehensive public university in the NYC/Metro area.  You can argue for "Rutgers", but anything with the name "New Jersey" in it will never capture the NYC/LI area.  Imagine the NJ Giants or NJ Jets.   So...my money is on Stony Brook eventually trying to become NYSU (or something like that) and I am playing the long game here.   Some college/university in the area will eventually capture that market.

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44 minutes ago, UB92 said:

 

I disagree about the Stony Brook part.  It wasn't a blip for a long time...but now it is a blip.  Sure...it is behind UB, but UB has had a much, much longer head start (100 years).  

Stony Brook is the only large comprehensive public university in the NYC/Metro area.  You can argue for "Rutgers", but anything with the name "New Jersey" in it will never capture the NYC/LI area.  Imagine the NJ Giants or NJ Jets.   So...my money is on Stony Brook eventually trying to become NYSU (or something like that) and I am playing the long game here.   Some college/university in the area will eventually capture that market.

Not when it comes to athletics.  I know people who were working at Stony Brook when they were moving from Division III to Division I.  The only thing that has changed is that they get mentioned when they were in the America East championship game.  Otherwise absolutely nothing in the media, even with their move to the CAA.

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13 minutes ago, BrooklynBull said:

Not when it comes to athletics.  I know people who were working at Stony Brook when they were moving from Division III to Division I.  The only thing that has changed is that they get mentioned when they were in the America East championship game.  Otherwise absolutely nothing in the media, even with their move to the CAA.

I agree.  I live on Long Island and nothing is mentioned of them.  Even when they changed conferences, I only found out because of an alert on my phone.  No mention on sports talk radio.  I occasionally hear adds for St. Johns or Rutgers, but very few people talking about them either.  And they are way higher on the food chain than Stony Brook.

 

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