(12-06-2017 03:29 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  UConn is between a rock and a hard place. As long as there is even a tiny sliver of hope for a P5 invite down the road, then it simply cannot leave the AAC. P5 membership is based on football and independence simply isn't realistically viable for a school like UConn.

However, the money is simple: the Big East makes more TV money just based on basketball than the AAC (and every other G5 conference) makes on football and basketball *combined*. We can argue all day about whether the AAC will get a better contract in a few years and yada yada yada... but the fact is that the Big East completely CRUSHES the G5 conferences when it comes to TV money, which is essentially the entire crux of the conference realignment game. I

Someone hasn't been paying attention.

UConn (along with Cincy and USF) have been augmenting their American TV money with exit fees from Louisville, Syracuse, West Va, Pitt etc. Considering exit fee surplus combined with TV money, and UConn would have made LESS MONEY in the Big East.

And that's before you get to the $10M exit fee cost UConn would owe if they left.

So it really DOES matter what the next American TV contract looks like. And it matters how this Wichita State experiment works out in terms of getting more NCAA tournament bids for the American.