(09-07-2017 05:25 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  While I initially found the P6 thing laughable too, from a marketing and psychology standpoint this may work over a period of years.

What really distinguishes the P5 from everyone else? Size of school? Amount of revenue? Attendance? TV viewers? Winning records? It seems an arbitrary and fuzzy line at best. No matter what criteria you pick, there are likely P5 schools today that don't measure up. There are also schools in the "G5" today such as UConn, Cincy, and BYU that were believed to be worthy of an invite to the Big 12. What the AAC is trying to claim here is that they are more like other P5 schools than the remainder of the G5 schools. From a mindshare perspective they seem "in between" the two today, not quite P5, but a step higher than many G5. I'm speaking mostly in terms of brand perception and pecking order for media deals, etc

Over time, if you see and hear something repeated enough times, it starts to become accepted as true. This is just the way humans are wired. From a marketing viewpoint, this may not so dumb, and it could eventually benefit the AAC. This is all about perception.

Nothing wrong with trying, but it isn't going to happen. The media drives the P5 (not P6) drum and the P5 schools themselves are going to do everything they can to widen their gap along with making their country club as exclusive as possible. The elite football programs have spent 100+ years building what they believe to be theirs. They detest upstarts (relatively speaking in age) like Boise State and will do most everything they can to keep them out.

It will take the AAC about a decade to finally realize they are heading more like a G5 than a P5. By then - and it may take longer - the G5 and upper-echelon D1AA programs/conferences (CAA, MVFC, etc.) can start considering developing a middle level which includes its own national playoff as the bowls start dying with cord-cutting and expanded P5 playoffs forcing ESPN to no longer fund. But, there is a lot of ego (and denial) among the AAC so it will take some time before it finally sinks in they aren't invited to the party...and, never will be.