Would love to have byu in a full or as a fball only member but they are not worth any special deals. That's a slippery slope. And besides even though they are seeing themselves as better than the other g5's the aac is quickly rising while they are doing their nothing but wasting time begging the big12.

I think 50% if the reason to add byu is also to pull the 2-4 best teams from the mwc thereby making us that defacto p6 with the assess bowl game basically our's every year

(06-12-2014 12:59 PM)Tigersmoke Wrote:  I think 50% if the reason to add byu is also to pull the 2-4 best teams from the mwc thereby making us that defacto p6 with the assess bowl game basically our's every year

A little spell check, plaease

Seriously, the only reason BYU wants in is they have no chance of making the Access Bowl otherwise. They would be a good FB add and, as mentioned earlier, may entice a few MWC teams (Fresno, SDSU) to consider jumping.

(06-11-2014 06:37 PM)panicstricken Wrote:  2016 done deal.

What are you predicting will happen in 2016?

(06-11-2014 06:49 PM)CougarRed Wrote:  We made it pretty clear with Boise that we won't bend over backwards for an expansion candidate.

As it should be.

Quote:So I doubt BYU ever joins our league. If they do, the only way it would be all sports is if we created a Western wing. Otherwise it would be football only.

Football-only has been my view all along. Has anyone publicly suggested BYU-to-American for all-sports?

Quote:Even so, I bet they eventually try to swing a Notre Dame deal with us where they aren't full members, but get access to our bowls.

Possible. That would basically boil down to a discussion of $$$$. Devil's in the details.

(06-11-2014 05:52 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That said, the Desert News is owned by the LDS Church and is generally the mouth piece of that organization. So, I'd say the fact that an opinion piece in the Desert News is throwing the following quote out there can only be interpreted as good news for the AAC.

The Deseret (not Desert) News (means "Honeybee" in Hebrew) is nothing close to a mouth piece for the LDS Church. In fact, it's sports articles are pretty funny sometimes (as in poorly crafted and off track). Journalist Dick Harmon is a legitimate BYU insider (as far as journalists go), but that's about the extent of the Deseret's News speaking for BYU or the LDS Church.

By the way, the best part of Deseret News' BYU sports articles online is all the smack from Ute fans. Seriously, Ute fans comment more on BYU articles than they read articles about the UofU.

Anyway, the suggestion to allow BYU to have the American's access bowl eligibility is crazy. Of course, as a BYU fan, I would love that. But there's no way in the world that the American would or should do anything like that. Why?

With that said, I think a more realistic option (if not full membership or at least football only) would be a 4 or 5 game scheduling and bowl game affiliation, IF BYU can help the American improve its bowl options. I think BYU could help the American land the Las Vegas Bowl versus the PAC 12, if the American wants that.

For now, I don't see a huge need for a formal affiliation. As Aresco has stated, there is already a quasi-affiliation. And that can continue. BYU and the American might just find that they are a good fit for each other and the quasi-affiliation could eventually lead to membership.

So, for now, I say let's just keep looking to schedule games with each other and look at the Las Vegas Bowl, if that's interesting to the American.

(06-12-2014 01:33 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 05:52 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That said, the Desert News is owned by the LDS Church and is generally the mouth piece of that organization. So, I'd say the fact that an opinion piece in the Desert News is throwing the following quote out there can only be interpreted as good news for the AAC.

The Deseret (not Desert) News (means "Honeybee" in Hebrew) is nothing close to a mouth piece for the LDS Church. In fact, it's sports articles are pretty funny sometimes (as in poorly crafted and off track). Journalist Dick Harmon is a legitimate BYU insider (as far as journalists go), but that's about the extent of the Deseret's News speaking for BYU or the LDS Church.

By the way, the best part of Deseret News' BYU sports articles online is all the smack from Ute fans. Seriously, Ute fans comment more on BYU articles than they read articles about the UofU.

Anyway, the suggestion to allow BYU to have the American's access bowl eligibility is crazy. Of course, as a BYU fan, I would love that. But there's no way in the world that the American would or should do anything like that. Why?

With that said, I think a more realistic option (if not full membership or at least football only) would be a 4 or 5 game scheduling and bowl game affiliation, IF BYU can help the American improve its bowl options. I think BYU could help the American land the Las Vegas Bowl versus the PAC 12, if the American wants that.

For now, I don't see a huge need for a formal affiliation. As Aresco has stated, there is already a quasi-affiliation. And that can continue. BYU and the American might just find that they are a good fit for each other and the quasi-affiliation could eventually lead to membership.

So, for now, I say let's just keep looking to schedule games with each other and look at the Las Vegas Bowl, if that's interesting to the American.

Yeah. Someone else also pointed that out. I updated the OP to reflect the correct name.

(06-12-2014 01:33 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 05:52 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  That said, the Desert News is owned by the LDS Church and is generally the mouth piece of that organization. So, I'd say the fact that an opinion piece in the Desert News is throwing the following quote out there can only be interpreted as good news for the AAC.

The Deseret (not Desert) News (means "Honeybee" in Hebrew) is nothing close to a mouth piece for the LDS Church. In fact, it's sports articles are pretty funny sometimes (as in poorly crafted and off track). Journalist Dick Harmon is a legitimate BYU insider (as far as journalists go), but that's about the extent of the Deseret's News speaking for BYU or the LDS Church.

By the way, the best part of Deseret News' BYU sports articles online is all the smack from Ute fans. Seriously, Ute fans comment more on BYU articles than they read articles about the UofU.

Anyway, the suggestion to allow BYU to have the American's access bowl eligibility is crazy. Of course, as a BYU fan, I would love that. But there's no way in the world that the American would or should do anything like that. Why?

With that said, I think a more realistic option (if not full membership or at least football only) would be a 4 or 5 game scheduling and bowl game affiliation, IF BYU can help the American improve its bowl options. I think BYU could help the American land the Las Vegas Bowl versus the PAC 12, if the American wants that.

What about BYU or the AAC Champ that doesn't go CFP having a spot in the Sun Bowl?

That is what the AAC needs right now more than anything a true #1 bowl.

(06-12-2014 06:24 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(06-12-2014 01:33 PM)YNot Wrote:  With that said, I think a more realistic option (if not full membership or at least football only) would be a 4 or 5 game scheduling and bowl game affiliation, IF BYU can help the American improve its bowl options. I think BYU could help the American land the Las Vegas Bowl versus the PAC 12, if the American wants that.

What about BYU or the AAC Champ that doesn't go CFP having a spot in the Sun Bowl?

That is what the AAC needs right now more than anything a true #1 bowl.

The main obstacle is that the PAC 12 and ACC are in the Sun Bowl. The ACC or PAC 12 won't just give that up.

I picked the Las Vegas Bowl because: 1) It loves BYU; 2) It's longstanding relationship with the MWC and PAC 12 shows that it willing to do a G5 v. P5 matchup; 3) Las Vegas (the city) is a good location for a bowl game; and 4) they are still trying to build a state-of-art $60K+ stadium in Las Vegas.

Other options?
Heart of Dallas Bowl (currently Big Ten vs. C-USA)?

BYU and the America, together, might be able to get into the rotation for both the Las Vegas and Dallas bowls. That would add PAC 12 and Big Ten bowl opponents.

(06-12-2014 01:33 PM)YNot Wrote:  a more realistic option (if not full membership or at least football only) would be a 4 or 5 game scheduling and bowl game affiliation, IF BYU can help the American improve its bowl options. I think BYU could help the American land the Las Vegas Bowl versus the PAC 12, if the American wants that.

For now, I don't see a huge need for a formal affiliation. As Aresco has stated, there is already a quasi-affiliation. And that can continue. BYU and the American might just find that they are a good fit for each other and the quasi-affiliation could eventually lead to membership.

So, for now, I say let's just keep looking to schedule games with each other and look at the Las Vegas Bowl, if that's interesting to the American.

This.

BYU and the American can do a lot to help each other. But formal conference membership right now is premature, at best. Let's let things unfold and see what happens.

I think adding BYU (and I'd add Air Force and shift Cincinnati back to the East) would further solidify the AAC's legitimate claim to being best of the G5 conferences. They are likely already there, but this would enlarge that perception and give the rest of us a solid target to shoot for as we develop our own conferences.

Ynot I truly believe that the aac along with byu pulling say boise and sdsu and maybe afa or unlv for an all sports western division is enough to trigger a espn renegotiation, but I don't think Byu is in the real world as far as their own status in the overall cfb landscape and would stubbornly hold out for some mythical big12 invite.

I think what will unfortunately is that byu will wait until tjat ship has sailed then want to team up for a (day late dollar short) merger that won't really benefit anyone. Byu really believe that they are obviously head and shoulders above everyone in aac eventhough we have several name brands that are just as big as byu.plus some that have actually been at the big boy table

(06-13-2014 11:52 AM)Tigersmoke Wrote:  Ynot I truly believe that the aac along with byu pulling say boise and sdsu and maybe afa or unlv for an all sports western division is enough to trigger a espn renegotiation, but I don't think Byu is in the real world as far as their own status in the overall cfb landscape and would stubbornly hold out for some mythical big12 invite.

I think BYU would actually seriously consider this type of arrangement. BYU already has Boise St., UNLV, UConn, UCF, Houston, Cincinnati, and ECU on future football schedules. We would love SDSU and Air Force again.

But, if it's football only, I think BYU does overstate its status and would hold out.

However, the full membership with Olympic sports would be the clincher!

The WCC has been fairly competitive for BYU's Olympic sports, but the men's basketball games (other than Gonzaga) are in glorified high school gymnasiums. Seriously, it's kind of lame.

BYU basketball greatly misses its old rivalry games with UNLV and SDSU. If BYU could land in a western division with UNLV, SDSU, and Air Force for Olympic sports and also get the chance to frequently play UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple, Houston, etc. That's a HUGE upgrade from the WCC or the MWC.

IMO, it would become a no-brainer if Gonzaga was also invited as part of the Olympic sports package.

(06-13-2014 12:21 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(06-13-2014 11:52 AM)Tigersmoke Wrote:  Ynot I truly believe that the aac along with byu pulling say boise and sdsu and maybe afa or unlv for an all sports western division is enough to trigger a espn renegotiation, but I don't think Byu is in the real world as far as their own status in the overall cfb landscape and would stubbornly hold out for some mythical big12 invite.

I think BYU would actually seriously consider this type of arrangement. BYU already has Boise St., UNLV, UConn, UCF, Houston, Cincinnati, and ECU on future football schedules. We would love SDSU and Air Force again.

But, if it's football only, I think BYU does overstate its status and would hold out.

However, the full membership with Olympic sports would be the clincher!

The WCC has been fairly competitive for BYU's Olympic sports, but the men's basketball games (other than Gonzaga) are in glorified high school gymnasiums. Seriously, it's kind of lame.

BYU basketball greatly misses its old rivalry games with UNLV and SDSU. If BYU could land in a western division with UNLV, SDSU, and Air Force for Olympic sports and also get the chance to frequently play UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple, Houston, etc. That's a HUGE upgrade from the WCC or the MWC.

IMO, it would become a no-brainer if Gonzaga was also invited as part of the Olympic sports package.

Kawhi not.

(06-13-2014 11:58 AM)Tigersmoke Wrote:  Byu really believe that they are obviously head and shoulders above everyone in aac eventhough we have several name brands that are just as big as byu.plus some that have actually been at the big boy table

I think you are right that BYU and its fans believe that BYU is ahead of most of the American. You often see talking points such as the value of the ESPN contract and BYUTV, top 25-30 in football attendance, top 10-15 in men's basketball attendance, the 1984 title, Detmer's Heisman, etc.

However, it appears that those actually in control at BYU align with the American and view many members as peers. See home-home matchups with UCF, Houston, UConn, Cincinnati, ECU, the Miami Beach Bowl alignment, etc.

(06-11-2014 06:37 PM)panicstricken Wrote:  2016 done deal.

Looks that way!

The clincher is not only fball but bball. See if you have byu sdsu unlv and yes boise bball with uconn memphis cincy temple smu a soon to be good houston then throw in tulsa that's 11 teams that all are legitimate ncaa caliber teams. Even if you only play each team once that line up would rival the old big east. Then fball would have to many national brands for the media types to over look. I actually think with a gor we could get 12-15 million.

(06-11-2014 06:35 PM)NestaKnight1 Wrote:  

(06-11-2014 06:25 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  Not much of a limb to go out on. They're not going back to the Mountain West, and there's no chance they'd go to CUSA, the MAC or the Sun Belt. But would they be happy in the American while keeping a longing eye cast toward Utah and their Pac-12 schedule?

BYU will instantly compete for conference championships in the AAC. How many PAC-12 championships are realistically foreseeable for Utah? BYU will instantly have more tv appearances than Utah if Aresco's "exposure" representations are accurate. Perhaps more importantly to BYU, inclusion in the AAC means east coast exposure ( the coast where most of the people live). I'm sure BYU would rather be in the PAC-12, but if that and the b-12 are a no go then the AAC is the only realistic option should BYU join a conference.

Conference championships or about $25mm more per year, tough choice.

That line up would kill the mwc and would pretty much guarantee that assess bowl spot to the point the national perception would lean towards us being in the p5-6. I think we could actually get a contract bowl of our own at that point. We would be aligned close enough to the big boys that we may even make the dive cut