Should the AAC and MWC merge for football only?
I posted a comment on an earlier thread that was about to run its course after 10,000 views. I think it's worth a thread of its own.
On the topic of AAC expansion, I suggested that the AAC and MWC consider merging their football programs only. Remain separate for all other sports. Part of my suggestion was that in this 24 team mega-conference, it would not make sense to force any cross-division games within the conference.
I see some advantages to such an arrangement, and some drawbacks as well. Here is my thinking. There are three distinct levels within the FBS, not two. The P5, by any metric you can come up with, are clearly far ahead of any other FBS conference. But there is also a significant gap between these two conferences and the rest of the so-called G5 using any of those same metrics.
As a result, there is very little likelihood of P5 expansion in the near future, and what there might be would be limited to a handful of schools. Similarly, there are very few desirable expansion targets available from the MAC, C-USA and Sunbelt conferences. So if the MWC or the AAC are to expand, they will likely have to poach from each other.
There are only three possible outcomes to such a turf war. Either the AAC "wins", crippling the MWC, or the MWC "wins", crippling the AAC, or they both come out about where they are now. And if one of the two wins, there is little likelihood that there will be a significant improvement in its financial condition. Is that a fight worth having?
I think a merged entity could, because of its sheer size and the fact it would include teams in all five US time zones, have better leverage in media negotiations than the two have as separate entities. They could carve out a market niche by providing attractive matchups on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, when the P5 are idle.
Granted, they would have to give up one of their current two CCG's. But I would argue that neither of these are exactly ratings bonanzas anyway, and their combined championship might come close to matching the revenues they are getting now. That would be especially true if it evolved to become basically a play in game for major bowl access.
Make no mistake. This combined entity would still not be a contender to become a P6 conference. There is no combination of teams currently in the G5 that could accomplish that. You could not do it by combining only the strongest teams from these two leagues and kicking the rest to the curb. The gap is too great. The average Sagarin power ranking of the 64 teams in P5 conferences is 44. The average of the MWC and AAC is 93. If you took the 12 twelve best from the two, you still only improve that average to 84. By contrast, the average of the remaining three conferences is 130.
So why fight, when you can join forces?
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Should the AAC and MWC merge for football only?
