(12-05-2014 10:51 AM)Ragu Wrote:  Georgia Southern does make a lot of sense.

Gets you into Georgia with a program that has a winning history and just won the Sun Belt last season.

ULL would get some opposition from La Tech

USA may not be loved by Tech or Southern Miss

NMSU is way the heck out there and if UTEP leaves we are screwed. Plus I dont know if UTEP would even fight for them.

Texas State is the other one that may not get much opposition but do you need 5 Texas schools? Then again the state is huge and it is a whole new market. Plus they do have potential to win...

Could Georgia Southern be added and then shift Southern Miss back East to keep WKU/MTSU together in the West possiblY?

Tech doesn't have a problem with USA.

I can see some ADs keeping in contact in case of AAC zombie apocalypse. But, a straight up change from current conference to current conference doesn't make financial sense...entrance/exit fees, conference payouts, bball credits, war chest (millions over 5 years), tv payouts/exposure, bowls (thinking numbers here as both are meh in opponents)...

IMO, Army would be a better get than a singular AAC team bringing bowl births and TV exposure with them.

Question??? Is this just fan speculation or has someone heard something?

(12-05-2014 08:41 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 07:12 AM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-04-2014 11:02 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  I'm guessing no on SMU, Memphis or Houston and I doubt Tulane or Tulsa has contacted you

I'm guessing no one from the AAC, also. But one angle intrigues me following the report of the SMU football hire and Tulsa coaching budget.

The AAC has its own arms race going, but it is flying into the face of the Access Game reality and a bunch of dismal bowl options (just like C-USA). At what point do you say "enough" and realign into a lower travel cost arrangement that maximizes visitor ticket sales? Someone must be running the numbers on a division like:

Houston
Louisiana Tech
Memphis
Rice
SMU
Southern Mississippi
Tulane
Tulsa
UTEP
UTSA

Then that leaves:

ODU
Charlotte
Marshall
Temple
Connecticut
WKU
MTSU
UMass
East Carolina
Cincinati
USF
UCF

It ain't happening, but that seems to be ideal for everyone

sign us up now

(12-05-2014 08:05 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 07:12 AM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-04-2014 11:02 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  I'm guessing no on SMU, Memphis or Houston and I doubt Tulane or Tulsa has contacted you

Houston
Louisiana Tech
Memphis
Rice
SMU
Southern Mississippi
Tulane
Tulsa
UTEP
UTSA

No one is going to leave the AAC to join that. AAC will likely renegotiate at the look in, which happens after one more year. Most likely a decent bump in TV will happen then. Not P5 money, but 3 to 5 mil per season wouldn't be a huge surprise.

Don't see those kind of bucks for the AAC in a look in situation. Not with the kind of poo-poo they are producing on the football field. There is no reason for ESPN to give them more.

Now once the AACs contract is up....the AAC will be marketable for more money with a quality basketball conference. If they can get the per school dollars on the level of the Big East it wouldn't surprise me.

The more I think about it, the more I think a zipper would be fair to everyone in CUSA.

I would try to keep the old CUSA schools more or less in one division with the newbies in the other.

Start by making pairs.

UTEP/Rice
UNT/UTSA
LTU/USM
WKU/MTSU
Marshall/Toledo
Charlotte/ODU

Then put the older CUSA schools in the same division. Add one Florida school to both.

Old: UTEP, Rice, USM, La Tech, Marshall, Toledo, FAU

New: UTSA, UNT, MTSU, WKU, Charlotte, ODU, FIU

That might be somewhat more attractive than trying to line things up East to West where schools like Marshall and USM are thrown into divisions they are unfamiliar with.

(12-05-2014 05:31 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  The more I think about it, the more I think a zipper would be fair to everyone in CUSA.

I would try to keep the old CUSA schools more or less in one division with the newbies in the other.

Start by making pairs.

UTEP/Rice
UNT/UTSA
LTU/USM
WKU/MTSU
Marshall/Toledo
Charlotte/ODU

Then put the older CUSA schools in the same division. Add one Florida school to both.

Old: UTEP, Rice, USM, La Tech, Marshall, Toledo, FAU

New: UTSA, UNT, MTSU, WKU, Charlotte, ODU, FIU

That might be somewhat more attractive than trying to line things up East to West where schools like Marshall and USM are thrown into divisions they are unfamiliar with.

I thought you said Toledo needs the MAC.

(12-05-2014 04:49 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Don't see those kind of bucks for the AAC in a look in situation. Not with the kind of poo-poo they are producing on the football field. There is no reason for ESPN to give them more.

Now once the AACs contract is up....the AAC will be marketable for more money with a quality basketball conference. If they can get the per school dollars on the level of the Big East it wouldn't surprise me.

If the rumors about Cincinnati and Memphis to the Big 12 prove true, that would trigger a clause in the ESPN contract that could reopen the AAC contract. Could be a wild winter in G5 realignment.

(12-05-2014 06:28 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 04:49 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Don't see those kind of bucks for the AAC in a look in situation. Not with the kind of poo-poo they are producing on the football field. There is no reason for ESPN to give them more.

Now once the AACs contract is up....the AAC will be marketable for more money with a quality basketball conference. If they can get the per school dollars on the level of the Big East it wouldn't surprise me.

If the rumors about Cincinnati and Memphis to the Big 12 prove true, that would trigger a clause in the ESPN contract that could reopen the AAC contract. Could be a wild winter in G5 realignment.

I still cant believe nobody is scooping up UConn. I would think they would go before Memphis. If Cincy, UConn and Memphis leave, the CUSA is just as good as the AAC in all sports and the value of the AAC drops like a rock in basketball.

I saw they had UAB/Bowl as a topic on PTI but I'm in a bar with no volume so I don't know what was said.

(12-05-2014 06:28 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 04:49 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Don't see those kind of bucks for the AAC in a look in situation. Not with the kind of poo-poo they are producing on the football field. There is no reason for ESPN to give them more.

Now once the AACs contract is up....the AAC will be marketable for more money with a quality basketball conference. If they can get the per school dollars on the level of the Big East it wouldn't surprise me.

If the rumors about Cincinnati and Memphis to the Big 12 prove true, that would trigger a clause in the ESPN contract that could reopen the AAC contract. Could be a wild winter in G5 realignment.

Unfortunately, if a Big 12 Team slides into the CFP there will be no incentive for the B12 to expand. Right now, TCU is looking good for a spot in the 4 Team playoff! If they don't expand, all the musical chairs remain stationary thru 2015.

Borrowed this from another thread

Info From Equity in Athletics

Total Revenues by Team

Conference USA

01.) Old Dominion University - $37,504,701
02.) Rice University - $34,822,708
03.) University of Alabama at Birmingham - $31,018,623
04.) University of North Texas - $29,415,940
05.) The University of Texas at San Antonio - $28,328,850
06.) Florida International University - $28,104,059
07.) Western Kentucky University - $27,715,961
08.) Middle Tennessee State University - $26,845,205
09.) Marshall University - $26,818,980
10.) The University of Texas at El Paso - $25,723,452
11.) Florida Atlantic University - $21,991,245
12.) University of Southern Mississippi - $20,789,759
13.) Louisiana Tech University - $17,483,342


JAMES MADISON - $37,522,548

(12-05-2014 11:07 PM)Big Duke Wrote:  Borrowed this from another thread

Info From Equity in Athletics

Total Revenues by Team

Conference USA

01.) Old Dominion University - $37,504,701
02.) Rice University - $34,822,708
03.) University of Alabama at Birmingham - $31,018,623
04.) University of North Texas - $29,415,940
05.) The University of Texas at San Antonio - $28,328,850
06.) Florida International University - $28,104,059
07.) Western Kentucky University - $27,715,961
08.) Middle Tennessee State University - $26,845,205
09.) Marshall University - $26,818,980
10.) The University of Texas at El Paso - $25,723,452
11.) Florida Atlantic University - $21,991,245
12.) University of Southern Mississippi - $20,789,759
13.) Louisiana Tech University - $17,483,342


JAMES MADISON - $37,522,548

You do realize that essentially means you guys take in waaaaaay to much money from student fees.

7 Athletic Programs Ready To Become C-USA Members
http://collegead.org/7-cusa-members/

from this list, there is only one real choice for a league with an opportunity to improve market share for an upcoming TV contract negotiation, which would be the conference's utmost priority considering the landscape of past and future realignments, plus give access to the best overall new recruiting area for all its teams, private and public (not in Tx, La, Al or Ak), thereby turning the tragedy of UAB's football-dropping lemon into lemonade for the league.

Interesting discussion guys. What if CUSA were to add 3 teams to take us to 16? Add Georgia southern, south Alabama and Arkansas state. That covers two new states and keeps Alabama in the fold.

Divide into 2 conferences of 8 with the Texas schools, Arkansas , LA Tech, Southern Miss and South Alabama in the west. The rest in the east. Play 7 division games and 1 out of division team on rotation. In football.

In basketball play 14 games home and away against divisional foes and play 2 away and 2 home against 4 of the cross divisional teams on a rotating basis each year. Again this reduces travel costs immensely.

With this plan you would only have a total of 5 out of division trips in bball and football every 2 years! That saves a hell of a lot of time and money.

Both divisions have geographic outliers so it's fair (1 in UTEP for the west and 2 in FAU and FIU for the east. The huge size of Texas makes up for the fact that the east has two outliers compared to the west)

Make similar arrangements in the other Olympic sports with the goal cost minimization across the board.

This would reduce travel costs tremendously for everyone which would probably more than make up for the smaller revenue slices.

In the future if everyone has to regionalize even further the divisions can split, add a couple of regional programs and keep traditions going.

On the cynical front it would also seriously weaken the Sun Belt. Not sure if that's really what CUSA or the G5 needs (maybe better to have 5 thriving conferences than 4 thriving and one also ran) but I will leave that up to other people to debate.

Could this work????

I hope if we can't stay you guys take USA or Troy and they use that as a stepping stone and make it to a P5 conference and steal every single bit of recruits, money, and shine from ua and tuscaloser. I hate it that we may/will have to leave I have grown to like Marshall and USM. I was looking forward to visiting UTSA, WKU, and MTSU with my sons.
But here's to the future. Hope we can share in it, but if not, I hope every time one of you gets a chance to play UAT you drill them in an upset.

(12-06-2014 01:18 AM)rook360 Wrote:  I hope if we can't stay you guys take USA or Troy and they use that as a stepping stone and make it to a P5 conference and steal every single bit of recruits, money, and shine from ua and tuscaloser. I hate it that we may/will have to leave I have grown to like Marshall and USM. I was looking forward to visiting UTSA, WKU, and MTSU with my sons.
But here's to the future. Hope we can share in it, but if not, I hope every time one of you gets a chance to play UAT you drill them in an upset.

peace, bud. go easy. youre preaching to the choir here . . .

(12-05-2014 11:58 PM)MUHERD76 Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 11:07 PM)Big Duke Wrote:  Borrowed this from another thread

Info From Equity in Athletics

Total Revenues by Team

Conference USA

01.) Old Dominion University - $37,504,701
02.) Rice University - $34,822,708
03.) University of Alabama at Birmingham - $31,018,623
04.) University of North Texas - $29,415,940
05.) The University of Texas at San Antonio - $28,328,850
06.) Florida International University - $28,104,059
07.) Western Kentucky University - $27,715,961
08.) Middle Tennessee State University - $26,845,205
09.) Marshall University - $26,818,980
10.) The University of Texas at El Paso - $25,723,452
11.) Florida Atlantic University - $21,991,245
12.) University of Southern Mississippi - $20,789,759
13.) Louisiana Tech University - $17,483,342


JAMES MADISON - $37,522,548

You do realize that essentially means you guys take in waaaaaay to much money from student fees.

As has been stated previously, athletic expenses in Virginia are reported differently. That being said, JMU student fees attributed to athletics per full time student is less than ODU

2013-14
ODU - $1,361.59
JMU - $1,234.00

http://www.schev.edu/Reportstats/Tuition....pdf?from=

(12-06-2014 12:09 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  7 Athletic Programs Ready To Become C-USA Members
http://collegead.org/7-cusa-members/

from this list, there is only one real choice for a league with an opportunity to improve market share for an upcoming TV contract negotiation, which would be the conference's utmost priority considering the landscape of past and future realignments, plus give access to the best overall new recruiting area for all its teams, private and public (not in Tx, La, Al or Ak), thereby turning the tragedy of UAB's football-dropping lemon into lemonade for the league.

No thanks to any of those, unless it is to replace ODU.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

(12-06-2014 12:09 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  7 Athletic Programs Ready To Become C-USA Members
http://collegead.org/7-cusa-members/

from this list, there is only one real choice for a league with an opportunity to improve market share for an upcoming TV contract negotiation, which would be the conference's utmost priority considering the landscape of past and future realignments, plus give access to the best overall new recruiting area for all its teams, private and public (not in Tx, La, Al or Ak), thereby turning the tragedy of UAB's football-dropping lemon into lemonade for the league.

Wow...that guy is really throwing darts. Some of those schools on that list arent even in the conversation.