Serious question - what would everyone say is the Pro's and Con's of the AAC versus the MAC for NIU? I asked a couple of my colleagues who are die hard SEC fans (live in Alabama and Missouri) and their view is there is not much difference between the AAC and the MAC.

There are several really good teams and/or teams with name recognition in the AAC.

There are very few really good teams in the MAC and even fewer with any name recognition.

Cons
Only way we are invited is if 1 or more teams leave. If 2 teams leave then their TV contract is either automatically goes into renegotiation
and even worse totally voided.

Airfare travel for all our sports would wipe out any increases in TV, bowl and NCAA tourney money...even worse if the TV contract is renegotiated.

It would cost NIU around 2.5-3mil to leave the MAC and join the AAC just in exit and entrance fees.


Pros
We would see a slight increase in excitement within the alums, students and locals for the opponents but it really wouldn't be much impact on its own.

No more November weeknight football games. Instead we have typically 1 game on a Thursday or Friday night mixed in thru the entire year. This will be the biggest improvement in attendance.

Because of no more November MACtion our bye week will actually be a bye week and our coaches can be out recruiting instead of only having 9-10 days for the next game.

Basketball recruiting would have several more doors opened for recruiting

Most of the AAC teams are in destination areas that would help grow our traveling fanbase and our alums living in Texas and Florida.

AAC current bowl rotation is better as far as opponent and destination.


At this point I would much rather build up our OOC home schedule vs P5 and top tier G5 teams and stay in the MAC. Even better if we can get some early season MAC games to spread out the OOC games. However if we were to join the AAC I would still welcome the move.

(05-29-2015 08:34 AM)Mark26pt2 Wrote:  Serious question - what would everyone say is the Pro's and Con's of the AAC versus the MAC for NIU? I asked a couple of my colleagues who are die hard SEC fans (live in Alabama and Missouri) and their view is there is not much difference between the AAC and the MAC.

SEC fans are also very delusional. They think they invented football and are the only good people at playing at. It's a real joy to live down here.

(05-29-2015 08:34 AM)Mark26pt2 Wrote:  Serious question - what would everyone say is the Pro's and Con's of the AAC versus the MAC for NIU? I asked a couple of my colleagues who are die hard SEC fans (live in Alabama and Missouri) and their view is there is not much difference between the AAC and the MAC.

When the AAC originally formed I was one who clamored it was essentially the original CUSA plus and that a move to the AAC would be lateral.

I have since reconsidered and do believe that a move to the AAC would be a benefit to NIU football and AAC football would benefit from NIU.


Honestly where would you rather see NIU play New Orleans or Toledo? Orlando or Muncie? Both Memphis and Cincy are easy drives, Tulsa is 10 hours, New Orleans, Dallas and Philly are 13.

I'd love to see NIU move over...i think at also provides a boost locally and helps attendance.

Orlando, Cincinnati, CT, Greenville, Houston, Memphis, Tampa, Dallas, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Tulsa

That's enough to sell me right there...for multiple reasons.

NIU needs to distance themselves from the MAC soon. MAC has a certain stigma and seems to always put the "Stamp" that NIU is good, "But they play in the MAC", so how good can they be. I hear it all the time. I have loved the MAC, I love it when a MAC team beats a big boy. But it's time for us to be a Big Boy in the public eye, and leaving eliminates the stigma. Anyone who really knows football knows we are a threat. When it comes to being a threat at the end of the year for bigger bowls, the MAC hurts us overall. NIU has had success fighting that, but I think we are all sick of fighting that Stigma.

MD's negative response in 3, 2 , 1......

Time for the quarterly AAC thread already? The time sure does fly.

(05-29-2015 09:41 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  MD's negative response in 3, 2 , 1......

Why anybody would even read his posts are beyond me..

(05-29-2015 09:42 AM)niusfactuary Wrote:  Time for the quarterly AAC thread already? The time sure does fly.

Sorry if this is a repeat - just really trying to understand the pro's and con's - doing a lot of research but also wondering what I am missing.

(05-29-2015 09:42 AM)niusfactuary Wrote:  Time for the quarterly AAC thread already? The time sure does fly.

Is it wrong to want bigger and better things for NIU?

(05-29-2015 08:34 AM)Mark26pt2 Wrote:  Serious question - what would everyone say is the Pro's and Con's of the AAC versus the MAC for NIU? I asked a couple of my colleagues who are die hard SEC fans (live in Alabama and Missouri) and their view is there is not much difference between the AAC and the MAC.

This is like a billionaire saying there isn't much of a difference between a job that pays 50k a year and a job that pays 150K. All that matters is if NIU fans think it's an upgrade, which I think a lot of them do.

(05-29-2015 09:47 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 09:42 AM)niusfactuary Wrote:  Time for the quarterly AAC thread already? The time sure does fly.

Is it wrong to want bigger and better things for NIU?

No, not at all. Just like in business, you have to evolve and you have to grow, if you don't, you are quickly in the review mirror. MAC served us well, football needs to move on. We will start getting better and better recruits. NIU has done an amazing job over the years working with what's in front of them, can you imagine what the possibilities would be going to the AAC? I am sick of beating Eastern M, and Akron, and etc in the MAC. Hard to get up for those games, even as a die hard fan....

cons:
Travel. Last year, I travelled to see NIU play at Northwestern, WMU, Detroit, and Boca. That was the third time overall that I saw the Huskies play in Kalamazoo. I do not know how AAC membership will affect NIU's annual B1G trip, but the closest AAC school to DeKalb will be Memphis, and they are 550 miles from DeKalb. I will be watching the Huskies on TV more.

No more MAC Rivalries. No more rivalry games vs Toledo, WMU, CMU, and Balls. The Toledo game is an annual ESPN event.

pros:
New Rivalries
It would not take long to generate new grudge matches vs former MAC teams Temple and UCF. Huskies could also get some payback from USF, whom they have not played since the embarrassing International Bowl. It also sets up an annual/semi-annual? dogfight vs the UConn Huskies. I could visit my sister in Springfield, MA for that game. Maybe that's a con.

Potential conference championship game in DeKalb. AAC just added a championship game last season, and it is not played at a neutral site.

I do not know about profitability of AAC vs MAC. I am just looking from a fan's perspective.

You're not missing anything. The perception of the Huskies by NIU fans is far below the perception of the Huskies by others around the country.

The better "vacation spots" will be attended by very few.

(05-29-2015 10:04 AM)HUSKIEFOOTBALLFAN Wrote:  You're not missing anything. The perception of the Huskies by NIU fans is far below the perception of the Huskies by others around the country.

The better "vacation spots" will be attended by very few.

You're saying the country views us better than we do?

(05-29-2015 10:07 AM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 10:04 AM)HUSKIEFOOTBALLFAN Wrote:  You're not missing anything. The perception of the Huskies by NIU fans is far below the perception of the Huskies by others around the country.

The better "vacation spots" will be attended by very few.

You're saying the country views us better than we do?

Yes I am. Some of us are our own worse enemies. I travel for work and watch the weeknight games in hotel bars, etc. Most of those football fans know who we are. Once while watching NIU vs BSU (Ball State) they thought we were playing Boise State.

(05-29-2015 10:08 AM)HUSKIEFOOTBALLFAN Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 10:07 AM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(05-29-2015 10:04 AM)HUSKIEFOOTBALLFAN Wrote:  You're not missing anything. The perception of the Huskies by NIU fans is far below the perception of the Huskies by others around the country.

The better "vacation spots" will be attended by very few.

You're saying the country views us better than we do?

Yes I am. Some of us are our own worse enemies. I travel for work and watch the weeknight games in hotel bars, etc. Most of those football fans know who we are. Once while watching NIU vs BSU (Ball State) they thought we were playing Boise State.

I'd argue thats more the MAC's stigma. We've become the reverse UCONN of the MAC... too good for it in a major sport and the other major sport still lacking but everyone else agrees we should probably be higher up in conferences.

(05-29-2015 09:47 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  Is it wrong to want bigger and better things for NIU?

No. But you have to really determine what's best. What can you truly afford, what can you sustain.
The older Huskie fans have been down this road before -- NIU wanted bigger and better and had an administration that dumped the MAC. They said life would be better as a major independent. We joined the Big West and everyone said oh boy, who wouldn't want to go to San Jose instead of Ypsilanti, Reno instead of Muncie, Louisiana instead of Ohio. It was a stupid move and leaving the MAC set all our other sports back. Even in football, it took returning to the MAC and Novak turning things around to get us headed to the top of the MAC. In all other sports NIU had to scratch and claw its way back through the Mid-Continent, Midwestern Cities, to get back to where we started.
Honestly, I'm surprised by your post BobL. You've been around long enough to know NIU needs to grow its season ticket base before we can worry about how well we travel. If average NIU fans can't commit to showing up at Huskie Stadium, how many are going to drive 10 hours to Tulsa? How many can afford to go to New Orleans every other year? Seriously, not one of the AAC schools is going to bring any more fans to DeKalb than Toledo or even Ball State. We've hosted Cincinnati, Central Florida, South Florida, Temple -- are any of those among our best attended games? Did our following help the host school have a top-attended game when we played at East Carolina, Cincinnati, Central Florida, South Florida, or Temple?
Let's be honest, virtually everyone advancing this cause only cares about football and only football. Because if you're talking overall athletic program, one look at the Jacoby Trophy or Reese Cup standings and we have a lot of work to do. As you have accurately argued in the past, one look at our season ticket base and we still have work to do.