The biggest barrier we face compared to the P5 conferences is geographic Incompatability. SMU is our closest team. The next closest is 6.5 hours drive. Tulsa is 10 hours for the UH fan. Forget travel to the other games until I retire. They are just to far.
I like what is going on with our league, but it is hard to establish rivalries when your average fan can make one or two away games a year.
In the Big XII the horns can day trip it to OU, OSU, BU, TCU. It helps get the rivalries going. SEC and BIG 10 are the same way. Hopefully tv will trump all because it is our one advantage over the G5s.

(09-28-2015 07:27 AM)UHRedcat96 Wrote:  The biggest barrier we face compared to the P5 conferences is geographic Incompatability. SMU is our closest team. The next closest is 6.5 hours drive. Tulsa is 10 hours for the UH fan. Forget travel to the other games until I retire. They are just to far.
I like what is going on with our league, but it is hard to establish rivalries when your average fan can make one or two away games a year.
In the Big XII the horns can day trip it to OU, OSU, BU, TCU. It helps get the rivalries going. SEC and BIG 10 are the same way. Hopefully tv will trump all because it is our one advantage over the G5s.

Cincinnati's closest "rival" is Memphis, and that's an eight hour drive. At least we're not UConn.

(09-28-2015 07:51 AM)BearcatsUC Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 07:27 AM)UHRedcat96 Wrote:  The biggest barrier we face compared to the P5 conferences is geographic Incompatability. SMU is our closest team. The next closest is 6.5 hours drive. Tulsa is 10 hours for the UH fan. Forget travel to the other games until I retire. They are just to far.
I like what is going on with our league, but it is hard to establish rivalries when your average fan can make one or two away games a year.
In the Big XII the horns can day trip it to OU, OSU, BU, TCU. It helps get the rivalries going. SEC and BIG 10 are the same way. Hopefully tv will trump all because it is our one advantage over the G5s.

Cincinnati's closest "rival" is Memphis, and that's an eight hour drive. At least we're not UConn.

Cincy is a good fit for the Mac

Geographically speaking UConn doesn't belong, though Temple isn't too far off. Tulsa is in the same boat. It would have been nice if WVU hadn't got the call, that would have made a nice grouping with Memphis and Cincy.

Quality of athletics/support is more important than being in a drivable league. Just ask the MAC if you're unsure.

What's this geography problem you speak of?

UConn and Temple are actually one of the closer pairs. The gaps are the real issue. If there were quality adds out there in a few out of GA, AL, MS, AR, and MO, we could make the footprint much more cohesive.

The distance will always be a disadvantage as far as rivalries and traveling fans. There was never much of an attendance boost from traveling fans in CUSA for the same reason. It is what it is---there won't be many traveling fans in the AAC.

As for rivalries, the chief reason they form is becuase you work and socialize with fans from another similar school in the region. That's not going to be a factor in most cases in the AAC. The schools are just too far away from one another with very few exceptions. For the AAC, your rival will be the team that is front of your in the standings. That said, familiarity breeds contempt. Over time, rivalries will form based on factors other than geographic location (something that happens in a game or maybe something a coach or player says to the press).

I think the days of a 'bus' league, with conferences arranged for geographical convenience and to keep travel costs down are long over. With cheap flights, other priorities drive conference affiliation. But it's good if schools can have at least one fairly close rival. Obviously, USF and UCF fit this definition. I think other AAC 'pairs' will develop good rivalries over time.

WV is finding out how hard it is to REALLY be on an island...

(09-28-2015 07:27 AM)UHRedcat96 Wrote:  The biggest barrier we face compared to the P5 conferences is geographic Incompatability. SMU is our closest team. The next closest is 6.5 hours drive. Tulsa is 10 hours for the UH fan. Forget travel to the other games until I retire. They are just to far.
I like what is going on with our league, but it is hard to establish rivalries when your average fan can make one or two away games a year.
In the Big XII the horns can day trip it to OU, OSU, BU, TCU. It helps get the rivalries going. SEC and BIG 10 are the same way. Hopefully tv will trump all because it is our one advantage over the G5s.

Wouldn't Tulane technically be the next closest to Houston??? It's about 5.5 hours away.

Tulsa has SMU & Memphis which are both driveable. The Tulsa to UH trip is a bit long. It would probably be better to fly.

I drive Tulsa to Houston all the time, it's about 8.5 hours really, max.

(09-28-2015 09:23 AM)Bull Wrote:  I think the days of a 'bus' league, with conferences arranged for geographical convenience and to keep travel costs down are long over. With cheap flights, other priorities drive conference affiliation. But it's good if schools can have at least one fairly close rival. Obviously, USF and UCF fit this definition. I think other AAC 'pairs' will develop good rivalries over time.

WV is finding out how hard it is to REALLY be on an island...

100% this.

Its not an issue unique to the AAC.

The SWC is the conference that fits what the OP described and it died. It was simply too regionalized.

Television killed the bus leagues. The ACC poaching Miami, VT, and BC, wrote its epitaph.

There are options for filling in the footprint and creating more drivable games. Texas State, UTSA, Arky St, ULL, La Tech---those are all large public schools that might aid in creating more rivalries and drivable games in the west. UMass, Old Dominion, Army, Buffalo, Georgia Southern, JMU, FIU, FAU, etc- are all schools that could do the same in the eastern division. I just don't think the benefits of these type adds out weighs dividing the revenue pie more ways.

That said, this is EXACTLY what we will be looking at if there is ever a G5-P5 split in which the AAC is not included on the P5 side.

(09-28-2015 09:57 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  There are options for filling in the footprint and creating more drivable games. Texas State, UTSA, Arky St, ULL, La Tech---there are all large public schools that might aid in creating more rivalries and drivable games in the west. UMass, Old Dominion, Army, Buffalo, Georgia Southern, JMU, FIU, FAU, etc- are all schools that could do the same in the eastern division. I just don't think the benefits of these type adds out weighs dividing the revenue pie more ways.

Yeah... I wouldn't add any of those. Let's just get our 12 teams competing at a higher level and let the distance worry about itself.

(09-28-2015 08:07 AM)shere khan Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 07:51 AM)BearcatsUC Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 07:27 AM)UHRedcat96 Wrote:  The biggest barrier we face compared to the P5 conferences is geographic Incompatability. SMU is our closest team. The next closest is 6.5 hours drive. Tulsa is 10 hours for the UH fan. Forget travel to the other games until I retire. They are just to far.
I like what is going on with our league, but it is hard to establish rivalries when your average fan can make one or two away games a year.
In the Big XII the horns can day trip it to OU, OSU, BU, TCU. It helps get the rivalries going. SEC and BIG 10 are the same way. Hopefully tv will trump all because it is our one advantage over the G5s.

Cincinnati's closest "rival" is Memphis, and that's an eight hour drive. At least we're not UConn.

Cincy is a good fit for the Mac

(09-28-2015 09:23 AM)Bull Wrote:  I think the days of a 'bus' league, with conferences arranged for geographical convenience and to keep travel costs down are long over. With cheap flights, other priorities drive conference affiliation. But it's good if schools can have at least one fairly close rival. Obviously, USF and UCF fit this definition. I think other AAC 'pairs' will develop good rivalries over time.

This is the model the PAC has used for years

Yup... it looks like the only schools that are really getting screwed as far as having a couple of driveable rivalries are Cincy & ECU. No close drives for either of them.

Solution:

AAC trades Cincy to B-12 for Kansas who will remain awful in football, but pay for itself in basketball

AAC trades ECU to ACC for Miami who sets up a nice triangle rivalry down in Florida.

(09-28-2015 09:59 AM)200yrs2late Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 09:57 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  There are options for filling in the footprint and creating more drivable games. Texas State, UTSA, Arky St, ULL, La Tech---there are all large public schools that might aid in creating more rivalries and drivable games in the west. UMass, Old Dominion, Army, Buffalo, Georgia Southern, JMU, FIU, FAU, etc- are all schools that could do the same in the eastern division. I just don't think the benefits of these type adds out weighs dividing the revenue pie more ways.

Yeah... I wouldn't add any of those. Let's just get our 12 teams competing at a higher level and let the distance worry about itself.

None of thos teams are worth adding. All the conferences are stretched out geographically now. Missouri is in the SEC, Syracuse and Fla St in the ACC, how far is USC from Utah? And so on and so on.

The AAC is fine with the 12 teams we have. Keep rolling and win.

Makes a lot more sense than CUSA did. Memphis is now in the west. No UTEP. Florida twins work as travel partners.

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(09-28-2015 10:13 AM)CalallenStang Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 09:23 AM)Bull Wrote:  I think the days of a 'bus' league, with conferences arranged for geographical convenience and to keep travel costs down are long over. With cheap flights, other priorities drive conference affiliation. But it's good if schools can have at least one fairly close rival. Obviously, USF and UCF fit this definition. I think other AAC 'pairs' will develop good rivalries over time.

This is the model the PAC has used for years

If the Pac wanted a bus conf they would have invited byu instead of Colorado... Or CSU instead of Utah.