[quote='jskwrite' pid='12503701' dateline='1444937731']
I think the problem with the AAC is they haven't had one team become dominant like Boise has in the MWC. UCF and Cincinnati were the closest but Cincy peaked too long ago and UCF didn't peak long enough. Memphis had their first winning season in nearly a decade last year... so I can't put them there. Houston is on the upside but they still have only one quality win in the last couple

Excuse me, Cincinnati was the conference co-champion just last year and has won conference championships 5 of the last 7 seasons. Other than Ohio State and Boise State, has any other school had that level of success over the last 7-8 years.

Liberty

I think the American should actually just focus on talking to Air Force...they'd be a great addition to the conference

Air Force for #13

Again only BYU, Air Force or Army.

(10-16-2015 11:07 AM)Savacool Wrote:  Again only BYU, Air Force or Army.

I'd take Wichita State in Basketball if they show continued success in the 16-17 season.

(10-16-2015 09:34 AM)EvilVodka Wrote:  I think the American should actually just focus on talking to Air Force...they'd be a great addition to the conference

Air Force for #13

I disagree. Other than a compelling match up for Navy, they bring very little to the conference. Their athletic department typically runs a massive deficit funded by the taxpayer. Last year they had the #3 highest deficit at $30.9 million.

They have a very small fan base and wouldn't bring much of anything to the TV contract. Before BSU bolted the planned Big East, I would have agreed with the idea of adding them, now not so much. Unless Army came along & they tried to use the CIC competition to enhance the TV deal, AF alone doesn't bring much to the table.

(10-16-2015 09:34 AM)EvilVodka Wrote:  I think the American should actually just focus on talking to Air Force...they'd be a great addition to the conference

Air Force for #13

Air Force would be a great addition. But, they're not going to easily give up three bus-travel road games in all their Olympic sports (CSU, Wyoming, New Mexico).

But, here's how you could realistically do it.

Step 1
Invite Air Force, CSU, New Mexico

Step 2
Invite Boise St., SDSU, and UNLV

Before you flame away...

- Air Force to the AMERICAN is a perfect branding play. To have two military academies and the red, white, and blue AAC creates so much synergy, it's hard to overlook the potential. With CSU and New Mexico in the mix, AFA now has every reason to join.

- CSU and AFA deliver the #17 media market and its nearly 1.6 million TV households (more than Orlando and Baltimore).

- CSU is building a new state-of-art on-campus stadium that will seat over 40,000. http://stadium.colostate.edu/

- New Mexico is a state flagship that delivers a top-50 (and fast growing) Albuquerque media market and its 662K TV households (more than Memphis and New Orleans).

- With AFA, CSU, and New Mexico looking to the AAC, SDSU will be in and Boise St. and UNLV will easily follow.

- SDSU delivers a top-30 media market and over 1 million TV households (more than Hartford and Cincinnati and just below Baltimore and Raleigh-Durham). IMO, if the Chargers leave San Diego, SDSU's value sky rockets!

- UNLV delivers the top-40 Las Vegas market and its 736K TV households (similar to Austin).

- UNLV is planning a new state-of-art football stadium near the Strip with 45K seating capacity. http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com...the-strip/

- Las Vegas is building a brand new state-of-art arena that will hold nearly 19K for basketball. Perfect venue for some AAC bball tournament games: http://arenalasvegas.com/home.aspx

- UNLV and New Mexico have the highest AD budgets in the MWC. In fact, here is what the new AAC AD budgets would look like (based on 2013 numbers):

UNLV - $64M
UConn - $63M
Cincinnati - $61M
SMU - $52M
USF - $47M
Memphis - $46M
New Mexico - $44M
Navy - $44M
Boise St. - $43M
Houston - $42M
Temple - $41M
UCF - $41M
SDSU - $39M
AFA - $39M
ECU - $35M
CSU - $35M
Tulsa - $42M
Tulane - $29M

- This move decimates the MWC, leaving it with only 6 schools. The MWC would likely back-fill with NMSU and Idaho to get to 8. I'm not sure that the new MWC could attract anyone from C-USA or elsewhere - may be some Big Sky call-ups....

This allows the AAC to place a tight grip on the NY6 access bowl game.

- With 6 new schools, you can simply add a new 6-team division to the current AAC structure:

WEST: AFA, Boise St., CSU, New Mexico, UNLV, SDSU
CENTRAL: Navy, Houston, SMU, Tulsa, Memphis, Tulane
EAST: UConn, Temple, Cincinnati, ECU, UCF, USF

So, minimal disruption to the current schedule formats. For instance, Cincinnati would still play ECU, UConn, Temple, UCF, and USF. But you might replace Tulsa or Houston with SDSU or Air Force. Not really a big deal. Similarly, Memphis would still play Navy, Houston, SMU, Tulsa, and Tulane. You might switch out USF or Temple for UNLV or Boise St. Again, little interruption to the status quo.

And, in the West, Air Force still plays CSU, New Mexico, Boise St., and Navy each year - plus SDSU and UNLV. The only changes to the Falcons' schedule would be switching out Wyoming, Utah St., and perhaps Hawaii or SJSU for the likes of Houston, Memphis, and UConn (not a bad trade!)

The conference championship could be the best two teams (ie, divisions are for scheduling purposes only) or the best two division winners or - with deregulation - it could lead to a 4-team conference championship mini-tournament.

- With 18 teams, the AAC's game inventory increases to about 108 games. That's 50% more inventory. The inventory includes most of the very best TV ratings outside of the P5 (more on that below). The lineup of games for a new AAC TV deal become extremely attractive and a conference TV network becomes very feasible. And the AAC would enjoy direct access to: #3 Philadelphia, #5 DFW, #7 Washington DC, #10 Houston, #11 Tampa, #17 Denver, #19 Orlando, #28 San Diego, #30 Hartford, #36 Cincinnati, #40 Las Vegas, #48 Albuquerque, #50 Memphis, and #51 New Orleans, and #60 Tulsa.

Step 3
Align with BYU, Army, and UMass.

BYU and Army desire to keep their football independent for the time being. So, why align?

1) BYU and Army also grab some of the very best TV ratings outside of the P5. Their road games at AAC venues will be part of the AAC TV contract.

2) There's already a healthy amount of crossover. Army already plays Navy and AFA annually and often against Temple, UConn, and Tulane. BYU already plays Boise St. annually, has played a healthy slate of AAC the past few years, and would love to rekindle relationships with AFA, SDSU, CSU.

3) Improvement of BOWL AFFILIATIONS. BYU struggles with its bowl affiliations. The AAC's bowl slate is pretty lackluster.

The new American aligned with BYU, Army, and UMass can have an improved and immense bowl lineup. With the AAC West teams and BYU and Army, you could almost certainly have a lineup like this:

NY6 Acces Bowl - virtually guaranteed
Military (v. ACC/Notre Dame)
Las Vegas (v. PAC 12)
Armed Forces (v. B1G)
Heart of Dallas (v. Big 12)
Birmingham (v. SEC)
St. Petersburg (v. ACC/CUSA)
Poinsettia v. (PAC 12/MWC/CUSA)
Hawaii v. (PAC 12/MWC/CUSA)
Miami Beach (v. CUSA)
New Mexico (v. MWC/CUSA)
Boca Raton (v. MAC)
Idaho (v. MAC)
Cure (v. Sun Belt)

That's the NY6 bowl game plus 6 or 7 other bowls against P5 competition!

You could have some scenarios where the lesser matchups (Poinsettia and below) could occasionally be AAC v. Army/BYU (instead of v. MWC or CUSA).

4) Both BYU and UMass would be excellent adds to AAC Olympic sports. The alignment could include BYU and/or UMass Olympic sports, especially men's basketball. BYU would definitely enhance play in the AAC West basketball. BYU has strong basketball rivalries with SDSU, UNLV, and UNM that should be re-ignited.

UMass could be a perfect basketball fit with UConn, Temple, and Cincinnati. And, the Northeast a hotbed for college basketball.

This could be a 9-10 bid basketball conference!

One idea would be to have a basketball alignment like this:

EAST (7): UConn, Temple, Cincinnati, ECU, UCF, USF, UMass

CENTRAL (5): Memphis, Tulane, Houston, SMU, Tulsa

WEST (7): Air Force, CSU, New Mexico, Boise St., SDSU, UNLV, BYU

The East and West would play 12 intra-division games and 6 cross-overs (3 against each other division). The Central would play 8 intra-division games and 10 cross-overs (5 against each other division). Or, whatever is needed to make the math work.

The game inventory for the new AAC media contract and AAC TV network could be unreal!

The AAC bball tournament could rotate among New York, Las Vegas, and another location (DFW? New Orleans?)