(01-25-2019 12:58 AM)solohawks Wrote: Interesting topic. The P5 conferences and any conference with a major TV deal would most likely require you be either all in or all out, Notre Dame not withstanding, since there TV deals were for more than just basketball and football.
Ideally a conference like the AAC would just be for revenue sports. So, for example, ECU wouldn't have to send their volleyball team to Texas every year and could enter a regional pool with SoCon, Big South, and Southern CAA, CUSA, and SunBelt schools.
However, as stated, most non FBS conferences have wisely self regionalzied, the CAA not withstanding, so outside of CUSA, Sunbelt, and AAC it's hard to see what would change
With Idaho and NMSU not being renewed the MWC doesn’t share a state with any other G5 conference but does share New Mexico with independent NMSU.
The MAC shares Ohio with the AAC and New York with independent Army.
After that it gets messy.
Texas AAC, CUSA, Sun Belt
Oklahoma AAC
Arkansas Sun Belt
Louisiana AAC CUSA Sun Belt
Mississippi CUSA
Tennessee AAC CUSA
Kentucky CUSA
Alabama CUSA Sun Belt
Georgia Sun Belt
Florida AAC CUSA
South Carolina Sun Belt
North Carolina AAC CUSA Sun Belt
Virginia CUSA and independent Liberty
West Virginia CUSA
Pennsylvania AAC
Connecticut AAC
Three states with three G5 leagues. Three with two G5 leagues.
The problem is much of the messiness is incurable. The Arkstfan rule of realignment comes into play. When you aren’t in survival mode you want conference mates who are close but not too close. You don’t want to compete with conference mates for the attention of the same newspapers and television stations and the same pool of potential ticket buyers. You cannot avoid bumping heads in recruiting but you don’t want to share your local base with a conference rival.
SMU and UNT aren’t going to align except in crisis. Houston has twice voluntarily ended affiliation with Rice. When ULM and La Tech were affiliated in the Southland ULM improved and seemed to do so at the expense of Tech. It seems unlikely that UTSA and Texas State easily affiliate again TXST wouldn’t turn down CUSA with the other Texas schools but would probably prefer to not do so with UTSA and UTSA isn’t going to be the leading advocate for TXST. UTEP resisted adding NMSU to the WAC until they were needed for survival then bailed at first chance.
There is no magic wand that puts those schools together except a survival crisis.