(10-11-2021 09:50 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

That's not really true at the G5 level, or Marshall wouldn't have left their bus-league buddies in the MAC.

Even better example than the Sun-Belt I mentioned. Couldn't have a more regional conference and they draw flies even when they aren't playing midweek games. Playing regional doesn't create a fan base. You either have the ability to build that regardless of opponent or you don't.

(10-11-2021 09:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:50 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

That's not really true at the G5 level, or Marshall wouldn't have left their bus-league buddies in the MAC.

Even better example than the Sun-Belt I mentioned. Couldn't have a more regional conference and they draw flies even when they aren't playing midweek games. Playing regional doesn't create a fan base. You either have the ability to build that regardless of opponent or you don't.

There's a regional cultural difference (and winter weather difference) between MAC schools and anything south of Kentucky that's not being factored into your point.

(10-11-2021 10:29 AM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:50 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

That's not really true at the G5 level, or Marshall wouldn't have left their bus-league buddies in the MAC.

Even better example than the Sun-Belt I mentioned. Couldn't have a more regional conference and they draw flies even when they aren't playing midweek games. Playing regional doesn't create a fan base. You either have the ability to build that regardless of opponent or you don't.

There's a regional cultural difference (and winter weather difference) between MAC schools and anything south of Kentucky that's not being factored into your point.

If regional rivals created butts in the seats where's the attendance in the Sun-Belt west at? Schools that have no fan bases aren't going to magically have them just because you lump all the ones closest to each other together. This is going to sound arrogant but I really don't care, I get why Charlotte/App/ODU/Coastal would love to have ECU in their league. ECU has a proven history of brining fans to opposing teams stadiums, and ECU has enough of a regional name that those would be big crowds and probably sell outs at each of your stadiums. It doesn't go the other way though. App would bring fans pretty consistently, but the rest of you most likely wouldn't bring an appreciable number of fans, and wouldn't inspire any regional interest that would draw out anymore ECU fans than normally come for insert conference opponent currently.

(10-11-2021 10:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 10:29 AM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:50 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

That's not really true at the G5 level, or Marshall wouldn't have left their bus-league buddies in the MAC.

Even better example than the Sun-Belt I mentioned. Couldn't have a more regional conference and they draw flies even when they aren't playing midweek games. Playing regional doesn't create a fan base. You either have the ability to build that regardless of opponent or you don't.

There's a regional cultural difference (and winter weather difference) between MAC schools and anything south of Kentucky that's not being factored into your point.

If regional rivals created butts in the seats where's the attendance in the Sun-Belt west at? Schools that have no fan bases aren't going to magically have them just because you lump all the ones closest to each other together. This is going to sound arrogant but I really don't care, I get why Charlotte/App/ODU/Coastal would love to have ECU in their league. ECU has a proven history of brining fans to opposing teams stadiums, and ECU has enough of a regional name that those would be big crowds and probably sell outs at each of your stadiums. It doesn't go the other way though. App would bring fans pretty consistently, but the rest of you most likely wouldn't bring an appreciable number of fans, and wouldn't inspire any regional interest that would draw out anymore ECU fans than normally come for insert conference opponent currently.

Who are you losing that brings "an appreciable number of fans" now to Dowdy-Ficklen?

Who in the AAC "remainers" currently bringing "an appreciable number of fans"?

What exactly is "an appreciable number of fans" to ECU fans?

It's Monday. What time is the show?

(10-11-2021 10:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  If regional rivals created butts in the seats where's the attendance in the Sun-Belt west at? Schools that have no fan bases aren't going to magically have them just because you lump all the ones closest to each other together. ...

If playing regional rivals bumps attendance by 10%-20% and if you are already drawing 25,000, that's a lot bigger impact than if it bumps attendance by 5%, you are struggling to draw 10,000 and have to have some kind of sponsorship ticket purchase deal to hit the FBS "number of tickets sold" requirement.

The travel cost benefits, if they are available, are a more certain than the attendance benefits ... and of course, University Presidents tend to like as much certainty as they can get.

(10-11-2021 11:22 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  It's Monday. What time is the show?

What do you mean? This IS the Show? Are you not entertained?

(10-11-2021 11:22 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  It's Monday. What time is the show?

I've been keeping an eye on Dodd's twitter account to see if he'll tweet anything about start time but as of now I've not seen anywhere that lists when this presentation is suppose to begin

(10-11-2021 11:16 AM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 10:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 10:29 AM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:50 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  That's not really true at the G5 level, or Marshall wouldn't have left their bus-league buddies in the MAC.

Even better example than the Sun-Belt I mentioned. Couldn't have a more regional conference and they draw flies even when they aren't playing midweek games. Playing regional doesn't create a fan base. You either have the ability to build that regardless of opponent or you don't.

There's a regional cultural difference (and winter weather difference) between MAC schools and anything south of Kentucky that's not being factored into your point.

If regional rivals created butts in the seats where's the attendance in the Sun-Belt west at? Schools that have no fan bases aren't going to magically have them just because you lump all the ones closest to each other together. This is going to sound arrogant but I really don't care, I get why Charlotte/App/ODU/Coastal would love to have ECU in their league. ECU has a proven history of brining fans to opposing teams stadiums, and ECU has enough of a regional name that those would be big crowds and probably sell outs at each of your stadiums. It doesn't go the other way though. App would bring fans pretty consistently, but the rest of you most likely wouldn't bring an appreciable number of fans, and wouldn't inspire any regional interest that would draw out anymore ECU fans than normally come for insert conference opponent currently.

Who are you losing that bring "an appreciable number of fans" now to Dowdy-Ficklen?

Who in the AAC "remainers" currently bring "an appreciable number of fans"?

What exactly is "an appreciable number of fans" to ECU fans?

1. None
2. Navy maybe but that's about it
3. I'd say at least 3k. Enough that you'd actually at least fill the visitor sections buying full price tickets instead of ECU attempting to sell super discounts to fill those seats.

When ECU travels to Charlotte in 2024 that's going to break whatever your current attendance record is and you'll charge higher ticket prices for that game than any game on your schedule. When you travel to Greenville in 2025 realistically attendance is gonna look roughly the same as any other non-P5 team we play at home and we'll charge whatever we do for conference games not the premium price we will for "name opponents." I think App is a little different. We've only played them 2 times at home in modern history and the 2 games did exceed the average attendance numbers (2012 the season average was 47k and App game had 49k, 2009 season average was just under 42k and game was a legit sellout of just over 43k).

(10-11-2021 11:28 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 10:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  If regional rivals created butts in the seats where's the attendance in the Sun-Belt west at? Schools that have no fan bases aren't going to magically have them just because you lump all the ones closest to each other together. ...

If playing regional rivals bumps attendance by 10%-20% [b]and if you are already drawing 25,000[/b], that's a lot bigger impact than if it bumps attendance by 5%, you are struggling to draw 10,000 and have to have some kind of sponsorship ticket purchase deal to hit the FBS "number of tickets sold" requirement.

The travel cost benefits, if they are available, are a more certain than the attendance benefits ... and of course, University Presidents tend to like as much certainty as they can get.

I mean sure that's true, but who's consistently drawing 25k outside of the AAC, and what regional opponent that they aren't playing would bump that number 10-20%? ECU would legit bump the regional schools in NC/SC/VA that much, and they'd charge marked up ticket prices, so yeah I know exactly why all of them want to be in a league with ECU. App is the only one who would return the favor to ECU maybe, and as in my post above even for App you are only talking about a 1-2k difference between our average on the year and the App game in those seasons.

(10-11-2021 11:40 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 11:16 AM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 10:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 10:29 AM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:57 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  Even better example than the Sun-Belt I mentioned. Couldn't have a more regional conference and they draw flies even when they aren't playing midweek games. Playing regional doesn't create a fan base. You either have the ability to build that regardless of opponent or you don't.

There's a regional cultural difference (and winter weather difference) between MAC schools and anything south of Kentucky that's not being factored into your point.

If regional rivals created butts in the seats where's the attendance in the Sun-Belt west at? Schools that have no fan bases aren't going to magically have them just because you lump all the ones closest to each other together. This is going to sound arrogant but I really don't care, I get why Charlotte/App/ODU/Coastal would love to have ECU in their league. ECU has a proven history of brining fans to opposing teams stadiums, and ECU has enough of a regional name that those would be big crowds and probably sell outs at each of your stadiums. It doesn't go the other way though. App would bring fans pretty consistently, but the rest of you most likely wouldn't bring an appreciable number of fans, and wouldn't inspire any regional interest that would draw out anymore ECU fans than normally come for insert conference opponent currently.

Who are you losing that bring "an appreciable number of fans" now to Dowdy-Ficklen?

Who in the AAC "remainers" currently bring "an appreciable number of fans"?

What exactly is "an appreciable number of fans" to ECU fans?

1. None
2. Navy maybe but that's about it
3. I'd say at least 3k. Enough that you'd actually at least fill the visitor sections buying full price tickets instead of ECU attempting to sell super discounts to fill those seats.

When ECU travels to Charlotte in 2024 that's going to break whatever your current attendance record is and you'll charge higher ticket prices for that game than any game on your schedule. When you travel to Greenville in 2025 realistically attendance is gonna look roughly the same as any other non-P5 team we play at home and we'll charge whatever we do for conference games not the premium price we will for "name opponents." I think App is a little different. We've only played them 2 times at home in modern history and the 2 games did exceed the average attendance numbers (2012 the season average was 47k and App game had 49k, 2009 season average was just under 42k and game was a legit sellout of just over 43k).

So basically, no one you could realistically add to your conference will change your home football attendance, which seems to me to make that factor a wash, at least for ECU, at least in the short term?

That would seem to me that your university leaders will be defaulting to other factors in who they would want in a conference. Such as, Olympic sports travel costs, TV revenue, NCAA bid distributions,....ect.

At the end of the day, whatever adds money or saves money would seem to be a priority in realignment.

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating a personal position on this topic. I can see benefits and deterrents to both a "national" level conference and a regionalized conference.

Amazing how people are making arguments for their school to be in the American, as if fan board advocacy makes one iota difference. The brutal reality is not one of these schools is a flagship, and excepting Rice, not one is an AAU school --and nobody much is advocating for them. Most are safety schools not preferred first destinations. Power status is forever beyond the reach of these schools. And aspiration for power status is what the AAC is about. Paraphrasing Frank the Tank, none of these schools add anything, they are all the same, back fill. Back fill to make the contractual numbers (IIRC 40 football games, a CCG and at least 72 basketball games) which needs 10 schools to meet. Being reasonably competitive in football AND basketball, very accessible (i.e., near a major airport) and in good recruiting zone (lots of quality HS recruits within a 50 mile radius) are the criteria. But all that is besides the point.

The real issue here is the meeting today, the pitch by Delaney to CUSA Presidents and Chancellors. And the real question is how many of the CEO's schools are negotiating a unilateral exit to the American or Sun Belt to be announced in a few weeks time? It's a meeting that ha;f the attendees see as at best plan B. Somebody should make a drawing depicting that.

(10-11-2021 09:50 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

That's not really true at the G5 level, or Marshall wouldn't have left their bus-league buddies in the MAC.

We left the MAC because at the time the MAC only had two bowl bids and we were only receiving a $30k payout per season from the conference. Also Marshall recruits the Southeast and the majority of our Alumni Clubs are in the Southeast.

(10-11-2021 09:49 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 08:58 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 08:56 AM)All4One Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 04:40 AM)AuzGrams Wrote:  

(10-10-2021 10:22 PM)All4One Wrote:  The SEC is pushing to do away with the 2-division format for their league. They are investigating the potential of a 4-quad pod system, but the scheduling logistics seem challenging for the NCAA.

WAC.

Except the SEC has the money to make it work, and the conference footprint is much tighter than what the far-flung 16-team WAC had.

How are pods different than what the WAC did? You’d just be matching four with four. A conference could scramble its divisions up every season if they wanted.

The main difference is that the 16 team WAC wasn't generating the kind of money and success to quiet down complaints about losing rivalries. And the SEC went from 10 to 12 to 14 to 16 in 1992 to 2012 to 2025 or so, not from 9 to 16 from 1992 to 1996. You're not going to see an Airport Meeting of the old-line SEC schools who all of a sudden don't like what they've gotten into.

I understand. What I’m saying is people talk about pods like they’re some new invention when they aren’t.

(10-11-2021 09:45 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(10-10-2021 09:42 PM)seaking4steel Wrote:  

(10-10-2021 07:54 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  

(10-10-2021 06:51 PM)seaking4steel Wrote:  

(10-10-2021 06:34 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  None of the candidates has great TV audience, they'd all be at or near the bottom of the AAC; it hardly matters if one has 300K fans per game and another 175K, it's too small to matter. Further none of these schools matches the AAC average budget, and some schools people here list are closer to half the budget size.

Given that reality these schools are back fill mostly. That favors airports and recruiting territories. Without a doubt FAU and UTSA win that. That Charlotte has traction says that ECU is too remote and rural to help with recruiting in NC. It also says that schools like App State and Marshall are not likely to be considered for that same reason. North Texas also fits, but hard to see them taken as SMU already covers DFW and north Texas. I agree that ODU and Charlotte fill the same niche. It's one or the other, not both, and ODU seems to be out of the picture.

My bet would be the American goes to 12 and the four they add are UAB, UTSA, FAU and Charlotte. But it could be they just go to 10 and it could be any two of these.

What the SBC does depends entirely upon what the American does first.

App State and Marshall got over 1 Million viewers on ESPN for a Thursday Night game (they were competing against the NFL for views too). App State and ECU got 36k in the stands in Charlotte on a Thursday night. Charlotte couldn't even sell out their small stadium when Duke came to town.

LO, it was on ESPN and the ONLY game. That's actually not a killer rating for Thursday night. Temple vs. South Florida would do that well. That weekend a bunch of games had between 3 and 6 million on Saturday.

How do they do on crowded Saturday? It's just not enough to matter at all.

If you think schools that average 23k+ in attendance like App State and Marshall won't matter, then just wait until nobody tunes in for Charlotte and UTSA.

UTSA drew like close to 30,000 when they play P5 schools.

So what? That goes for any G5 team in Texas playing a regional P5.

Rice drew 42,000 vs Texas in 2019.

(10-11-2021 09:32 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 04:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 03:59 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 03:29 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  Lol

Today, the AAC may be able to take schools from C-USA or Sun Belt. Nevertheless, the AAC has bigger worries from the B12 (e.g., Memphis, SMU and/or USF could get promotions) or the Mountain West (e.g., encroachment into Texas). The future of the AAC looks very similar to C-USA’s past…the success of individual schools make them candidates for promotion, leaving the conference increasingly unstable. In an odd analogy, conference alignment seems more like British soccer leagues. The B12 stabilized by co-opting the AAC’s strategic plan.

So what? Even with this regional plan, the P5 will still be taking from the G5 at will so any stability at that level is an illusion. Furthermore, this doesn’t create stability by lifting everyone upward—-it creates stability by taking the top conference and splitting it up in such a dilutive way that all 3 conferences are now going to get $500K a school CUSA level deals.

The basic concept has some merit—-but the only way this type of thing works is if all the schools are currently getting very similar media payouts. Under that scenario—-swapping schools around has no financial repercussions beyond cutting travel expenses. But if one group is getting 7 million a team and another is getting 400K a team—-those swaps don’t make much sense to the higher earners.

Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

A lot of the Sun-Belt schools have been playing "regional rivals" for years and don't draw fans in any significant numbers. Playing exclusively regional schools is not going to turn schools who struggle to draw 20k into schools that draw 30-40k. You pretty much either have that fan base or you don't. The only "regional" opponent for ECU that would have any actual material impact on attendance is App. Not that it would draw more ECU fans than your average conference game but they'd probably bring 3k a year to Dowdy, but no one else is gonna do that.

App State vs ECU = 36,752 (9-2-2021)
Marshall at ECU = 46,317 (11-23-2012)

(10-11-2021 12:46 PM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:32 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 04:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 03:59 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Today, the AAC may be able to take schools from C-USA or Sun Belt. Nevertheless, the AAC has bigger worries from the B12 (e.g., Memphis, SMU and/or USF could get promotions) or the Mountain West (e.g., encroachment into Texas). The future of the AAC looks very similar to C-USA’s past…the success of individual schools make them candidates for promotion, leaving the conference increasingly unstable. In an odd analogy, conference alignment seems more like British soccer leagues. The B12 stabilized by co-opting the AAC’s strategic plan.

So what? Even with this regional plan, the P5 will still be taking from the G5 at will so any stability at that level is an illusion. Furthermore, this doesn’t create stability by lifting everyone upward—-it creates stability by taking the top conference and splitting it up in such a dilutive way that all 3 conferences are now going to get $500K a school CUSA level deals.

The basic concept has some merit—-but the only way this type of thing works is if all the schools are currently getting very similar media payouts. Under that scenario—-swapping schools around has no financial repercussions beyond cutting travel expenses. But if one group is getting 7 million a team and another is getting 400K a team—-those swaps don’t make much sense to the higher earners.

Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

A lot of the Sun-Belt schools have been playing "regional rivals" for years and don't draw fans in any significant numbers. Playing exclusively regional schools is not going to turn schools who struggle to draw 20k into schools that draw 30-40k. You pretty much either have that fan base or you don't. The only "regional" opponent for ECU that would have any actual material impact on attendance is App. Not that it would draw more ECU fans than your average conference game but they'd probably bring 3k a year to Dowdy, but no one else is gonna do that.

App State vs ECU = 36,752 (9-2-2021)
Marshall at ECU = 46,317 (11-23-2012)

The dates are far enough apart that you really can't compare the two (I was at that game in 2012). Almost all of college football attendance is trending downward, which is what that comparison really indicates, given the time difference.

Also, the 2021 game was 4 hours from ECU's home stadium.

(10-11-2021 12:46 PM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:32 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 04:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 03:59 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Today, the AAC may be able to take schools from C-USA or Sun Belt. Nevertheless, the AAC has bigger worries from the B12 (e.g., Memphis, SMU and/or USF could get promotions) or the Mountain West (e.g., encroachment into Texas). The future of the AAC looks very similar to C-USA’s past…the success of individual schools make them candidates for promotion, leaving the conference increasingly unstable. In an odd analogy, conference alignment seems more like British soccer leagues. The B12 stabilized by co-opting the AAC’s strategic plan.

So what? Even with this regional plan, the P5 will still be taking from the G5 at will so any stability at that level is an illusion. Furthermore, this doesn’t create stability by lifting everyone upward—-it creates stability by taking the top conference and splitting it up in such a dilutive way that all 3 conferences are now going to get $500K a school CUSA level deals.

The basic concept has some merit—-but the only way this type of thing works is if all the schools are currently getting very similar media payouts. Under that scenario—-swapping schools around has no financial repercussions beyond cutting travel expenses. But if one group is getting 7 million a team and another is getting 400K a team—-those swaps don’t make much sense to the higher earners.

Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

A lot of the Sun-Belt schools have been playing "regional rivals" for years and don't draw fans in any significant numbers. Playing exclusively regional schools is not going to turn schools who struggle to draw 20k into schools that draw 30-40k. You pretty much either have that fan base or you don't. The only "regional" opponent for ECU that would have any actual material impact on attendance is App. Not that it would draw more ECU fans than your average conference game but they'd probably bring 3k a year to Dowdy, but no one else is gonna do that.

App State vs ECU = 36,752 (9-2-2021)
Marshall at ECU = 46,317 (11-23-2012)

The Marshall vs ECU statistic seems cherry-picked. Is it because it’s the last game at East Carolina? If so, I don’t think that number is high because of Marshall but because of East Carolina fans.

East Carolina at Marshall, 9/18/21, attendance = 24,833 (full capacity = 38,227) / 65% full
Charleston Southern at East Carolina, 9/25/21, attendance = 39,218 (full capacity = 51,000) / 77% full

(10-11-2021 12:46 PM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:32 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 04:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 03:59 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Today, the AAC may be able to take schools from C-USA or Sun Belt. Nevertheless, the AAC has bigger worries from the B12 (e.g., Memphis, SMU and/or USF could get promotions) or the Mountain West (e.g., encroachment into Texas). The future of the AAC looks very similar to C-USA’s past…the success of individual schools make them candidates for promotion, leaving the conference increasingly unstable. In an odd analogy, conference alignment seems more like British soccer leagues. The B12 stabilized by co-opting the AAC’s strategic plan.

So what? Even with this regional plan, the P5 will still be taking from the G5 at will so any stability at that level is an illusion. Furthermore, this doesn’t create stability by lifting everyone upward—-it creates stability by taking the top conference and splitting it up in such a dilutive way that all 3 conferences are now going to get $500K a school CUSA level deals.

The basic concept has some merit—-but the only way this type of thing works is if all the schools are currently getting very similar media payouts. Under that scenario—-swapping schools around has no financial repercussions beyond cutting travel expenses. But if one group is getting 7 million a team and another is getting 400K a team—-those swaps don’t make much sense to the higher earners.

Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

A lot of the Sun-Belt schools have been playing "regional rivals" for years and don't draw fans in any significant numbers. Playing exclusively regional schools is not going to turn schools who struggle to draw 20k into schools that draw 30-40k. You pretty much either have that fan base or you don't. The only "regional" opponent for ECU that would have any actual material impact on attendance is App. Not that it would draw more ECU fans than your average conference game but they'd probably bring 3k a year to Dowdy, but no one else is gonna do that.

App State vs ECU = 36,752 (9-2-2021)
Marshall at ECU = 46,317 (11-23-2012)

App vs ECU in 2021 was in Charlotte, a completely pointless comparison. A better but not perfect comparison would be Marshall at ECU in 2012 vs App at ECU in 2012. App vs ECU that year on 9/1/2012 drew 49,023. So basically 3k more than Marshall at ECU, of which I'd probably say the difference was App fans showing up in far larger numbers than Marshall fans. App would make an actual difference on the ECU bottom line playing every year, but that can be solved by ECU just offering to play App every year in football and App moving heaven and earth to make it happen. That doesn't require being in a league with a bunch regional schools that wouldn't impact attendance in any way. Just another comparison, UTEP at ECU on 9/29/2012 had attendance of 47,817. On the season in 2012 ECU averaged 47,013, more than the Marshall-ECU game. You guys don't appreciably impact ECU's attendance in any positive way.

(10-11-2021 12:46 PM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:32 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-11-2021 09:19 AM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 04:50 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-09-2021 03:59 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Today, the AAC may be able to take schools from C-USA or Sun Belt. Nevertheless, the AAC has bigger worries from the B12 (e.g., Memphis, SMU and/or USF could get promotions) or the Mountain West (e.g., encroachment into Texas). The future of the AAC looks very similar to C-USA’s past…the success of individual schools make them candidates for promotion, leaving the conference increasingly unstable. In an odd analogy, conference alignment seems more like British soccer leagues. The B12 stabilized by co-opting the AAC’s strategic plan.

So what? Even with this regional plan, the P5 will still be taking from the G5 at will so any stability at that level is an illusion. Furthermore, this doesn’t create stability by lifting everyone upward—-it creates stability by taking the top conference and splitting it up in such a dilutive way that all 3 conferences are now going to get $500K a school CUSA level deals.

The basic concept has some merit—-but the only way this type of thing works is if all the schools are currently getting very similar media payouts. Under that scenario—-swapping schools around has no financial repercussions beyond cutting travel expenses. But if one group is getting 7 million a team and another is getting 400K a team—-those swaps don’t make much sense to the higher earners.

Playing more regional rivals creates more fan interest and ticket sales. So more butts in seats over the entire season can be a nice financial bump at the end of the year.

A lot of the Sun-Belt schools have been playing "regional rivals" for years and don't draw fans in any significant numbers. Playing exclusively regional schools is not going to turn schools who struggle to draw 20k into schools that draw 30-40k. You pretty much either have that fan base or you don't. The only "regional" opponent for ECU that would have any actual material impact on attendance is App. Not that it would draw more ECU fans than your average conference game but they'd probably bring 3k a year to Dowdy, but no one else is gonna do that.

App State vs ECU = 36,752 (9-2-2021)
Marshall at ECU = 46,317 (11-23-2012)

App State at ECU = 49,023 (9-1-2012)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_East_...tball_team

So in 2012, when App State was FCS, they "brought more fans" to ECU than mighty rival Marshall did.