(03-30-2015 09:50 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  I don't think the Academies will be able to keep up with that effort nor will they want to. That is why the inclusion of the academies is a nice feeling ideal but I don't think it is very realistic.

I believe the academies would be an important part of the New American.

1) Bringing the three military academies together and the Commander-In-Chief trophy into a single conference is tremendous branding for the AMERICAN conference!

2) 2014 Army/Navy game = 4.1 TV rating and 2014 Air Force/Army game = 1.1 TV rating. Those were among the best television ratings for any college football games that did not involve a Power 5 institution. To have the Commander-In-Chief trophy winner eligible for a possible conference championship berth would keep TV eye balls on the academies.

3) Army, Navy, and Air Force already play each other annually, so the Military division is low-hanging fruit. But, the military academies could still fit in well as part of the 20-team conference with four 5-team divisions.

4) Not only do the academies play each other:
- Air Force already plays most of the teams in the West,
- Navy will annually play almost all of the teams in the Central (starting this September),
- Army fits in the East geography and has recent matchups with UConn and Temple.

So, only minor changes to the academies' current scheduling philosophies. In fact, Air Force and Navy would have more scheduling flexibility to play the Big Boys under the proposed scenario than the Fall 2015 status quo.

Kittonhead Wrote:  1) For Boise to be involved the American grande would have to project at least double. Boise hung in the BE for a while thinking they could get 6-7 million but at 3-4 they were willing to take their chances with the MWC.

2) Without Boise State in the American Grande you don't have the strongest G5 conference. The conference with Boise State is the strongest G5 conference. Remember how Boise carried the hapless WAC all by themselves, well they could do that with any other group of schools....NMSU and Idaho again if they wanted.

Totally agree that including Boise St. would make this the strongest G5 conference, without hesitation. They grab ratings and win BCS/NY6 bowl games.

However, I don't think Boise St. would need to see their revenue double to be tempted to join. If SDSU, Air Force, Colorado St., Fresno St., and UNLV are leaving the MWC, Boise St. ain't hangin' around in the MWC with Nevada and Utah St.

And, the New American would grab everyone better paying TV contracts than either the MWC or AAC currently get on their own.

Kittonhead Wrote:  3) Bowls are better in smaller regional conferences when you can line up games against different regions rather than playing CUSA and SBC 3 times a piece in bowl games.

4) The G5 leagues would be better with 10-12 in FB and 14-16 in basketball. This way you don't over saturate football while doubling down in basketball within the footprint.

This is a pretty sweet lineup:

Bowl Games:
- NY6 (Fiesta, Peach, or Cotton) - almost de facto for American Champ
- Military v. ACC
- Las Vegas v. PAC 12
- Birmingham v. SEC
- St. Petersburg v. ACC
- Armed Forces v. Big 12
- Poinsettia v. MWC
- Miami Beach v. C-USA
- Bahamas v. MAC
- Little Rock (apparently) v. Sun Belt
- Famous Idaho Potato v. MAC
- New Orleans v. Sun Belt
- Alternate: Cactus Bowl (v. Big 12/PAC 12) and Independence Bowl (v. SEC/ACC)

Six bowl games against Power conference opponents in varied corners of the country - with the possibility of Eight, if serving as an alternate. Lower bowl affiliations also in varied corners of the country, for good local matchups against the C-USA, Sun Belt, and MWC leftovers.