(04-19-2018 09:13 AM)Fthechips Wrote:  

(04-19-2018 08:35 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(04-18-2018 09:49 PM)Fthechips Wrote:  

(04-18-2018 09:36 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(04-18-2018 08:02 PM)Kruciff Wrote:  There are a handful that would be moderately competitive but the MAC teams would add zero value. They don't bring any relevancy, no fanbase, no tv numbers, aren't in any sizeable markets (top 20) and wouldn't increase the tv contracts at all.

Like I said the MAC is definitely underrated in terms of on field performance, the teams are usually good. But no one cares. They have their close regional rivalries which is best for them.

No fan bases? Look at Toledo, WMU, NIU, all have formidable fan bases. Toledo averaged 20,000 fans this year, WMU averaged 23,000 fans two years ago, UCF went undefeated and plays very desirable opponents in a huge metro area and only averaged 36k fans this year. The MAC is not all that far off from the AAC or at least not as much as you like to think it is. As for the media market, take WMU for example, it is in the Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids market ranked 44th,which is above Memphis(51), Tulsa(58), and Wichita(66) so I’m not really sure the whole TV market is really a formidable argument.

36,000 vs. 20,000 is almost a 100% difference. Take into account that UCF's 3 highest attended games in 2017 exceed every MAC stadium capacity by 10,000, and there really is no comparison.
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Not sure how that’s a valid argument when Tulsa and Tulane have 30,000 seat stadiums.

im not a fan of their addition either but they are already here. At least new orleans is an awesome city to visit and Tulane is an academic elite. Sorry, 20K average for football is not good in any respect. And thats the top of the league for you guys.

Not sure where your 26K number came from but when UCF went 0-12 and had nothing to cheer for we still averaged 30K. Thats a fan base AAC would be looking for to add to our current lineup. As I said the MAC is a nice league with a handful competitive teams but they have no fanbase (20K is not good) and no real potential to increase their fanbases.

MAC fans should just enjoy playing their close regional rivalries. I think MAC attendance would go down if they had to play teams from 1000 miles away that their fans have nothing in common with.

Going back to realignment MAC has had the worst attendance among all 10 division 1 conferences with a paltry 15K average. So no, adding mac teams in tiny markets with no fanbases would not help the AAC at all. Sorry to be so blunt.

Once again, not tiny markets, and the MAC attendance average gets skewed pretty badly due to MACTION, when we have to play our rivalry games on a Wednesday night at 8pm in mid November, that hurts our attendance numbers pretty bad. Also, you have schools like Ball St and EMU that average under 10k fans a lot of the time. The MAC is definitely a top heavy league.

True i'll grant you that MACTION impacts attendance. I do love watching those games though. But the fan bases are tiny, and yes averaging 15K as western michigan does is not at all appealing and neither is a sub top 40 market ranking.