(10-15-2021 09:55 AM)Gakusei Wrote:  

(10-15-2021 07:52 AM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote:  I don’t believe I would consider UTSA at all. I honestly don’t understand their appeal? Maybe someone can better explain it to me... Their facilities are terrible..., and they have no fan base. Respectfully, I just don’t see their appeal at all as an athletic addition. However, adding UTSA to retain the San Antonio market would be like adding Georgia State to get into the Atlanta market. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Not really sure your arguments make any sense either. I edited your last paragraph to show why.

Yeah, I suppose that’s fair on certain levels but those are not schools of 4000 students. They have much larger undergraduate enrollments, which in time could lead to much larger followings.

Rice is now exactly what it was 10, 20 and 30 years ago, and what it will be 10, 20 and 30 years from now. There just aren’t enough Rice alumni and even fewer who are still in Houston.

I don’t think you’re taking Georgia State to capture the Atlanta market. I don’t think you’re taking UTSA to capture Texas. However, you are betting on two very young programs that have grown a fair amount in a short period of time and are decent bets to continue to grow. You can make no case for Rice.

As far as App State and Marshall, they are safer choices but their ceilings are each so low that I just don’t think it’s worth it.

Full disclosure: I’m not an AAC fan, I’m just interested in this more as a theoretical exercise than anything else. However, the idea here is to elevate your league — or at least maintain its current status as the clear leader among the non-Power Five leagues. I don’t think you can do that by adding rural outposts like Huntington or Boone; and I know you can’t do it by taking on charity cases like Rice.