(10-13-2021 10:53 PM)Shannon Panther Wrote:  I have nothing against Marshall, but Buffalo makes a lot more sense from a viewership perspective. NY is a top 5 state in population. WV is near the bottom. A small percentage of the Buffalo market would trump the entirety of the Huntington, WV market. Buffalo has 260,000 living alumni vs Marshall who has 91,000. Buffalo has a student body of 32,000 vs Marshall's enrollment of 12,000. As far as giving Temple a geographic partner, it is a 6.5 hour drive from Temple to UB. It is 8 hours and 20 minutes from Temple to Marshall. Marshall has had better success athletically, but Buffalo has done well enough that when you look at the entire package, they seem like a good choice.

I'm not sure how much it matters to the AAC, but Buffalo is also an AAU school. I guess we'll see that did carry some real weight with them if Rice & Buffalo are both among their invitees, unless I'm missing somebody they are the only two "gettable" AAU members right now for the AAC.

(10-14-2021 08:34 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(10-14-2021 07:12 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(10-13-2021 11:06 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  shizzle787's assessment seems very solid. However, the "ODU to the Sun Belt" element made me take pause.

Buffalo is an interesting option for the AAC (assuming UB would be interested).

UB's "cone of influence" goes to the city's south east. A huge number of our alumni are in the NYC to DC corridor. Depending on who else is added UB would be interested.

I don't think if you're adding the three other schools mentioned it would appeal to UB but if it were Buffalo / Marshall / App State / UAB then I think UB is interested.

I'm starting to become more and more convinced the AAC has to find the group of schools who have the ability to get their budget in line with the AAC and who have the commitment to go all in and aren't worried about travel or costs and are willing to spend beyond their means if necessary to succeed at the highest level. Not saying this as an insult to Buffalo, but not add schools who are like "well we could be interested if you add enough schools to make this comfortable for us". Who are those schools though? I don't know.

This makes perfect sense, since they can't have their first choices I think they need to look long and hard at who has the resources & will to compete at a "P6" level, as opposed to teams that have been hot in the last few years or don't/can't spend the money to succeed. Rice for example, has the money to compete but apparently they don't care to expend it on fielding a good football team. Would they be willing to change that if invited to the AAC?

Another thing I think the AAC should consider is a school like Marshall that has built a brand by sustaining success over time despite lesser advantages & resources. If they've been doing it that long with less, they should be able to sustain or ascend to an even higher level with the greater resources in the AAC.