UConn is not long for D1 football. I don't think the AAC looks to replace UConn. Outside of women's basketball and baseball, they are surviving on the past more than anything. I have heard talk of Army for football only and then VCU for all other sports, but I'm not sure Army wants to go back to a conference.
(06-22-2019 10:59 AM)MOBalum Wrote: Big East will need a twelfth member. Rice is private and opens a new market. Football can go independent with even a fraction of the Big East TV money.
This is a no-brainer opportunity. Is JK on it?
Write the damned check! It’s the last train out out of the station.
Do you hear that, sports admin, university admin, Board?
(06-22-2019 10:59 AM)MOBalum Wrote: Big East will need a twelfth member. Rice is private and opens a new market. Football can go independent with even a fraction of the Big East TV money.
This is a no-brainer opportunity. Is JK on it?
Write the damned check! It’s the last train out out of the station.
Do you hear that, sports admin, university admin, Board?
ESPN U just did a fairly lengthy interview with Mike Aresco (AAC Commish)..
What I took away from it.
- Unless BYU shows interest, they are likely to stand pat or that is how he is posturing. He likes how the 11 teams make for a nice MBB home/home structure (20-games)
- Does not want to create animosity by 'raiding' other conferences (I think a veiled reference to Big XII recent exercise).
- Played up MBB more than I thought (vs. FB).
- Does not like hybrid model (like Wichita St and Navy) but may take a FB only to accomplish the easier scheduling in MBB conference play.
- Not surprisingly, was not happy w/ UConn move. Might have caught him off-guard.
- Seemed confident ESPN not going to apply pressure for lower payouts b/c of this UConn move but when pressed did get a bit defensive to the reporter (ironically from ESPN). Told reporter that 'he was getting in the weeds' on some of the specific scheduling details which create payout variances. Reading between the lines, I saw this as a small haircut in payouts but Aresco did not want to show weakness. He followed-up with some ESPN fanboy comments about ESPN + vs. other platforms (e.g., Flosports).
After the interview, the ESPN talking heads seemed to agree that absent a BYU sighting, they were going to stand pat and that an ODU, Charlotte or UAB (Schools the talking heads mentioned) would not add much to AAC. Who knows how much of this entire thing is posturing since it is happening all behind closed doors but hopefully JK is working some magic for a Rice upgrade.
(06-29-2019 12:16 PM)owl40 Wrote: ESPN U just did a fairly lengthy interview with Mike Aresco (AAC Commish)..
What I took away from it.
- Unless BYU shows interest, they are likely to stand pat or that is how he is posturing. He likes how the 11 teams make for a nice MBB home/home structure (20-games)
- Does not want to create animosity by 'raiding' other conferences (I think a veiled reference to Big XII recent exercise).
- Played up MBB more than I thought (vs. FB).
- Does not like hybrid model (like Wichita St and Navy) but may take a FB only to accomplish the easier scheduling in MBB conference play.
- Not surprisingly, was not happy w/ UConn move. Might have caught him off-guard.
- Seemed confident ESPN not going to apply pressure for lower payouts b/c of this UConn move but when pressed did get a bit defensive to the reporter (ironically from ESPN). Told reporter that 'he was getting in the weeds' on some of the specific scheduling details which create payout variances. Reading between the lines, I saw this as a small haircut in payouts but Aresco did not want to show weakness. He followed-up with some ESPN fanboy comments about ESPN + vs. other platforms (e.g., Flosports).
After the interview, the ESPN talking heads seemed to agree that absent a BYU sighting, they were going to stand pat and that an ODU, Charlotte or UAB (Schools the talking heads mentioned) would not add much to AAC. Who knows how much of this entire thing is posturing since it is happening all behind closed doors but hopefully JK is working some magic for a Rice upgrade.
Thanks for the recap. I think you are right that some of it is posturing, but the fundamentals are probably true: they really won't be looking for a 12th full member. Maybe a football-only member but I can't see Rice being seriously considered for that (much less a full membership) by any reasonable stretch of the imagination as long as UH is still there.
I mean, I'd take football-only if it were offered, even though it would require moving our other sports to the Southland or Summit or WCC or whatever; that's how badly I want to get out of CUSA . . . but they simply would have nothing to gain from adding a second school in Houston.
Unless . . . I mean, the one thing we do (theoretically) have to offer is money -- maybe we could offer to make up whatever haircut follows from UConn's departure . . . but I'm not sure even I could stomach literally paying UH, SMU, Tulsa, etc. just to be in a conference with them again.
(06-22-2019 10:59 AM)MOBalum Wrote: Big East will need a twelfth member. Rice is private and opens a new market. Football can go independent with even a fraction of the Big East TV money.
This is a no-brainer opportunity. Is JK on it?
Write the damned check! It’s the last train out out of the station.
Do you hear that, sports admin, university admin, Board?
Bucky? Bobby? Robert? Donald? Brian? Scotty? Ann?
Did you share these sentiments directly with these folks or just post them here ?
