(12-30-2020 12:12 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  I don't see any Olympic sports conferences being interested.

I would really love to know what the relationship is/was like with Big West that it’s not as workable as it seems. As in, no remaining current/historical support, no agreement over terms, or something else (as in the politics in the conference has literally caused a gridlock on non-CA public schools)?

(12-30-2020 02:38 PM)SDHornet Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Big Sky is not an ESPN conference. They partner with Pluto TV for pretty much everything outside of the Men's championship game.

I wonder if that has anything to do with it

Does ESPN care where Boise parks their Olys if they get their FB product? My guess is "no".

Not sure. But independents BYU and Liberty went to ESPN conferences WCC and Atlantic Sun respectively. Could just be a coincidence

(12-30-2020 06:52 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 12:12 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  I don't see any Olympic sports conferences being interested.

I would really love to know what the relationship is/was like with Big West that it’s not as workable as it seems. As in, no remaining current/historical support, no agreement over terms, or something else (as in the politics in the conference has literally caused a gridlock on non-CA public schools)?

The way I see it, there is just no interest in the Big West to help out because there is no gain for them. All 10 CA members have a CA bus league with equally balanced UC and Cal St. Schools and a subsidized trip to Hawaii. They are able to do a 20 game round robin with ease.

They could add Boise if they wanted under similar travel subsidy conditions as Hawaii but what's in it for them besides helping out Boise. Also, HI would likely want to make sure the subsidy they play does not increase to apply to Boise.

It probably is simply the price of admission isn't worth it for Boise St this time.

(12-30-2020 02:15 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  ...if the AAC actually went MORE extreme in their lack of cohesive geography by adding Boise, SDSU, and BYU (for instance)---that "coast to coast" or "national" mantra would become a truly unique identifying characteristic for the AAC. They would be the only "national" or "coast to coast" conference in college football.

Definitely a possibility with enough high quality teams, and with a divisional arrangement, it might be enough to overcome the adversities and costs due to the geographical distances.

Perhaps equally or even more importantly from the standpoint of the major networks, by going coast-to-coast with the addition of SDSU, the conference would also have the unique advantage of developing viewership and rivalries across the four major time zones.

(12-30-2020 06:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:38 PM)SDHornet Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Big Sky is not an ESPN conference. They partner with Pluto TV for pretty much everything outside of the Men's championship game.

I wonder if that has anything to do with it

Does ESPN care where Boise parks their Olys if they get their FB product? My guess is "no".

Not sure. But independents BYU and Liberty went to ESPN conferences WCC and Atlantic Sun respectively. Could just be a coincidence

Good point.

ESPN has obviously given the "thumbs up" to Boise State in the AAC.

The terms of their deal haven't been announced and no one knows whether or not they're jazzed about it. However, their viewership numbers are nothing to sneeze at, and ESPN has plenty of reason to expect their broadcasting arrangement to be quite profitable. In fact, it might be a complete "no brainer" for the network.

If that's true, then one would expect a network such as ESPN to have all the power and influence that's needed, as well as the motivation to help find an agreeable conference for Boise State basketball and olympic sports to play in.

For that reason, unless they're not 100% satisfied with the terms of the AAC deal it would be extremely surprising for the deal to fall through, given that Boise State was jazzed enough about switching to the AAC that it was willing to cross time zones to do so.

(12-30-2020 03:52 PM)Bull Wrote:  Everyone is free to disagree with me, but I feel the AAC DOES have a defined, and quite unique, identity. We are (with a few well-loved exceptions like Navy), the big city conference. We are big schools, in big cities, well served by big airports. Houston, Dallas, Orlando, Philly, Tampa, Cinci, etc. Its not geographic, but it's a real identity. I feel most of our schools are very similar in concerns and position in the pecking order. But distance is not much of a factor when we are all mostly by major airports.

That said, the Big East was largely ridiculed when we tried to go coast to coast before... I am really leery of trying that again. I love our current membership and footprint. BSU for 12 (or with BYU and AFA for 14) for football only sounds perfect to me.

ECU, Navy, Tulsa, and Wichita don't really fit that identity. Hard to call it your conference identity when almost a third of the conference is an exception. Even harder to call it your identity when virtually no one outside of a fan message board talks about or is even aware of that identity.

It is a nice feature of the conference, to have big-city schools with closely-connected travel.

(12-30-2020 07:25 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 06:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:38 PM)SDHornet Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Big Sky is not an ESPN conference. They partner with Pluto TV for pretty much everything outside of the Men's championship game.

I wonder if that has anything to do with it

Does ESPN care where Boise parks their Olys if they get their FB product? My guess is "no".

Not sure. But independents BYU and Liberty went to ESPN conferences WCC and Atlantic Sun respectively. Could just be a coincidence

Good point.

ESPN has obviously given the "thumbs up" to Boise State in the AAC.

The terms of their deal haven't been announced and no one knows whether or not they're jazzed about it. However, their viewership numbers are nothing to sneeze at, and ESPN has plenty of reason to expect their broadcasting arrangement to be quite profitable. In fact, it might be a complete "no brainer" for the network.

If that's true, then one would expect a network such as ESPN to have all the power and influence that's needed, as well as the motivation to help find an agreeable conference for Boise State basketball and olympic sports to play in.

For that reason, unless they're not 100% satisfied with the terms of the AAC deal it would be extremely surprising for the deal to fall through, given that Boise State was jazzed enough about switching to the AAC that it was willing to cross time zones to do so.

I want Boise State in the WCC. Any way for Broncos basketball to team up with Northwest Nazarene University?

Where's David St when you need him?

(12-30-2020 07:31 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 07:25 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 06:56 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:38 PM)SDHornet Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Big Sky is not an ESPN conference. They partner with Pluto TV for pretty much everything outside of the Men's championship game.

I wonder if that has anything to do with it

Does ESPN care where Boise parks their Olys if they get their FB product? My guess is "no".

Not sure. But independents BYU and Liberty went to ESPN conferences WCC and Atlantic Sun respectively. Could just be a coincidence

Good point.

ESPN has obviously given the "thumbs up" to Boise State in the AAC.

The terms of their deal haven't been announced and no one knows whether or not they're jazzed about it. However, their viewership numbers are nothing to sneeze at, and ESPN has plenty of reason to expect their broadcasting arrangement to be quite profitable. In fact, it might be a complete "no brainer" for the network.

If that's true, then one would expect a network such as ESPN to have all the power and influence that's needed, as well as the motivation to help find an agreeable conference for Boise State basketball and olympic sports to play in.

For that reason, unless they're not 100% satisfied with the terms of the AAC deal it would be extremely surprising for the deal to fall through, given that Boise State was jazzed enough about switching to the AAC that it was willing to cross time zones to do so.

I want Boise State in the WCC. Any way for Broncos basketball to team up with Northwest Nazarene University?

Where's David St when you need him?

Closest Jesuit School - Regis University in Denver would fit in better
(Gonzaga, San Fran, Santa Clara and LMU are Jesuit, but of course that hasn't helped Seattle U).

AAC schools have a lot in common. Besides CUSA, Tulsa, Houston, Memphis and Cincinnati were also in the MVC. Houston, Cincinnati, Temple, USF, UCF and Memphis are large public universities in large metros. SMU, Tulane and Tulsa are privates in large metros. ECU is a bit of a misfit.

(12-30-2020 07:28 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 03:52 PM)Bull Wrote:  Everyone is free to disagree with me, but I feel the AAC DOES have a defined, and quite unique, identity. We are (with a few well-loved exceptions like Navy), the big city conference. We are big schools, in big cities, well served by big airports. Houston, Dallas, Orlando, Philly, Tampa, Cinci, etc. Its not geographic, but it's a real identity. I feel most of our schools are very similar in concerns and position in the pecking order. But distance is not much of a factor when we are all mostly by major airports.

That said, the Big East was largely ridiculed when we tried to go coast to coast before... I am really leery of trying that again. I love our current membership and footprint. BSU for 12 (or with BYU and AFA for 14) for football only sounds perfect to me.

ECU, Navy, Tulsa, and Wichita don't really fit that identity. Hard to call it your conference identity when almost a third of the conference is an exception. Even harder to call it your identity when virtually no one outside of a fan message board talks about or is even aware of that identity.

It is a nice feature of the conference, to have big-city schools with closely-connected travel.

First, I said with a few exceptions. And we love those four schools. We are talking about cities and schools, it's not going to be homogeneous. But in the major markets we're in, I think my point still stands. 2/3 is an identity. Being in those major cities makes travel easier on ALL our members.

No offense intended, but if you are a BYU guy looking to throw stones at the AAC this feels like a weak one.

(12-30-2020 10:08 PM)Bull Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 07:28 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 03:52 PM)Bull Wrote:  Everyone is free to disagree with me, but I feel the AAC DOES have a defined, and quite unique, identity. We are (with a few well-loved exceptions like Navy), the big city conference. We are big schools, in big cities, well served by big airports. Houston, Dallas, Orlando, Philly, Tampa, Cinci, etc. Its not geographic, but it's a real identity. I feel most of our schools are very similar in concerns and position in the pecking order. But distance is not much of a factor when we are all mostly by major airports.

That said, the Big East was largely ridiculed when we tried to go coast to coast before... I am really leery of trying that again. I love our current membership and footprint. BSU for 12 (or with BYU and AFA for 14) for football only sounds perfect to me.

ECU, Navy, Tulsa, and Wichita don't really fit that identity. Hard to call it your conference identity when almost a third of the conference is an exception. Even harder to call it your identity when virtually no one outside of a fan message board talks about or is even aware of that identity.

It is a nice feature of the conference, to have big-city schools with closely-connected travel.

First, I said with a few exceptions. And we love those four schools. We are talking about cities and schools, it's not going to be homogeneous. But in the major markets we're in, I think my point still stands. 2/3 is an identity. Being in those major cities makes travel easier on ALL our members.

No offense intended, but if you are a BYU guy looking to throw stones at the AAC this feels like a weak one.

Tulsa Metro is a million people, it's a couple 100k short of New Orleans and Memphis. Depending on where you look mid-fifties in US metro areas, five to ten spots behind Memphis and New Orleans.

Wichita is about 650k.

Those aren't exactly small towns although admittedly anything under a million is probably not a "big city"

So really our football only (Navy, who is in a large metro) and ECU are exceptions as you pointed out we are kind of fond of them.

Wichita, Tulsa, Houston, Memphis, and Cincinnati were all also Valley teams as someone else pointed out and we actually played each other quite a bit as football independents depending on who you look at. So there is a core to the group with history. Houston and SMU of course have history in the SWC and SMU and Tulsa in the WAC. While the Houston, Memphis, Tulane, and Cincy have history from the founding of the original CUSA.

(12-30-2020 06:52 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 12:12 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  I don't see any Olympic sports conferences being interested.

I would really love to know what the relationship is/was like with Big West that it’s not as workable as it seems. As in, no remaining current/historical support, no agreement over terms, or something else (as in the politics in the conference has literally caused a gridlock on non-CA public schools)?

The Big West has changed. It no longer stretches to New Mexico. Its a bus league except for Hawaii. And the budgets are pretty tight. None of the California schools play FBS football.

(12-30-2020 07:31 PM)YNot Wrote:  Where's David St when you need him?

That's just flagrant trolling, and it's not permitted by the hosts.

If you want to be critical, it would be better to simply write your critical comment and leave it like that. You might get an interesting response.

(12-30-2020 05:23 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:55 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:38 PM)SDHornet Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Big Sky is not an ESPN conference. They partner with Pluto TV for pretty much everything outside of the Men's championship game.

I wonder if that has anything to do with it

Does ESPN care where Boise parks their Olys if they get their FB product? My guess is "no".

Most likely correct, however, unless ESPN is paying Boise State for those Olympic sports rights then Boise doesn't really have a motivation to put them somewhere they deem inferior.

ESPN currently has no rights to Boise sports of any kind, and if Boise joined the AAC as a "football only" member---Boise olympic sports would still not be part of the ESPN package. The WAC has a ESPN+ deal...so that could potentially come into play I suppose.

Correct, but that is a recent development. More to the point, if Boise State changes leagues then it is likely ESPN is paying the bill to make it happen.

Not likely they end up as a full member of the AAC, but ESPN money would be involved in ensuring the Olympic sports have a home somewhere...whether that is through subsidy or inducement.

If Disney wanted Boise State in the AAC bad enough then they might induce a basketball league to take them for Olympic sports. I know the board disagrees, but I still think the WCC might be workable. If ESPN pays them a little extra to add Boise State(just to facilitate a move of football to the AAC) and maybe one more Western school then I think that is something the WCC would have to consider. Especially if that school was San Diego State.

(12-31-2020 03:01 AM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 05:23 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:55 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:38 PM)SDHornet Wrote:  

(12-30-2020 02:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Big Sky is not an ESPN conference. They partner with Pluto TV for pretty much everything outside of the Men's championship game.

I wonder if that has anything to do with it

Does ESPN care where Boise parks their Olys if they get their FB product? My guess is "no".

Most likely correct, however, unless ESPN is paying Boise State for those Olympic sports rights then Boise doesn't really have a motivation to put them somewhere they deem inferior.

ESPN currently has no rights to Boise sports of any kind, and if Boise joined the AAC as a "football only" member---Boise olympic sports would still not be part of the ESPN package. The WAC has a ESPN+ deal...so that could potentially come into play I suppose.

Correct, but that is a recent development. More to the point, if Boise State changes leagues then it is likely ESPN is paying the bill to make it happen.

Not likely they end up as a full member of the AAC, but ESPN money would be involved in ensuring the Olympic sports have a home somewhere...whether that is through subsidy or inducement.

If Disney wanted Boise State in the AAC bad enough then they might induce a basketball league to take them for Olympic sports. I know the board disagrees, but I still think the WCC might be workable. If ESPN pays them a little extra to add Boise State(just to facilitate a move of football to the AAC) and maybe one more Western school then I think that is something the WCC would have to consider. Especially if that school was San Diego State.

The WCC isn’t going to take a public school. They are a full fledged private religious conference and they like it that way.
The Big West is set with UCSD and CSUB in the conference. I doubt they want to deal with Boise again.
The Big Sky and the WAC are the only option Boise has. If they don’t like either one of them, they need to just shut up and enjoy the conference they are in.

Just as a reminder, those emails between the now ex-Boise AD and the AAC took place months ago. No current activity from either side. Doesn't look to me like anything is happening. Carry on, lol.

(12-31-2020 09:47 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Just as a reminder, those emails between the now ex-Boise AD and the AAC took place months ago. No current activity from either side. Doesn't look to me like anything is happening. Carry on, lol.

I agree.

It will be interesting if the AAC holds out at 11 and get that waiver

(12-31-2020 10:26 AM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-31-2020 09:47 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Just as a reminder, those emails between the now ex-Boise AD and the AAC took place months ago. No current activity from either side. Doesn't look to me like anything is happening. Carry on, lol.

I agree.

It will be interesting if the AAC holds out at 11 and get that waiver

Boise is definitely interested in joining the AAC for financial reasons. The only question is will they move their Olympic sports to another conference or will they be accepted as full members? This depends on how bad ESPN wants a mountain time zone presence. This may take some time to work out.

I get why Boise wants this, but can anyone explain to me what the AAC schools get out of this if they are not mandated to go to 12? Are they getting a pay raise, better bowls or a shot at the CFP table?

(12-31-2020 10:51 AM)SMUstang Wrote:  

(12-31-2020 10:26 AM)solohawks Wrote:  

(12-31-2020 09:47 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Just as a reminder, those emails between the now ex-Boise AD and the AAC took place months ago. No current activity from either side. Doesn't look to me like anything is happening. Carry on, lol.

I agree.

It will be interesting if the AAC holds out at 11 and get that waiver

Boise is definitely interested in joining the AAC for financial reasons. The only question is will they move their Olympic sports to another conference or will they be accepted as full members? This depends on how bad ESPN wants a mountain time zone presence. This may take some time to work out.

The only real holdup appears to be the Olympic sports angle.

If ESPN can assist with this via speaking to the Big West or WCC then we may have something. But everyone's position seems to have been known for awhile and I don't know what could trigger a change