25 teams much to unwieldily; however, what about just 16 though? Just 16 of the best of the rest g5s putting together the strongest g5 conference possible - a genuine P6, as it were.

Take the best from the AAC and the best from the MWC: Form two 8 team divisions with 4 crossover games each season.

The question is only: Which 9 you leave behind.

Have to believe that the right 16 would have a value of over 10K per. Not to mention a strangle hold on the playoff birth and multiple bids to the NCAA.

What's not to like?

(02-08-2023 09:22 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  At what point should the MWC and AAC consider merging?

Expanded CFP takes Top 6 Champions. A merged MWC/AAC would likely be the 6th Conference headlined by Tulane, Boise State, and Memphis.

Merged MWC/AAC delivers all 4 time zones which has been a priority in this round of realignment.

The backfill options are pretty awful, I think merger after losing SMU/SDSU is a clear path forward.

I do not think they will merge!

(02-13-2023 09:15 PM)AztecNation Wrote:  Too many schools and no where near enough money to justify it. Especially if both conferences only lost 1 school each. Now lets say they both lose 4 schools then it's something to consider.

And many of the schools in play lived that struggle before in the WAC-16. Why merge when an alignment for tv content might work instead?

(02-13-2023 11:09 PM)RockyMTNTiger Wrote:  25 teams much to unwieldily; however, what about just 16 though? Just 16 of the best of the rest g5s putting together the strongest g5 conference possible - a genuine P6, as it were.

Take the best from the AAC and the best from the MWC: Form two 8 team divisions with 4 crossover games each season.

The question is only: Which 9 you leave behind.

Have to believe that the right 16 would have a value of over 10K per. Not to mention a strangle hold on the playoff birth and multiple bids to the NCAA.

What's not to like?

Can’t do that without starting a whole new D1 FBS conference, which almost certainly won’t happen because (1) a new D1 conference wouldn’t be entitled to NCAA basketball auto bids for eight years, and (2) a new FBS conference wouldn’t be part of the CFP agreement.

There are really only four ways for this to play out. The AAC could poach from the MWC, or the MWC could poach from the AAC, or there could be a full merger. Or they could leave each other alone and any poaching either does could be from elsewhere, which due to each conference’s exit fees is the most likely outcome.

Ideally they would just pool their TV rights. But that isn't feasible with the AAC's long term ESPN contract.