A great move would be to swap Tech for Tulane, imo. But market and academics does play some kind of role or they wouldn't be in that conference.
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A great move would be to swap Tech for Tulane, imo. But market and academics does play some kind of role or they wouldn't be in that conference.
Relationships also matter. Tulane was well-liked among C*USA/AAC schools. This is Rice's only hope. Along with academics, obviously, which do matter.Originally Posted by T1
I think market did matter quite a bit when Tulane was invited, but I think its importance has dropped considerably. The future of the cable TV contract is uncertain, and the payout structure of the playoffs has become more important. I would like to think that Tulane wouldn't be invited today, but... relationships. So who knows.
University of Houston '01. Any references to "we" or "us" likely refer to UH. Cheers!
I posted something similar a few weeks ago. The AAC schools do not lose any money per school from the CFP money if they stay at 9 or 10. But what I don't know is if ESPN would allow them to have so little inventory during basketball season. Would ESPN let the AAC function with just 8 basketball schools?
It's silly to think Tulane has a market. No one gives a damn about Tulane. New Orleans doesn't
Correct. We really don't know. What we do know is who had support during the last round of realignment and where the schools stack up from a competitive, branding, academic, and market standpoint.
We know, for example, that when it looked like there might be more shuffling in 2012 that the two schools the AAC were talking to - next up perhaps - were Rice and USM. We also know what problems Rice has had on the field since that time and the problems USM has had both on and off the field in that time. We know how the CFP and the G5 major bowl game have caused a focus to be placed on competitiveness in football, and we know just how much the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee places a focus on competitiveness through the RPI.
We know that Tech had Tulane's support to get into CUSA in both 2004 and 2012 and that SMU has always been one of if not Tech's biggest proponents. We also had support in 2012 from Tulsa and East Carolina. We know that Memphis was our biggest opponent in 2004.
We know that Tech's argument regarding its true region and TV market as well as its national brand were very persuasive in 2012. We know that if CUSA had only one opening in 2012 it was going to Tech. Two openings and it would have been Tech and then FIU. We know that many of the AAC schools that were formerly in CUSA had problems with Marshall during their time in CUSA. We also know that neither Marshall nor Western Kentucky is a national university from an academic standpoint.
And when it comes to speculation several months ago that ODU and USM might be two schools the AAC might pick if it had openings, we know that speculation comes from ODU's primary beat writer who has said in one of his stories that it's just that - speculation on his part.
The misconception about market is that the team has a large following inside that market. North Texas or SMU (in the #5 market) are other examples of that misconception.
It's about DMA. New Orleans is considered large by some. It's 50ish. Shreveport is 83.
We have the unique opportunity to sell both Shreveport and Monroe combined because we are actually in both. As far as I know we have not done this since gaining WAC membership.
This is speculative, but my guess is that they will maintain around ten at minimum. If Navy doesn't take advantage of this opportunity to bolt, then that means that they're probably going to stick around and they might pick up a St Louis or Wichita State as a non-FB member to round things out, if they can.
University of Houston '01. Any references to "we" or "us" likely refer to UH. Cheers!
They have money and a destination. The latter means more than most think.
Here's my thought to them standing pat after the Big XII takes Memphis, Houston, Cincy...
How on earth can they justify standing pat when they'll be losing their 3 BEST football schools? Any prestige in the football world they had will take a steep nose dive. The AAC will NEED good football, and it can be found in C-USA.
This is another reason I think the startups are off the menu for the AAC. ODU/Charlotte/UTSA don't help the prestige of the football conference.
The four best Football choices for AAC are WKU, USM, and Tech, Rice. Apparently Marshall's issues with academic standing and NQs ruffles the academic feathers of the AAC. WKU isn't far off.
If I were the AAC, I'd be super concerned with how football is perceived. USM helps the most, with a three way tie for Rice, USM, Tech.
Last edited by LATechBanjo; 08-01-2016 at 11:32 AM.
The main concern for USM, and Louisiana Tech, is money commitment. That's why I'm just not high on USM. On the other hand, there needs to be a roadmap to success that Charlotte simply doesn't have. Nor, really, does Rice. A program like Old Dominion has demonstrated a willingness to spend, and a potential path to success. They don't have the ability to contribute right away, though, and their stadium is too small. UTSA does not have a good athletics budget, but may be able to put together a good package. What could happen if they need two programs (say they lose three and Navy also goes) is that they take one immediate contributor, and then another program with commitment and upward potential.
I would personally favor immediate contributors, like Northern Illinois and Southern Miss or Louisiana Tech. But my impression is that they're going to be looking a lot at budgets and upward potential. Old Dominion makes me kind of nervous as a potential member. I don't think they'll pick UMass, but that is the sort of mistake I could see them making.
Among UH fans, there seems to be a lot of resistance to expanding any more than necessary, unless they can grab eastern MWC schools.
Assuming, of course, expansion happens at all:
http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Jou...ig-12-TV.aspx?
University of Houston '01. Any references to "we" or "us" likely refer to UH. Cheers!
I agree that this the main concern with us, but I think it's misguided. One big chunk of every school's athletic budget is their athletic student aid. Louisiana (and I assume Mississippi) has about the lowest tuition in the nation. In other states, budgets are artificially inflated by higher tuition rates. It's saying the athletic department is paying the university that much in tuition and fees, which essentially means they are letting the SAs go to school for free, and the real cost is only a small fraction of what shows up on the books. That's a line that should be omitted when comparing athletic budgets to help calibrate the numbers to really see what each school's expendable budget is.
I'll add this. How many times has Tech or USM brought home conference championships or won 8+ games per season with the smallest budget in our conference? The truth is we don't need a big budget to be competitive, and other schools will struggle to compete with much bigger budgets.
Lets just hope C-USA doesn't get all of its members to vote on who gets to go to AAC, cause then they'll just give it to UAB.
Big12 is not going to do a dang thing.....they won't expand.
Interesting pushback coming from ESPN and Fox. We'll see. I have a feeling there will be many more twists and turns over the next couple months. I've been thinking the Big Ten would strike first to get to 16 (UConn and Mizzou?) while the Big 12 tries to figure out what the heck they are doing.
Agreed. I think any conference should balance any pics between immediate performance and potential. Football has always been important, but all conferences need to give themselves the best chance to get someone in the access bowl. Basketball is still important and probably one of the areas the AAC is strongest in. If they decide to take anyone for market size or athletic potential, I think they need to balance it with immediate football impact.
Of course in the end they will balance all of the factors and make their decisions. I suspect USM or Northern Illinois (or Tech) would fulfill their immediate impact desire so they could take a chance on Rice or ODU for Academics/market/budget/potential reasons.
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