
Originally Posted by
HogDawg
No. Attendance is a completely separate issue. It's important for LA Tech and fans like me and you, but not for the AAC and what we're talking about here. The "MARKET" issue that the AAC is pressing has to do with the number of TV sets in any given viewer market. They don't care if Tech sells out all home games or not, as long as they have a large market of TV sets to hopefully pitch to the TV Networks for contract purposes. Conferences like the AAC want to be able to sit down with ESPN or FOX Sports and talk about the high number of potential TV viewers due to the large number of TV sets they have in any given market. And the conference TV contracts are finally negotiated based on the number of TV sets included in the conference footprint.
This is why LA Tech needs the Shreveport-Bossier "TV" Market. By playing a game in Shreveport on a regular basis, it will be almost impossible for the AAC to claim the Shreveport-Bossier market does not belong to LA Tech.
How do you think low attendance schools such as Tulane, Tulsa, SMU --and more recently-- UAB, Rice, and UNC-Charlotte received invites to the AAC? It certainly wasn't because they were filling up the stands at home. Rather, it was because they all have BIG media markets with a lot of TV sets, henceforth a lot of potential TV viewers. And the AAC can exploit that to get a better TV contract the next time they sit down with the networks.