ESPN.com: 6 accept AAC invites

[PonyPride]

Per ESPN:

Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice, UAB set to join American Athletic Conference

[Hal]

Charlotte is a nice city, and I really enjoyed the Birmingham trip. Not the sexiest additions, but could be worse.

[birddogger]

Silver Linings:

1. SMU will have a better chance of being AAC champs in all sports, which leads to better odds
of post-season play

2, The addition of the San Antonio market –more convenient for San Antonio area alums to see
the Ponies play

3. Reduced travel costs for all sports with the addition of three Texas schools

4. More varsity soccer teams

5. UAB and Charlotte have had success in the NCAA basketball tourney

UAB - 15 appearances in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and 12 appearances in
the National Invitational Tournament.

UNCC - 11 NCAA tourney appearances, including a Final Four, and 7 appearances
in the NIT

6. MOST IMPORTANT: Interesting Mascots:

Mustangs
Golden (not regular) Hurricanes
Roadrunners
Mean Green
Green Wave
Owls (2)*
Midshipmen
Shockers
Blazers
Bulls
49ers
Pirates

Tigers (ho-hum)

*AAC is the only conference with THREE schools having Owls
as mascots (FAU, Temple and Rice)


That’s all I got....

[Sewanee Stang]

Plus more visiting teams will bring their bands - UNT, UTSA, Rice.

[PonyTime]

Plus more visiting teams will bring their bands - UNT, UTSA, Rice.

What makes you say that?

We didn't bring our band to LA Tech - which is closer than Houston and San Antonio.

[Charleston Pony]

Plus more visiting teams will bring their bands - UNT, UTSA, Rice.

What makes you say that?

We didn't bring our band to LA Tech - which is closer than Houston and San Antonio.

Because we are SMU

[mtrout]

So it's like a worse circa-2012 Conference USA

[SMU_Alum11]

No one's explanations has a logical reason for why NTCC got invited. Why the F did Rick Hart push for the invite? That is just Moody Reseat stupidity.

[stc9]

Some thoughts:

1. These additions make me feels as low as the pre-“he who shall not be named” days (though people try to keep up with them).

2. If we compare ourselves with Miami for just a moment, The U is a major cultural part of Miami. I haven’t lived in Dallas since the ‘90s, but SMU never had a similar prestige (post DP) in the city as Miami does in theirs. SMU was always happy as the “white privileged” hilltop. The U was always comfortable as “all Floridians and New Yorkers are welcomed”. Now we are working hard to claim Dallas’ team, but UT, OK, TTU and even TCU already own that. As bad as Miami Football has been for the last 7-10 years, UF and FSU are still locked out. We’re still paying for Copeland’s lack of vision.

3. UNC - Charlotte is the most intriguing of the new members. I was up there in 2019. It looks like they have rebuilt their entire campus in the last 10 years. The place is beautiful! Really, really beautiful. Charlotte is a rapidly growing city. If they keep up their success, they could surpass us for the next round of realignment. Huge alumni base and historical mediocrity from the Flagship school(s) are a recipe to for expansive growth. UNCC is right there.

4. I bow and tip my hat to the 1,500 that has kept this thing going.

5. FAU... Given the right coach will have a competitive team, but all baseball cap fans will go elsewhere. Not that they have done anything wrong, but they not the ingrained S. Florida team. The New Yorker (Northeastern) retirees are more interested in the NFL and South Florida college football fans are already following the other FBS schools. Added pressure on this is that the largest school in Florida just went B-12. So they add nothing to us advancing.

6. Total side note... the biggest Cattle and Citrus producers in the State of Florida for the last 15-20 years have been Mormons. So bringing UCF and BYU grab a huge % of the Central Florida market. I heard a rumor that the Mormon temple on the west side of Orlando is the largest outside of Utah in the world.

7. I could say negative or problematic things about all of the other schools too. Unless the AAC, still don’t like the name, has visions on they’re own TV channel (more ACC Channel than SEC Channel), these moves don’t make sense for SMU in particular.

8. SMU agreeing to this expansion, if they did, blows my mind. SMU (2nd tier football school) just placed third tier schools on equal footing. SMU has Sonny, so we’re successful today, but if he gets hit by a bus tomorrow... then SMU, UTSA, UNT and Rice are on a totally level conference playing field.

9. I’m laughing at the SEC. Mark my words... UT has destroyed two conferences in my lifetime. At the end of the day they’ll [deleted] up the SEC too.

10. I think college football should follow the British premier league. The top two AAC teams move up and the bottom team from a couple of leagues drop down. You get dropped, you lose the revenues. The others get moved up, you get the revenues. No college would agree to that, but that’s just what I would like to see.