Mike Aresco stands .. on expansion issue

[WordUpBU]

I still think we should take Wichita St. in everything except football, and offset the Navy addition

I agree. That is a team that would add NCAA tournament money (1.5 million paid out in 1/6 installments over 6 years per game) and has made it 3 times in the last 3 years and twice as an at-large. The NCAA credits that they earned over the past 6 years paid 1.97 million to their league this year. 1/12th of that is more than WSU would get from the AAC.

They would also be a good travel cost saver. Fly to Tulsa and play a game. Drive to Wichita and play a 2nd game then fly out. Eliminates a round trip flight and saves money.

Non-football members get paid much less than a football member as the bulk of the tv value in contracts is football. Assuming that 20% of the tv deal is hoops it would only cost the current schools around 50-60k each to split it one more way, an amount easily made up in travel money or additional ncaa money. Wichita would also get 350k or so from the tv deal, dwarfing the revenue they got from the Missouri Valley which was lucky to top 100k. They have to fly to pretty much every current league foe anyway so travel isn't going to be a huge difference and the RPI boost as well as hosting Memphis, SMU, UConn, Temple, Cincinnati, and Tulsa has to be better than hosting Bradley or Evansville.

[EastStang]

And another kitten dies. I would be loathe to be put in any division with MWC teams. They get no coverage east of the Mississippi. They get no ratings except for BYU. I have no desire to merge with MWC teams except national programs like AFA. Boise wins because they have no real competition out there. I'd add them if required to get BYU. SDS is a good program in a good market, but again, not a huge ratings getter, because if they were, the P12 would have gobbled them up. Personally, Aresco should listen to the TV suits and see what can be done to get AAC members into the club. If we have to take on baggage, it will be the baggage requested by the suits and not by our views of the world.

[smusportspage]

I know I will get slammed by most on this board but I would consider UTEP in the mix somewhere if some of the others don't work out. Texas school with a solid fan base. They were part of the original Mountain West Conference and I feel have gotten the short end of the stick in regards to realignment.

They got the short end because their football program is lousy and they have no market. They're exactly where they belong.

Well our football program is lousy too. Then I guess the only thing we got going for us is the market and it can be argued we don't carry that either. Glass houses.

[blackoutpony]

Friendly reminder that, once again, the Cal State Schools (SDSU, Fresno, San Jose) are flat broke.

They CANNOT pay to play. SDSU had trouble firing their coach, pre Brady Hoake, because he had something like a $500,000 buyout. There's a reason why SDSU bailed when the BE fell apart, they couldn't afford to be in the conference without the added paycheck. Fresno and SJSU are in the same boat.

The universities are on the lower rung of state run universities (UC vs Cal State) and they don't get as much money or attention and never will. FYI that's UCLA, UC Berkley (Cal) vs San Diego State, San Jose State, etc.

I'd rather add Boise, BYU, Air Force and Umass (if they start sucking a whole hell of a lot less) if anything.

[smusportspage]

UTEP offers nothing. Terrible market, terrible academics, money problems, and awful on-field product. I would take UTSA before UTEP.

Something tells me you have never been to a UTEP home football game. Their atmosphere beats ours upside and down another. Plus, their fans show up to Ford and Moody.

[AusTxPony]

East Stang is right! Aresco keeps working and if ESPN says "go get BYU or whoever"...the AAC will try. I am worried that the Big12 will raid the AAC for 4 teams at some point and they are not interested in SMU/Houston. Best thing for us is UT, TTech and OU, OSU go to the Pac 16. Then AAC could merge with the 6 left overs (18 team football) to make it into the P5, albeit for less than they pay the others. For now, the AAC stays as is and let Aresco do what the suits say, IMHO.

[StallionsModelT]

I've been to El Paso. Never been to a UTEP football game nor do I ever care to unless the Ponies are in the Sun Bowl. Regardless of their support (what else is there to do in EP on a Saturday night) they are so far down the list of possible expansion targets for the AAC its a joke.

[Digetydog]

BYU = vomit

They have a huge fanbase all over the world. If BYU played at any AAC, they would have larger crowds than normal and better ratings than normal.

[sbsmith]

Well our football program is lousy too. Then I guess the only thing we got going for us is the market and it can be argued we don't carry that either. Glass houses.

We don't carry the market but at least we're in it which was good enough to get us out of C-USA (same goes for Tulane). UTEP has no market or anything else for that matter so they're screwed in terms of realignment. The AAC doesn't need any more mouths to feed.

[sbsmith]

I am worried that the Big12 will raid the AAC for 4 teams at some point and they are not interested in SMU/Houston. Best thing for us is UT, TTech and OU, OSU go to the Pac 16. Then AAC could merge with the 6 left overs (18 team football) to make it into the P5, albeit for less than they pay the others. For now, the AAC stays as is and let Aresco do what the suits say, IMHO.

The Big 12 will not be raiding the AAC for any amount of teams as long as UT and OU are in the conference. If they leave the Big 12 will stop being a P5 conference and merging with the AAC won't prevent that.

[smusportspage]

Well our football program is lousy too. Then I guess the only thing we got going for us is the market and it can be argued we don't carry that either. Glass houses.

We don't carry the market but at least we're in it which was good enough to get us out of C-USA (same goes for Tulane). UTEP has no market or anything else for that matter so they're screwed in terms of realignment. The AAC doesn't need any more mouths to feed.

El Paso has more of a market than Boise does. Heck even Albuquerque has more of a market than Boise. If you are going by that then UNM would be a better addition than Boise in that they also bring Basketball, same with UTEP. To me Boise does not add anything. El Paso is the 22nd largest city in the United States. I don't what you mean that El Paso doesn't have anything else for that matter....such towns as Stillwater, Waco, Lubbock or Baton Rouge, they have what going for them?

[StallionsModelT]

Boise State has been to 2 BCS bowl games and has consistently been a Top 25 program for a decade. UTEP is worthless.

[sbsmith]

El Paso has more of a market than Boise does. Heck even Albuquerque has more of a market than Boise. If you are going by that then UNM would be a better addition than Boise in that they also bring Basketball, same with UTEP. To me Boise does not add anything. El Paso is the 22nd largest city in the United States. I don't what you mean that El Paso doesn't have anything else for that matter....such towns as Stillwater, Waco, Lubbock or Baton Rouge, they have what going for them?

So what if El Paso has more of a market that Boise? Both are small (91 and 110 in the latest Nielsen rankings) but Boise at least has a good football team in their town. Neither is going to get the AAC more money (nor would UNM) but at least Boise State had the clout to get a sweetheart deal from the MWC, which is more than I can say for UTEP. Stillwater, Waco, Lubbock and Baton Rouge aren't really analogous to El Paso because they have universities that garner significant statewide interest despite their small markets.