Possible AAC Shakeup?

[hotrod2001]

Interesting article on SB Nation from a few days ago discussing the AAC looking to move to a Grant of Rights model for their conference prior to a new tv contract with ESPN.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footba ... -expansion

I wonder if any of those teams in 2020 would rather try to jump over to the Big 12 or the Big East (UCONN) instead of locking in to the AAC and then if any do, if that would put us in play to move up. Seems like it could be a little precursor to the Big XII's GOR deal ends in 2025.

[hapapp]

There is no Big East football.

[moonshine]

As the landscape currently stands, App State has no shot at the AAC. The AAC is a pipe dream at this point. Not to say it couldn't happen on down the road but the AAC would look much different by the time App would get the invite.

The AAC would try to back fill any losses with the academies, then they'll look toward "marketz" with good hoops (see ODU). The only way I see App getting an invite would be to continue winning conference football titles/bowls, averaging more than 5k in Holmes for hoops, increasing donations and the overall athletic budget ($40+mil), decrease the subsidy, advance to the sweet 16 a couple of times over a 5 year period and become a nationally ranked research institution. Even then, App would maybe break into the top 10 of attractive programs to invite.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to share a conference with ECU and have home b-ball games against UCONN and Memphis, although they would most likely be gone by the time App arrived. However, not sure I can say I'd be excited about App playing football against the likes of SMU, Tulane or Tulsa.

[ah59396]

As the landscape currently stands, App State has no shot at the AAC. The AAC is a pipe dream at this point. Not to say it couldn't happen on down the road but the AAC would look much different by the time App would get the invite.

The AAC would try to back fill any losses with the academies, then they'll look toward "marketz" with good hoops (see ODU). The only way I see App getting an invite would be to continue winning conference football titles/bowls, averaging more than 5k in Holmes for hoops, increasing donations and the overall athletic budget ($40+mil), decrease the subsidy, advance to the sweet 16 a couple of times over a 5 year period and become a nationally ranked research institution. Even then, App would maybe break into the top 10 of attractive programs to invite.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to share a conference with ECU and have home b-ball games against UCONN and Memphis, although they would most likely be gone by the time App arrived. However, not sure I can say I'd be excited about App playing football against the likes of SMU, Tulane or Tulsa.

This is the correct take. Our britches ain’t big enough yet for the AAC. Basketball must improve and we have to get rid of the track for good.

I’ll continue to say this because I believe it:

We are good for the Sunbelt and it’s good for us.

[WASU 93]

As the landscape currently stands, App State has no shot at the AAC. The AAC is a pipe dream at this point. Not to say it couldn't happen on down the road but the AAC would look much different by the time App would get the invite.

The AAC would try to back fill any losses with the academies, then they'll look toward "marketz" with good hoops (see ODU). The only way I see App getting an invite would be to continue winning conference football titles/bowls, averaging more than 5k in Holmes for hoops, increasing donations and the overall athletic budget ($40+mil), decrease the subsidy, advance to the sweet 16 a couple of times over a 5 year period and become a nationally ranked research institution. Even then, App would maybe break into the top 10 of attractive programs to invite.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to share a conference with ECU and have home b-ball games against UCONN and Memphis, although they would most likely be gone by the time App arrived. However, not sure I can say I'd be excited about App playing football against the likes of SMU, Tulane or Tulsa.

I think our best hope for conference re-alignment would be for sanity (yeah right) to reach the College Leadership level as budgets continue to run deficits and TV money begins to dry up. It really needs to go back to regional conferences. There was some brief discussion between the Sun Belt and C-USA concerning this.
A league with ODU, VCU (if they ever add football), Charlotte, Coastal and Middle Tennesee, GASO/GAST and eventually Kennessaw State (huge school academically) really makes sense for all non-football sports (and football as well). USA, Troy and UAB could probably be included as well to fill out a 12 team league. (and possibly Memphis/Marshall) This would make sense for ECU as well, but they'd have to swallow their pride as they worked really hard to get to AAC level.

Once conference play starts, currently you'd have to visit Conway or Atlanta to see our basketball team play outside of Boone. Imagine if our alumni had options of watching the team play in Greenville, Norfolk, Charlotte, Richmond, and Nashville in addition to these options. That's probably what it's going to take to build interest in these programs. Sports like baseball would also benefit from these opportunities.

The reason ACC basketball became what it is, is that you had decades with a conference who's heart had 4 schools with 90 minutes of each other. The Big East grew off of a proximity to New York City. There was logic before greed changed the landscape.

The Sun Belt is smart with the pairing system for basketball, but the travel budgets and lack of ticket sales can't be subsidized forever. A regional conference would likely cut travel expenses in half and increase fan support in some capacity.

[Yosef10]

I agree with the sentiments above. Just to play devils advocate i would say them adding ECU would certainly tell you a big TV market and good hoops aren’t all that necessary. They weren’t really even a good basketball league last year, probably bounce back this year. But yeah biggest problem is our budget for sure, pretty much every AAC school dwarfs us.

[moonshine]

I agree with the sentiments above. Just to play devils advocate i would say them adding ECU would certainly tell you a big TV market and good hoops aren’t all that necessary. They weren’t really even a good basketball league last year, probably bounce back this year. But yeah biggest problem is our budget for sure, pretty much every AAC school dwarfs us.

Obviously ECU is the outlier within the AAC as it pertains to hoops and market but we see how that is working out for them. ECU got in purely on football with some nice wins over A5's and attendance/support.The AAC won't be making that same mistake twice.

[hotrod2001]

There is no Big East football.

I'm aware of that.

However apparently the Big East wants UCONN back in the fold and the hangup is the football program, which by all classifications is abysmal. So there's been a long-standing speculation of them moving the football team to a different conference and focus more on Basketball, similar to what Villanova does with their football team.

[AppNation85]

Getting really good in basketball would do help but if let’s say App went to the G5 access bowl 2 out of the next 3 years and time it just right when there’s openings it’s not out of the realm of possibility. If it happened this year I doubt we’d get much of a look at all.

[Yosef10]

I agree with the sentiments above. Just to play devils advocate i would say them adding ECU would certainly tell you a big TV market and good hoops aren’t all that necessary. They weren’t really even a good basketball league last year, probably bounce back this year. But yeah biggest problem is our budget for sure, pretty much every AAC school dwarfs us.

Obviously ECU is the outlier within the AAC as it pertains to hoops and market but we see how that is working out for them. ECU got in purely on football with some nice wins over A5's and attendance/support.The AAC won't be making that same mistake twice.

I mean idk about hoops, they didn’t even finish last in the conference last year lol. Not sure how great a basketball league it is anymore, maybe they get back this year with a better UConn, etc. But like I said in the OP, yeah i agree AAC probably isn’t where we make it unless a big change happens on the mountain.