UConn leaving the AAC

[hotrod2001]

Since we’re talking markets, isn’t there a way to spin App in both Charlotte and Raleigh markets and it still be reasonably true?

Technically speaking, Boone IS in the Charlotte television market.



So yeah, we can say truthfully that App State resides in the 22nd largest television market and then make a valid argument that we also get strong coverage in the 37th (Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson) and 46th (Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem).

[appstatealum]

Since we’re talking markets, isn’t there a way to spin App in both Charlotte and Raleigh markets and it still be reasonably true?

Absolutely. I’ve had this very conversation with DG. I told him he needed to keep up the presence on local Charlotte Tv and Radio like they did this last year. Boone is definitely in the Charlotte Market and they also stretch into Tennessee and the Triad. If we can build interest in Charlotte, we will be ripe for the picking. If some conference was forward thinking enough, they would see what our football program has done and see the potential of gripping the Charlotte/Triad/Eastern Tennessee markets.

The biggest thing holding us back will continue to be basketball. If we could get that program right, we would already be in this conversation.

[APPdiesel]

Who are the choices?

Add Toledo, get worse on the field
Add Charlotte, get worse on the field
Add Georgia State, get worse on the field

Add Army...get better on the field
Add App State...get better on the field

I could legitimately see Army getting it. Add another service academy to pair with Navy, strengthen your branding as the "American". Get a program with a great history. Monopolize the exposure from the Army/Navy game.

The only way App is a strong candidate is if ECU goes to bat for us.

[appstate77]

Who are the choices?

Add Toledo, get worse on the field
Add Charlotte, get worse on the field
Add Georgia State, get worse on the field

Add Army...get better on the field
Add App State...get better on the field

I could legitimately see Army getting it. Add another service academy to pair with Navy, strengthen your branding as the "American". Get a program with a great history. Monopolize the exposure from the Army/Navy game.

The only way App is a strong candidate is if ECU goes to bat for us.

Adding to my earlier post: Imagine a strong AAC rivalry in the heart of ACC country.

[Yosef84]

Army just makes a lot of sense, especially for football. Strong football program on the field. Strong academics. Army / Navy rivalry in conference. It's hard to think they aren't the front runner.

[T-Dog]

I don't think Army will give up being an independent. They play across the country as a marketing and recruiting element for West Point.

[T-Dog]

Since we’re talking markets, isn’t there a way to spin App in both Charlotte and Raleigh markets and it still be reasonably true?

Technically speaking, Boone IS in the Charlotte television market.



So yeah, we can say truthfully that App State resides in the 22nd largest television market and then make a valid argument that we also get strong coverage in the 37th (Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson) and 46th (Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem).

Boone and Watauga County gets Tri-Cities TV stations and that's a Top 100 market, so App can legit say they're in two Top 100 TV markets and get beat writer coverage in another one (Triad).

[AppSt94]

Does Army want it? If they join the conference, then they Army/Navy game being played in December is in Jeopardy.

[T-Dog]

Does Army want it? If they join the conference, then they Army/Navy game being played in December is in Jeopardy.

I don't think they would want to join. I bet West Point likes the scheduling freedom and being a marketing and recruiting tool across the country.

And yes, the Army/Navy game would have to change or the AAC would have to issue a directive, like maybe the two will never play in league play and the December game would be a non-conference game.

[AppSt94]

Does Army want it? If they join the conference, then they Army/Navy game being played in December is in Jeopardy.

I don't think they would want to join. I bet West Point likes the scheduling freedom and being a marketing and recruiting tool across the country.

And yes, the Army/Navy game would have to change or the AAC would have to issue a directive, like maybe the two will never play in league play and the December game would be a non-conference game.

Well that brings up another point. CBS owns the game. Would they have to share the revenue?

[hotrod2001]

Since we’re talking markets, isn’t there a way to spin App in both Charlotte and Raleigh markets and it still be reasonably true?

Technically speaking, Boone IS in the Charlotte television market.



So yeah, we can say truthfully that App State resides in the 22nd largest television market and then make a valid argument that we also get strong coverage in the 37th (Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson) and 46th (Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem).

Boone and Watauga County gets Tri-Cities TV stations and that's a Top 100 market, so App can legit say they're in two Top 100 TV markets and get beat writer coverage in another one (Triad).

I mean if we measure a team's value now by the television market it resides in, we're in a bigger market than over HALF of the AAC members already, that's even if you make the argument that we're in the Triad market more than Charlotte:

UConn (Hartford/New Haven #33),
University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati #35)
Tulane (New Orleans #50)
University of Memphis (Memphis #51)
University of Tulsa (Tulsa #61)
Wichita State (Wichita/Hutchinson/Plus #76)
ECU (Greenville/New Bern/Washington #107)

[ashugh]

Tom Sorensen, a long time writer for the Charlotte Observer, wrote in an article once, and I don’t even remember what it was about but I think it pertained to this “market” subject, that if a man walked into a bar in Charlotte and said I’ll buy a round for every ECU grad in the joint, he might break a hundred. But, say the same thing about App and that man better have plastic in his wallet. That pretty well sums up App’s share of the Charlotte market. Charlotte has always been heavily influenced as an App market. And we do have coverage in the tri-cities of Tennessee and Virginia, and we have a major impact and beat writer coverage out of Winston. That’ll stack up against anybody.
We need a full service hotel, higher end, in Boone proper. Have to have money flow toward the improvement of the air strip to handle charters and, aside from hoops, most of the important boxes will have been checked.

[Appster99]

Tom Sorensen, a long time writer for the Charlotte Observer, wrote in an article once, and I don’t even remember what it was about but I think it pertained to this “market” subject, that if a man walked into a bar in Charlotte and said I’ll buy a round for every ECU grad in the joint, he might break a hundred. But, say the same thing about App and that man better have plastic in his wallet. That pretty well sums up App’s share of the Charlotte market. Charlotte has always been heavily influenced as an App market. And we do have coverage in the tri-cities of Tennessee and Virginia, and we have a major impact and beat writer coverage out of Winston. That’ll stack up against anybody.
We need a full service hotel, higher end, in Boone proper. Have to have money flow toward the improvement of the air strip to handle charters and, aside from hoops, most of the important boxes will have been checked.

Not being argumentative, but at what point does Boone stop being the town we know and love for the sake of growth? There are only so many acres in that valley and the only place to go is up. Is there room to expand the airstrip? Our geography is the biggest obstacle. And the traffic in Boone is horrendous already. I love Boone and App as much as anyone, but I'm glad I graduated 20 years ago. If I lived there now I would go nuts trying to get where I need to be.

[hotrod2001]

Tom Sorensen, a long time writer for the Charlotte Observer, wrote in an article once, and I don’t even remember what it was about but I think it pertained to this “market” subject, that if a man walked into a bar in Charlotte and said I’ll buy a round for every ECU grad in the joint, he might break a hundred. But, say the same thing about App and that man better have plastic in his wallet. That pretty well sums up App’s share of the Charlotte market. Charlotte has always been heavily influenced as an App market. And we do have coverage in the tri-cities of Tennessee and Virginia, and we have a major impact and beat writer coverage out of Winston. That’ll stack up against anybody.
We need a full service hotel, higher end, in Boone proper. Have to have money flow toward the improvement of the air strip to handle charters and, aside from hoops, most of the important boxes will have been checked.

Not being argumentative, but at what point does Boone stop being the town we know and love for the sake of growth? There are only so many acres in that valley and the only place to go is up. Is there room to expand the airstrip? Our geography is the biggest obstacle. And the traffic in Boone is horrendous already. I love Boone and App as much as anyone, but I'm glad I graduated 20 years ago. If I lived there now I would go nuts trying to get where I need to be.

The time when "Downtown" Boone essentially becomes a glorified food court for the university.

I started my time at App in 1999 and the place was in flux the entire tenure I was there. I came back a year after I graduated and half of Hardin Street was unrecognizable. Then I went up to the Wake game and saw those monstrosity apartments lining the main drag where the Scottish Inn and Blockbuster used to be and was wondering if I somehow got lost and drove into Gatlinburg.

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

Blowing Rock and Banner Elk areas are where I spend most of my time specifically lodging, when I come to the area.

[Rekdiver]

I graduated in 75. I love the growth and the traffic is much better than Charlotte!

[Appster99]

I graduated in 75. I love the growth and the traffic is much better than Charlotte!

Agreed. As bad as Boone traffic is it is better than Charlotte. Still love Boone. Still visit every chance I get, and not just during football season. But is not the place it was when I graduated in'99. Change is inevitable for growth, and growth means sacrifice in some ways. I just hope the mountain sides are never completely covered with apartment buildings. In 20 years current students will be lamenting about the changes since they graduated.

[hotrod2001]

Tom Sorensen, a long time writer for the Charlotte Observer, wrote in an article once, and I don’t even remember what it was about but I think it pertained to this “market” subject, that if a man walked into a bar in Charlotte and said I’ll buy a round for every ECU grad in the joint, he might break a hundred. But, say the same thing about App and that man better have plastic in his wallet. That pretty well sums up App’s share of the Charlotte market. Charlotte has always been heavily influenced as an App market. And we do have coverage in the tri-cities of Tennessee and Virginia, and we have a major impact and beat writer coverage out of Winston. That’ll stack up against anybody.
We need a full service hotel, higher end, in Boone proper. Have to have money flow toward the improvement of the air strip to handle charters and, aside from hoops, most of the important boxes will have been checked.

It's like in Atlanta, you expect to see GT stuff everywhere and even occasionally some GSU blue...but everything is red and black UGA, despite Athens being an hour away.

You could make a case that our media footprint rivals that of a lot of the ACC schools. And our program is storied enough that we have the history and the hardware that would trump some 10-year old program in a major metropolitan area. Another thing is exposure. I like the Sun Belt but you look at any article talking about G5 conferences and it's not even named in most conversations. You put our school in a situation where there is national media exposure on a weekly basis and you'll see the coverage, attendance and fandom grow...if we're put in a position where we are always in the conversation for a NY6 game, that exposure will grow, when our weekly game is mentioned on SportsCenter and during halftime reports more than just a footnote on a crawl, that exposure will grow. We're one of those situations that if given the proper opportunity, the program would grow into what is required of it.

Hopefully it's not a false equivalency, but look at what happened to A&M once they moved to the SEC. Texas who?

[T-Dog]

We need a full service hotel, higher end, in Boone proper. Have to have money flow toward the improvement of the air strip to handle charters and, aside from hoops, most of the important boxes will have been checked.

Boone has a full service Holiday Inn as of April/May.

The the charter flight issue isn't changing anytime soon. Hickory and Tri-Cities are the best options for that, CLT/GSO for commercial.

Boone is investing heavily in Howard Street for the next few years, hoping to further link ASU and downtown. If it works, it'll roughly double the main street style real estate.

As far as congestion, there's a Daniel Boone bypass idea by NCDOT down the line that could help everywhere in town, according to DOT studies. Add on a committed widening of 421 west of Boone and in a few years, there will be four lanes going into town from three different directions. Ten years ago there were none.

[Appster99]

Tom Sorensen, a long time writer for the Charlotte Observer, wrote in an article once, and I don’t even remember what it was about but I think it pertained to this “market” subject, that if a man walked into a bar in Charlotte and said I’ll buy a round for every ECU grad in the joint, he might break a hundred. But, say the same thing about App and that man better have plastic in his wallet. That pretty well sums up App’s share of the Charlotte market. Charlotte has always been heavily influenced as an App market. And we do have coverage in the tri-cities of Tennessee and Virginia, and we have a major impact and beat writer coverage out of Winston. That’ll stack up against anybody.
We need a full service hotel, higher end, in Boone proper. Have to have money flow toward the improvement of the air strip to handle charters and, aside from hoops, most of the important boxes will have been checked.

It's like in Atlanta, you expect to see GT stuff everywhere and even occasionally some GSU blue...but everything is red and black UGA, despite Athens being an hour away.

You could make a case that our media footprint rivals that of a lot of the ACC schools. And our program is storied enough that we have the history and the hardware that would trump some 10-year old program in a major metropolitan area. Another thing is exposure. I like the Sun Belt but you look at any article talking about G5 conferences and it's not even named in most conversations. You put our school in a situation where there is national media exposure on a weekly basis and you'll see the coverage, attendance and fandom grow...if we're put in a position where we are always in the conversation for a NY6 game, that exposure will grow, when our weekly game is mentioned on SportsCenter and during halftime reports more than just a footnote on a crawl, that exposure will grow. We're one of those situations that if given the proper opportunity, the program would grow into what is required of it.

Hopefully it's not a false equivalency, but look at what happened to A&M once they moved to the SEC. Texas who?

Piggy backing the Atl and GT thing, the new Sports Authority store in Winston-Salem has an App section. It isn't the widest selection I've ever seen, but it is specifically marked and near the front of the store. There are other (NCSU, UNC, and Duke) school's merchandise in the section, but App is specifically marked and made visible with signage. Their marketing team recognizes what Dick's, which is virtually next door, does not. Appalachian State University matters in the region. We have a ton of alumni in the area and we are loyal to our brand. I went in looking for something, can't even remember what, but left with an App shirt. Didn't need it. Didn't buy anything else. But I bought it because it was App gear. And this is in Wake Forest's home city.