Could App get the invite to the AAC?

[Kafarmer]

As far as fundraising... at the risk of sounding simplistic, didn’t Clemson have the IPTAY Club? I Pay Ten A Year? It all adds up!

[TheMoody1]

As far as fundraising... at the risk of sounding simplistic, didn’t Clemson have the IPTAY Club? I Pay Ten A Year? It all adds up!

It started out as $10 a year back in the 1930"s. Now the "T" stands for thousand.

Actually, their lowest annual level is $60.
http://www.iptaycuad.com/ViewArticle.db ... =211085813

[TheAppalachianState]

As far as fundraising... at the risk of sounding simplistic, didn’t Clemson have the IPTAY Club? I Pay Ten A Year? It all adds up!

It started out as $10 a year back in the 1930"s. Now the "T" stands for thousand.

I mean... I like the idea! I’ve never ever been contacted by App for donating or anything like that. Is that something that should be happening? Lol I graduated about 7yrs ago

[Rick83]

You can donate any amount you want, any time easily to the Yosef Club. Just sign up on the Yosef Club section on AppStateSports.com:

Here's the link:
https://appstatesports.com/documents/20 ... p_Form.pdf

You can set up a credit card and it's pretty easy to donate and no set amount is required but if you hit certain levels you get certain perks...

[hotrod2001]

A link to where alumni live.

http://www.alumni.appstate.edu/s/1727/i ... 2&pgid=624

So you have the three largest markets in NC represented as having the most App State graduates with Mecklenburg, Wake, and Guilford.

Then when you compare those Nielsen television markets against the current AAC markets it's pretty much on par:

4. Philadelphia
5. Dallas
7. Houston
11. Tampa
18. Orlando
23. Charlotte
25. Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville
33. Hartford/New Haven
35. Cincinnati
38. Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson
46. Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem
50. New Orleans
51. Memphis
61. Tulsa
76. Wichita
107. Greenville/New Bern/Washington

[appst89]

A link to where alumni live.

http://www.alumni.appstate.edu/s/1727/i ... 2&pgid=624

So you have the three largest markets in NC represented as having the most App State graduates with Mecklenburg, Wake, and Guilford.

Then when you compare those Nielsen television markets against the current AAC markets it's pretty much on par:

4. Philadelphia
5. Dallas
7. Houston
11. Tampa
18. Orlando
23. Charlotte
25. Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville
33. Hartford/New Haven
35. Cincinnati
38. Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson
46. Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem
50. New Orleans
51. Memphis
61. Tulsa
76. Wichita
107. Greenville/New Bern/Washington

99. Tri-Cities, TN - Boone is in this market and gets decent coverage from WCYB and WJHL.

[appstatealum]

A link to where alumni live.

http://www.alumni.appstate.edu/s/1727/i ... 2&pgid=624

So you have the three largest markets in NC represented as having the most App State graduates with Mecklenburg, Wake, and Guilford.

Then when you compare those Nielsen television markets against the current AAC markets it's pretty much on par:

4. Philadelphia
5. Dallas
7. Houston
11. Tampa
18. Orlando
23. Charlotte
25. Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville
33. Hartford/New Haven
35. Cincinnati
38. Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson
46. Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem
50. New Orleans
51. Memphis
61. Tulsa
76. Wichita
107. Greenville/New Bern/Washington

99. Tri-Cities, TN - Boone is in this market and gets decent coverage from WCYB and WJHL.

Yep. I feel like all it would take is a couple of ranked vs ranked games per year and our continued success to draw casual fans to Boone and eyes to the TV to watch our games. If I am a college football fan, I would love to have a pretty big time college football town/stadium within driving distance to check out a ranked football team play every few Saturdays.

[bigdaddyg]

A move to the AAC would instantly upgrade our conference games and potential home contests with Cincinnati, Memphis and ECU are way better than Texas State, UL Monroe and South Alabama. The question I ask is how do some of the AAC teams travel? We know how Kidd Brewer will look with ECU in town and I would think that Memphis could bring in a good number of fans but what about the teams from Texas (SMU, Houston) and Oklahoma (Tulsa) and even the Florida teams? It is a pretty good haul to or from the other AAC schools in relation to Boone. There is always talk about our relatively small crowds at times but if a solid conference foe brings 3-4K that lessens the number of App fans that need to fill in the visitor side and the eventual added seats. That being said how would travel costs for all sports compare? I know someone did a mileage comparison and on the surface the travel appears to be close in terms of distance to the other schools.

[WASU 93]

A move to the AAC would instantly upgrade our conference games and potential home contests with Cincinnati, Memphis and ECU are way better than Texas State, UL Monroe and South Alabama. The question I ask is how do some of the AAC teams travel? We know how Kidd Brewer will look with ECU in town and I would think that Memphis could bring in a good number of fans but what about the teams from Texas (SMU, Houston) and Oklahoma (Tulsa) and even the Florida teams? It is a pretty good haul to or from the other AAC schools in relation to Boone. There is always talk about our relatively small crowds at times but if a solid conference foe brings 3-4K that lessens the number of App fans that need to fill in the visitor side and the eventual added seats. That being said how would travel costs for all sports compare? I know someone did a mileage comparison and on the surface the travel appears to be close in terms of distance to the other schools.

The AAC is really a short term answer. It would certainly elevate the football program and it would increase revenue.

In regards to actual attendance, I doubt that those teams travel much better than the Sun Belt teams do. Unless, they have more alumni in the area.

Look at ECU's attendance. They averaged 28,000 fans in the seats in 2014, 25K in 2015 and 16, and 17K the last two years. It's not about the opponents, it's about winning. Currently, they play in a stadium that is 3 times too big for the fans who actually attend.

https://businessnc.com/the-mystery-of-c ... nce-stats/

I believe the long term play, unless we go P5-which isn't happening, is a competitive Regional Conference. Look at the games where attendance is good. App-Wake, App-UNC (which wasn't included on any of their half season plans), App-Charlotte (big crowds, both stadiums). App-ECU will create a buzz. Eventually, we'll take more fans to Coastal and Georgia State, because they are 5 hour or less drives for most of our fan base with either the beach or ATL in addition to the football game.
A regional conference will also help other sports (basketball specifically), in regards to road attendance.
Put a combination together of Charlotte, ECU, Marshall, ODU, MTSU, GaSo, GaSt, Coastal and possibly Western Kentucky, South Al, Troy, UAB and App State and you'll develop rivalries that allow for fan attendance to be maximized at the G5 level.

[Mjohn1988]

A move to the AAC would instantly upgrade our conference games and potential home contests with Cincinnati, Memphis and ECU are way better than Texas State, UL Monroe and South Alabama. The question I ask is how do some of the AAC teams travel? We know how Kidd Brewer will look with ECU in town and I would think that Memphis could bring in a good number of fans but what about the teams from Texas (SMU, Houston) and Oklahoma (Tulsa) and even the Florida teams? It is a pretty good haul to or from the other AAC schools in relation to Boone. There is always talk about our relatively small crowds at times but if a solid conference foe brings 3-4K that lessens the number of App fans that need to fill in the visitor side and the eventual added seats. That being said how would travel costs for all sports compare? I know someone did a mileage comparison and on the surface the travel appears to be close in terms of distance to the other schools.

The AAC is really a short term answer. It would certainly elevate the football program and it would increase revenue.

In regards to actual attendance, I doubt that those teams travel much better than the Sun Belt teams do. Unless, they have more alumni in the area.

Look at ECU's attendance. They averaged 28,000 fans in the seats in 2014, 25K in 2015 and 16, and 17K the last two years. It's not about the opponents, it's about winning. Currently, they play in a stadium that is 3 times too big for the fans who actually attend.

https://businessnc.com/the-mystery-of-c ... nce-stats/

I believe the long term play, unless we go P5-which isn't happening, is a competitive Regional Conference. Look at the games where attendance is good. App-Wake, App-UNC (which wasn't included on any of their half season plans), App-Charlotte (big crowds, both stadiums). App-ECU will create a buzz. Eventually, we'll take more fans to Coastal and Georgia State, because they are 5 hour or less drives for most of our fan base with either the beach or ATL in addition to the football game.
A regional conference will also help other sports (basketball specifically), in regards to road attendance.
Put a combination together of Charlotte, ECU, Marshall, ODU, MTSU, GaSo, GaSt, Coastal and possibly Western Kentucky, South Al, Troy, UAB and App State and you'll develop rivalries that allow for fan attendance to be maximized at the G5 level.

Not that I’m against a regional conference but what would all those somewhat close to home away games do to home attendance. There are a lot of folks that just make one or two games a season. If they can go to an away game in say Winston Salem every other year are they still going to come to Boone?

[ugmw177]

AAC would be the ticket. A fantasy regional conference with the names mentioned might make driving to games a day event but is not likely to generate the national footprint TV money that conferences are all about.
We also need to stop comparing our product to ECUs. ECU desperately wants to gain the respect of UNC, NCSU, etc. and be treated as equals. Not our mantra as we know we are a better university, better athletics, better town, attitude etc. We do not wish to downgrade to be treated as equals.

[NashvilleNeer]

As far as fundraising... at the risk of sounding simplistic, didn’t Clemson have the IPTAY Club? I Pay Ten A Year? It all adds up!

It started out as $10 a year back in the 1930"s. Now the "T" stands for thousand.

I mean... I like the idea! I’ve never ever been contacted by App for donating or anything like that. Is that something that should be happening? Lol I graduated about 7yrs ago

really? I graduated in 2013 and get called once every 4 months probably. I don't know if it's because I donated for the scoreboard a few years ago or not, but I get plenty of calls.

[NashvilleNeer]

I love the idea of a more regional conference, but I don't think that gets us close to the same amount of money that the AAC would achieve. I can't stand how college sports has become so much about money and markets and they've scrapped a lot of regional rivalries, but it is what it is i guess. That being said, I'm sure it's been discussed ad nauseam, but we need to increase our Yosef donations if we ever want to sniff a bigger conference. Think about this. Clemson's IPTAY FY 18 donations were $64.9M. They had 17,076 donors in this which is roughly $3700 each. Granted, they have 140,000 living alumni and we only have 100,000, but still. We'll never reach that number, that's not the point. Does anyone have any info on the Yosef club donations the last couple of years? The most recent one I found was an all-time record of $3,227,769 in annual giving during the 2015-16 fiscal year. Would love to know what we did last year or even on track to do this year.

[APPdiesel]

Regional realignment is the right thing to do....its also a pipe dream. Does anyone really think 24 sets of ADs, presidents, chancellors, and board members will agree on an alignment? No. This school will want to stick with that school. That school won't want to be lumped in with this school. This school will be in the east but will want to be in the west.

LOL at the guy who made it sound like AAC is a stepping stone to this regional alignment. Why go from chump change to big money back to chump change?

Everyone listen to the new BGP. Doug Gillin talks about all of it.

[NashvilleNeer]

Nashville...you and a bunch of Charlotte posters all say "if we/they can get the program going" like they can just flip a switch and suddenly get all the pieces in place. They can get bowl eligible, but can they do it year over year? Can they book P5s to their home stadium? Can they beat P5s? Can they average 25,000+ attendance? All of those things take years to accomplish. The AAC can be patient but they don't want to be that patient.

(Not calling you out specifically just using your post as an example)

No worries. No offense taken. It just depends when the AAC wants to expand is the main reason I say "If Charlotte can get it going." As of now, they don't need to expand for another two years because AAC got their waiver approved by NCAA to host football championship game after shift to 11 teams. The AAC will continue to have its football championship game through 2021. Will they then again apply for another waiver or will the NCAA make them expand? Nobody knows the answer to that question at this point. Let's say they don't have to do anything for another 6-8 years, will Charlotte and Georgia State be more attractive at that point over us? I hope not, but Charlotte is improving every year. I would hope the AAC people are smart enough to look and see where alumni are living and how much reach they could get with App over Charlotte and Georgia State athletics, but that's not a given. Will they try and get Boise or BYU? I don't know. Keep in mind, West Virginia was screwed over in the most recent expansion and forced to join the Big 12 because of their school reputation (not being ACC caliber) and their market even though they have a lot of alumni living out of the state. IMO, they would have been a better fit for the SEC than Missouri, but that's me. Sorry for the long response.

[ericsaid]

A move to the AAC would instantly upgrade our conference games and potential home contests with Cincinnati, Memphis and ECU are way better than Texas State, UL Monroe and South Alabama. The question I ask is how do some of the AAC teams travel? We know how Kidd Brewer will look with ECU in town and I would think that Memphis could bring in a good number of fans but what about the teams from Texas (SMU, Houston) and Oklahoma (Tulsa) and even the Florida teams? It is a pretty good haul to or from the other AAC schools in relation to Boone. There is always talk about our relatively small crowds at times but if a solid conference foe brings 3-4K that lessens the number of App fans that need to fill in the visitor side and the eventual added seats. That being said how would travel costs for all sports compare? I know someone did a mileage comparison and on the surface the travel appears to be close in terms of distance to the other schools.

The AAC is really a short term answer. It would certainly elevate the football program and it would increase revenue.

In regards to actual attendance, I doubt that those teams travel much better than the Sun Belt teams do. Unless, they have more alumni in the area.

Look at ECU's attendance. They averaged 28,000 fans in the seats in 2014, 25K in 2015 and 16, and 17K the last two years. It's not about the opponents, it's about winning. Currently, they play in a stadium that is 3 times too big for the fans who actually attend.

https://businessnc.com/the-mystery-of-c ... nce-stats/

I believe the long term play, unless we go P5-which isn't happening, is a competitive Regional Conference. Look at the games where attendance is good. App-Wake, App-UNC (which wasn't included on any of their half season plans), App-Charlotte (big crowds, both stadiums). App-ECU will create a buzz. Eventually, we'll take more fans to Coastal and Georgia State, because they are 5 hour or less drives for most of our fan base with either the beach or ATL in addition to the football game.
A regional conference will also help other sports (basketball specifically), in regards to road attendance.
Put a combination together of Charlotte, ECU, Marshall, ODU, MTSU, GaSo, GaSt, Coastal and possibly Western Kentucky, South Al, Troy, UAB and App State and you'll develop rivalries that allow for fan attendance to be maximized at the G5 level.

ECU's issue is losing. And I'd also say you could go look at the stands in photo's from 2014 and tell me that there were only 28,000 fans there. I suppose with students they probably get to 36,000.

If App went 3-9 three years in a row i'd hate to see what attendance would look like.

[appgrad95&97]

Doesn't BYU make the most sense for a football only AAC add?

[hapapp]

I think based on DG's comments on the BGP we aren't headed to the AAC any time soon.

[appstatealum]

A move to the AAC would instantly upgrade our conference games and potential home contests with Cincinnati, Memphis and ECU are way better than Texas State, UL Monroe and South Alabama. The question I ask is how do some of the AAC teams travel? We know how Kidd Brewer will look with ECU in town and I would think that Memphis could bring in a good number of fans but what about the teams from Texas (SMU, Houston) and Oklahoma (Tulsa) and even the Florida teams? It is a pretty good haul to or from the other AAC schools in relation to Boone. There is always talk about our relatively small crowds at times but if a solid conference foe brings 3-4K that lessens the number of App fans that need to fill in the visitor side and the eventual added seats. That being said how would travel costs for all sports compare? I know someone did a mileage comparison and on the surface the travel appears to be close in terms of distance to the other schools.

Most of these larger G5 programs have better fanbases/alumni and you will certainly find more of them in a major metropolitan like Charlotte. While the physical programs are far away, a lot of their alumni may be closer.

[APPdiesel]

Nashville...you and a bunch of Charlotte posters all say "if we/they can get the program going" like they can just flip a switch and suddenly get all the pieces in place. They can get bowl eligible, but can they do it year over year? Can they book P5s to their home stadium? Can they beat P5s? Can they average 25,000+ attendance? All of those things take years to accomplish. The AAC can be patient but they don't want to be that patient.

(Not calling you out specifically just using your post as an example)

No worries. No offense taken. It just depends when the AAC wants to expand is the main reason I say "If Charlotte can get it going." As of now, they don't need to expand for another two years because AAC got their waiver approved by NCAA to host football championship game after shift to 11 teams. The AAC will continue to have its football championship game through 2021. Will they then again apply for another waiver or will the NCAA make them expand? Nobody knows the answer to that question at this point. Let's say they don't have to do anything for another 6-8 years, will Charlotte and Georgia State be more attractive at that point over us? I hope not, but Charlotte is improving every year. I would hope the AAC people are smart enough to look and see where alumni are living and how much reach they could get with App over Charlotte and Georgia State athletics, but that's not a given. Will they try and get Boise or BYU? I don't know. Keep in mind, West Virginia was screwed over in the most recent expansion and forced to join the Big 12 because of their school reputation (not being ACC caliber) and their market even though they have a lot of alumni living out of the state. IMO, they would have been a better fit for the SEC than Missouri, but that's me. Sorry for the long response.

True, only time will tell. Are charlotte and gsu's new found success a flash in the pan or are they truly on an upward trajectory. Is App's upward trajectory sustainable after 2 coaching hires in 2 years? Can't know that until it plays out.