Yeah, it's such an absurd "if" that I'm impressed with the reporters ability to play the straight guy in the comedy that's the b12 leftovers.
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Official realignment thread - SEC formally invites OU and Texas to join the conference in 2025
The other thing that people need to realize in this whole conversation, atleast in terms of thr national people, is that they always **** on the pac 12 ratings but that’s completely out of context. The late games and especially thr late games on FS1 don’t rate well because it is so late on the East coast but those execs still really really value that inventory. The pac 12 does just fine in good time slots.
Yeah - for the earlier slots the P4 conferences are almost interchangeable. An SEC game at 3:30 EST does incrementally better than a P12 game at 3:30 EST. But the P12 dominates the ratings for the 9:00 pm slot.
You have to land that P12 contract, because no one will watch whatever alternative you're left with if you don't get it.
It's the blue ocean theory of competition.
Edit: while I understand the business value reason for playing that slot, as someone who lives in EST, I ****ing hate it. I also acknowledge that it probably has an impact on rankings - although with fox sports and ESPN moving more personnel to LA, that's becoming less of an issue
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While the P5 conferences are currently paying out in excess of $30 million per team the MWC has been paying out $1.4 million and the AAC about $4 million. Under their new contracts the MWC expects that figure to go up to about $4 million per team but the AAC again leapfrogs ahead going to an expected $7 million per team.
American targeting Mountain West powers among handful of expansion candidates in realignment
The Mountain West could suffer significant blows if the AAC corrals the teams it's targetingwww.cbssports.com
Colorado State: One of the best new stadiums in the country. The football program is struggling, and CSU doesn't exactly deliver the Denver market.
C-USA is currently at about $400,000 per school and the MAC at about $833,000 per school. The Sun Belt pays out about $125,000 per school.
Additionally the AAC has had 4 of the last 6 G5 qualifiers for the New Years bowl slot meaning that the league has split another roughly $4 million among its members in those years.
If CSU could get a bid to the AAC the extra $3 million per year would make a big difference but they would still be far behind the P5 schools.
Mountain West commissioner pushes back against possible poaching from AAC
Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson has remained relatively quiet as the capricious winds of conference realignment swirl around him, as his counterparts in the American Athletic Conference a…
www.sandiegouniontribune.com
AFA & CSU to AAC? If so, MWC would just stay at 10 schools.
"Power 6"Mountain West commissioner pushes back against possible poaching from AAC
Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson has remained relatively quiet as the capricious winds of conference realignment swirl around him, as his counterparts in the American Athletic Conference a…
AFA & CSU to AAC? If so, MWC would just stay at 10 schools.
And then he says that the MWC is the 6th.
I almost spit out my coffee laughing.
Setting aside the humor, there might be extra value for AFA and Navy in being in the same conference because they would each essentially gain a new non conference game slot.
If that happened, I'd be very interested in CU doing an annual game with AFA. Home & Home setup would be fine. I'd take that over playing CSU in a heartbeat since it would potentially become a national tv staple.
Fort Worth perspective.
1. Pac-12 was "this close" to adding TCU and Houston.
2. Driver is that these are the #5 (DFW) and #8 (Houston) media markets in the US and, secondly, that each have strong athletics.
3. They're reading a lot into GK adding the "at this time" qualifier when he announced the P12 wasn't expanding. Further, that TTU and other B12 members are saying that they're looking at further expansion. (The speculation is that they're preparing to lose UH & TCU).
1. Pac-12 was "this close" to adding TCU and Houston.
2. Driver is that these are the #5 (DFW) and #8 (Houston) media markets in the US and, secondly, that each have strong athletics.
3. They're reading a lot into GK adding the "at this time" qualifier when he announced the P12 wasn't expanding. Further, that TTU and other B12 members are saying that they're looking at further expansion. (The speculation is that they're preparing to lose UH & TCU).
Big Jim
WTF?
I like the UH/TCU expansion.
Craig Thompson can say whatever he wants.
I posted a couple of days ago the realities of this.
4 of the last 6 G5 teams to get the New Years bowl slot came out of the AAC, 1 from the MWC. With the new media contracts MWC per team payout will be about $4 million per team, for the AAC that figure will be about $7 million per team.
"Zipper" alignment wouldn't be the worst thing.
You'd play your geographic paired rival for your 7th conference game every year. Rotate through the other 6 teams playing 2 per year so you'd play everyone home/away every 6-year window.
Much better than how other 14-team conference schedules have worked out.
Seems like the TCU/UH posts came out before the carnage of the Pac-12 this Saturday. Those teams are probably like “Na. We’re good”.
So your B12 team can take extremely long plane trips to play on a blue football field in the middle of nowhere in a minuscule media market!
Exactly. Plus the Pac 12 needs to add teams that they can beat.
I think that CSU Pueblo and Garden City CC fit the bill nicely
UtahaluminTX
Well-Known Member
I don't see big Ram donor (there must be some?) going along with losing all the MWC regional games for East Carolina and the like. Smallish income gains in football likely eaten up by flying all the other sports far away too? Also don't buy the just bludgeoned AAC is > MWC - and any replacement teams don't replace those lost. Just more subtraction by addition going on.
AAC reportedly zeroes in on 2 Mountain West teams for conference expansion
www-saturdaydownsouth-com.cdn.ampproject.org
The aac is a strange little awkward conference. Teams on the upswing want to flee.
it's a "stepping stone conference"
I guess csu wants to play s. florida and e carolina.
“Where’s the Buffalo?”
ahoelsken
Well-Known Member
Say what you will about RG-but one of the best things he's done for this FB program is make it really clear to CSU that we're done playing them in Denver and every year. As far as AFA, ehhhhhhhh.......I don't see that making sense for either of us, but I do think its ridiculous that the only time we've played them in my lifetime (I'm 35) was the game in 2019. Maybe 2-3 home and homes a decade?
Why? The AAC is a step up and they aren’t getting a P5 invite
ahoelsken
Well-Known Member
Simple: They think a moral victory against a top 5 opponent who was trying to just get through the game with them should get them into the Pac 12.
Rammie logic at its finest.
Could be knee-jerk, but some state they would rather stay in the region than fly across country for a few extra million, lose rivals, no border war, etc.
CSU leaving Wyoming behind…that doesn’t make sense on the surface but if you dig in deeper, you will see that Wyoming (along with Utah State) is an outlier in the MWC since they are in a pretty rural setting and it can be argued that the Big Sky Conference is a better fit. Just look at how often UW football games were on streaming outlets so far this season. The other MWC schools are largely in large urban areas just like the PAC-12. Utah State & Wyoming could end up going to the WAC down the road just because of the likemindedness of conferences. The WAC appears to be more rural when it comes to their football schools but their non-football schools are from large urban areas. It’s going to be interesting to see how long that harmony lasts.
Maryland to the B1G didn’t make sense to their fan base but once you get past that, Maryland is a Land Grant school much like the Big Ten schools are. Same thing for Rutgers. I still think those moves had tv dollar signs all over them but those two schools do for the B1G profile.
Now the AAC schools besides those departing for the Big 12 are in metro areas with a good amount of people. This fits CSU’s profile. Colorado might be listed by the US Census bureau as being a western state but to be honest with you, it’s more 50-50 west-midwest.
Travel is going to be a pain it appears but if you play with your map app, it will show you that the travel distance to Memphis & UAB is only about 100-200 miles more than going to San Diego & San Jose. It’ll be a pain to go to USF, Temple, and ECU for conference games. Even a trip to Marshall isn’t that much different from going to San Diego. It’s fun to joke about how inferior CSU is but I’m sure they did their homework on those travel issues.
I think AFA could be a football only deal and they will find a new conference home. The Summit League would be a good option with Denver already in the conference. Denver appears like a school that could go with AFA to the Patriot League where Army & Navy are full members.
With the AAC’s deal with ESPN, this will be an upgrade for CSU when it comes to exposure. I will be jealous of CSU when it comes to ESPN+ for most of their sports.
This is going to be a big blow to the MWC and there will be questions about UNM’s future in the MWC since they could just go to CUSA to hook up with UTEP and the Texas schools. I think Wyoming sticks with the MWC but it won’t be the same without CSU & AFA.
Should CSU make this move? I don’t think so but I’m not making the call that the school president & regents are making.
Maryland to the B1G didn’t make sense to their fan base but once you get past that, Maryland is a Land Grant school much like the Big Ten schools are. Same thing for Rutgers. I still think those moves had tv dollar signs all over them but those two schools do for the B1G profile.
Now the AAC schools besides those departing for the Big 12 are in metro areas with a good amount of people. This fits CSU’s profile. Colorado might be listed by the US Census bureau as being a western state but to be honest with you, it’s more 50-50 west-midwest.
Travel is going to be a pain it appears but if you play with your map app, it will show you that the travel distance to Memphis & UAB is only about 100-200 miles more than going to San Diego & San Jose. It’ll be a pain to go to USF, Temple, and ECU for conference games. Even a trip to Marshall isn’t that much different from going to San Diego. It’s fun to joke about how inferior CSU is but I’m sure they did their homework on those travel issues.
I think AFA could be a football only deal and they will find a new conference home. The Summit League would be a good option with Denver already in the conference. Denver appears like a school that could go with AFA to the Patriot League where Army & Navy are full members.
With the AAC’s deal with ESPN, this will be an upgrade for CSU when it comes to exposure. I will be jealous of CSU when it comes to ESPN+ for most of their sports.
This is going to be a big blow to the MWC and there will be questions about UNM’s future in the MWC since they could just go to CUSA to hook up with UTEP and the Texas schools. I think Wyoming sticks with the MWC but it won’t be the same without CSU & AFA.
Should CSU make this move? I don’t think so but I’m not making the call that the school president & regents are making.