(09-10-2013 12:40 AM)Attackcoog Wrote: (09-09-2013 11:05 PM)billings Wrote: (09-09-2013 09:48 AM)CougarRed Wrote: In two recent interviews, American commish Mike Aresco has mentioned the possibility of going to 14 schools.
Army's TV deal with CBS Sports expires after 2014. With Navy joining the American in 2015, here's how the cookie might crumble:
Army and Air Force to the American
MWC replaces Air Force with UTEP
CUSA replaces UTEP with a Sun Belt school
I wonder how many times Air Force has to say no before the stupid rumors stop
There is no rumor. Speculation at best.
True. And the basis for the speculation: Aresco last Saturday in Philly
"Internally, we're happy with 12 teams. … There are a couple of schools -- I'm not going to name them,
you probably know how they are -- who could probably add something to our conference down the road, if we wanted to go 14.
"But they would have to be teams that add value in terms of, one, academics, that would have value in terms of competition, and, three, that would have TV value. Because what we don't want to do, obviously, is diminish the value of our existing schools."
This is in contrast
with what he said to the Philly media back in May - that we were happy at 12 and have no plans to expand.
In August 2012, Aresco specifically mentioned Air Force and BYU as expansion candidates. I'm not sure he has specifically ever mentioned Army.
But Army's TV deal is up in 2014. And the BYU ship has sailed. So I am putting 2+2 together and concluding we are making a play for Army and Air Force. They both have TV value. And academic value. And Air Force has competitive value.