The rumor I heard a 1 year ago was Ohio/Marshall making a package deal pitch to the AAC. This was right around the time that ArkState told me about the B12 candidate list (Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Houston, Rice).

Marshall has made a compelling argument to join the AAC based on their football performance this year but the their academic performance every year leaves something to be desired. CUSA is the right conference for them.

The AAC's last additions were Tulane and Tulsa. Two private schools. They'll try to make additions around a theme. The themes in the AAC are private schools, big metro schools and in the case of UConn a land grant.

UConn is the school the AAC has to keep happy to prevent them from scampering off to the BE, therefore I would expect to see them reload in their direction. Buffalo is an AAU school and Ohio was chartered with land as the first school in the Northwest Territories. Both have high potential in basketball. Ohio has averaged 23 wins a year in basketball and has a basketball budget larger than some AAC schools. The states of Ohio and New York are both highly populated which appeals to TV networks.

I do not think the AAC necessarily wants to drive its membership Southern. They already have enough issues overlapping with CUSA. They are more interested in rivalries, academics, perception. They want to recruits to confuse the AAC with ACC and attend their schools.

(12-05-2014 05:17 PM)BE4evah Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 04:35 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  I like Buffalo. Have to reclaim that Rutgers market.

Buffalo would be a geographic problem, especially if Army is invited and UConn is allowed back in to the Big East. UCF will want a southern school.

hey, we all know Buffalo is going to the B1G so thye can claim New York State and act as a bridge to Uconn

(12-05-2014 05:55 PM)andy98 Wrote:  The MAC conference has 6 teams from Ohio. I wish the AAC would raid at least a couple of them. They can have Toledo and Miami as far as I'm concerned.

Toledo has zero support outside of its immediate metro area. The minimum ACT requirement is 15 to get into Toledo. Sounds perfect for CUSA where there are plenty of schools like that.

Miami has very low attendance/performance in FB/BB. They averaged 1200 last year in basketball and about 12,000 in football. 7 out of the last 8 years a losing season in football. School hasn't increased in enrollment since 1970. Its about 1 hour from a 4 lane highway. They would have support for CUSA inclusion near Marshall, WKU and MTSU.

(12-05-2014 06:12 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  Boise would be a great add but does the B12 want another island school like WVU? Then again, not like Cinci is close either.

While Boise would take it they are no where near the media market Cincy or memphis is


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Memphis getting an invite wouldn't surprise me. Now that they have invested in football, they are a prime candidate for Big XII expansion. I would be surprised if UConn got passed up, though.

As for AAC expansion or replacement candidates, I get the feeling that many of the more recent candidates were chosen to appeal to Navy. Considering this, my guess is that Old Dominion and Rice would get invites.

(12-05-2014 08:56 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  Memphis getting an invite wouldn't surprise me. Now that they have invested in football, they are a prime candidate for Big XII expansion. I would be surprised if UConn got passed up, though.

As for AAC expansion or replacement candidates, I get the feeling that many of the more recent candidates were chosen to appeal to Navy. Considering this, my guess is that Old Dominion and Rice would get invites.

There is NO chance UConn is invited to B12. Not that they aren't deserving just too far away. Having said that I don't see any expansion.

(12-05-2014 08:56 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  Memphis getting an invite wouldn't surprise me. Now that they have invested in football, they are a prime candidate for Big XII expansion. I would be surprised if UConn got passed up, though.

As for AAC expansion or replacement candidates, I get the feeling that many of the more recent candidates were chosen to appeal to Navy. Considering this, my guess is that Old Dominion and Rice would get invites.

Rice is the backup for Houston should they pull out of the AAC. If Texas ever left the B12, Houston will be the replacement.

Ohio is in the same spot as Rice, waiting for the local school (Cincinnati) to move on to the B12. The school was close to being in the mix before the split but decided to play wait and see. Has a 100+ year football tradition that includes Sun and Citrus Bowls. Former division mates with Temple and UCF of the AAC.

Old Dominion may be blocked by East Carolina because they want to claim the Tidewater market for the conference. The newest FBS school in the AAC is USF and they've been at the top level since 1998.

Buffalo at least has been in the MAC 15 years. They have a local NFL Stadium to bring bigger schools to town. A state of 20 million to bring to the AAC. Has won a MAC football championship.

(12-05-2014 05:38 PM)Metacog Drivel Wrote:  UAB and Idaho.

Pacific has a better market than Idaho.

Army and Rice to the American!!!

(12-05-2014 09:43 PM)connecticutguy Wrote:  Army and Rice to the American!!!

Is Navy even going to stay in the American?

That is something I question.

(12-05-2014 06:12 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  Boise would be a great add but does the B12 want another island school like WVU? Then again, not like Cinci is close either.

From a pure geography standpoint, Cincinnati and Northern Illinois are the two G5 schools that best bridge the gap between Iowa State and West Virginia. Memphis, though, would probably be better for football recruiting and pure media presence. It also makes a convenient location for conference championships.

Keep in mind that there are certain schools in the AAC's contract that are memorialized as effectively holding most of the value. An AAC without Cincinnati and Memphis will be of little value to ESPN. Of course if Fox is diving the Big 12 expansion then ESPN may want to take it out on C-USA, another Fox property. I'd look for Marshall and Old Dominion, or Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. The other option is to replace one school in each division (assuming Navy wants to stay in the West) and take UTSA and Marshall.

West: UTSA, Houston, SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, Navy
East: Temple, UConn, East Carolina, Marshall, South Florida, Central Florida

C-USA would then look like this:

West: UTEP, North Texas, Rice, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, ???
East: FAU, FIU, Charlotte, Old Dominion, WKU, MTSU

Fox could get in one last swipe at ESPN by having C-USA take Arkansas State or Texas State from the Sun Belt. If UAB is still around C-USA could shut the Sun Belt out of Texas by taking Texas State and non-football school Texas-Arlington.

(12-05-2014 09:28 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 08:56 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  Memphis getting an invite wouldn't surprise me. Now that they have invested in football, they are a prime candidate for Big XII expansion. I would be surprised if UConn got passed up, though.

As for AAC expansion or replacement candidates, I get the feeling that many of the more recent candidates were chosen to appeal to Navy. Considering this, my guess is that Old Dominion and Rice would get invites.

Rice is the backup for Houston should they pull out of the AAC. If Texas ever left the B12, Houston will be the replacement.

Ohio is in the same spot as Rice, waiting for the local school (Cincinnati) to move on to the B12. The school was close to being in the mix before the split but decided to play wait and see. Has a 100+ year football tradition that includes Sun and Citrus Bowls. Former division mates with Temple and UCF of the AAC.

Old Dominion may be blocked by East Carolina because they want to claim the Tidewater market for the conference. The newest FBS school in the AAC is USF and they've been at the top level since 1998.

Buffalo at least has been in the MAC 15 years. They have a local NFL Stadium to bring bigger schools to town. A state of 20 million to bring to the AAC. Has won a MAC football championship.

We were division II in 98. Didnt move up to Div 1 until 2001 and joined CUSA in 2003.

(12-05-2014 08:19 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  The rumor I heard a 1 year ago was Ohio/Marshall making a package deal pitch to the AAC. This was right around the time that ArkState told me about the B12 candidate list (Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Houston, Rice).

Marshall has made a compelling argument to join the AAC based on their football performance this year but the their academic performance every year leaves something to be desired. CUSA is the right conference for them.

The AAC's last additions were Tulane and Tulsa. Two private schools. They'll try to make additions around a theme. The themes in the AAC are private schools, big metro schools and in the case of UConn a land grant.

UConn is the school the AAC has to keep happy to prevent them from scampering off to the BE, therefore I would expect to see them reload in their direction. Buffalo is an AAU school and Ohio was chartered with land as the first school in the Northwest Territories. Both have high potential in basketball. Ohio has averaged 23 wins a year in basketball and has a basketball budget larger than some AAC schools. The states of Ohio and New York are both highly populated which appeals to TV networks.

I do not think the AAC necessarily wants to drive its membership Southern. They already have enough issues overlapping with CUSA. They are more interested in rivalries, academics, perception. They want to recruits to confuse the AAC with ACC and attend their schools.

Pass. I'd rather take Georgia southern and Charlotte or ODU. Maybe USM, depending on who's interested and what the end goal is.

(12-05-2014 04:11 PM)Wilkie01 Wrote:  Just courtesy if the Big 12 raid happens as rumored.

Don't you mean "So who's going to replace the universities who joined a conference that mine couldn't?" Not that any are.

The most obvious reason for the B 12 to expand is if it thought it was at a disadvantage in the CFP by not having a CCG.

A related reason might be to have a CCG because of revenue.
It is possible that the 12 team requirement will "go away" in January, along with the required divisional structure.

Another reason to expand would be to take WVU off it's island. Cincinnati would fill the requirement of a Mountaineer travel partner.

Does the Big XII need a larger media presence?
Everything I have read indicates that the B12 is satisfied with it's current members and media contract.

Quote:The Big 12 Conference signed an agreement with Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and New Corp.’s Fox Sports Media Group to televise its football and basketball games through the 2024-2025 season, the conference said in a press release.

As part of the 13-year agreement, ABC/ESPN will share the conference’s football over-the-air and cable rights with Fox, but will remain the primary rights holder of Big 12 men’s basketball, including the Big 12 men’s tournament.

The agreement will pay the conference $2.6 billion, ESPN.com (DIS) reported without citing its sources. That amounts to about $20 million for each school every year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-07...-2025.html

So, there is no hurry to get squared away before a media contract renewal and there is uncertainty as to the NCAA divisional requirements and CCG until at least January of next year.

I really doubt it, but IF these rumors are true, then we might infer the following;
The conference can probably wait as to it's WVU travel issues, so the only reason for the B2G to consider expansion right now is the anticipation of a screw job of Baylor and the CFP, with the associated fore-knowledge that the NCAA while removing the divisional requirement will not remove the 12 team CCG requirement.

So, I think we are at best premature with this discussion.

(12-05-2014 10:01 PM)jaredf29 Wrote:  

(12-05-2014 08:19 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  The rumor I heard a 1 year ago was Ohio/Marshall making a package deal pitch to the AAC. This was right around the time that ArkState told me about the B12 candidate list (Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Houston, Rice).

Marshall has made a compelling argument to join the AAC based on their football performance this year but the their academic performance every year leaves something to be desired. CUSA is the right conference for them.

The AAC's last additions were Tulane and Tulsa. Two private schools. They'll try to make additions around a theme. The themes in the AAC are private schools, big metro schools and in the case of UConn a land grant.

UConn is the school the AAC has to keep happy to prevent them from scampering off to the BE, therefore I would expect to see them reload in their direction. Buffalo is an AAU school and Ohio was chartered with land as the first school in the Northwest Territories. Both have high potential in basketball. Ohio has averaged 23 wins a year in basketball and has a basketball budget larger than some AAC schools. The states of Ohio and New York are both highly populated which appeals to TV networks.

I do not think the AAC necessarily wants to drive its membership Southern. They already have enough issues overlapping with CUSA. They are more interested in rivalries, academics, perception. They want to recruits to confuse the AAC with ACC and attend their schools.

Pass. I'd rather take Georgia southern and Charlotte or ODU. Maybe USM, depending on who's interested and what the end goal is.

Depends if the end goal is to look like the SBC or look like CUSA, right?

One point of clarity as people debate this... Some want to say that the contract specifically states that if certain teams leave that the contract can be renegotiated or terminated and that without Cinci or Memphis that ESPN wouldnt have the value anymore.

That contract WAS NOT written by ESPN. It was written by Comcast and then matched by ESPN. If you look at Comcasts regional networks you can see why they included this but it doesn't necessarily hold true for ESPN distribution model.

I've been pushing for McGill for a while.

Marshall, Georgia Southern, and App State why not.


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(12-05-2014 10:53 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  I've been pushing for McGill for a while.

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