(03-14-2024 11:47 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 11:31 AM)Eichorst Wrote:  I think all this just brings up what a weird league the AAC has become. Amazing history for the conference, producing a huge number of "call-ups" to the P5 ranks, but it's reached a new state where the membership is kind of all over the board. Feels unstable once the money dries up.

Sound eerily familar to another FBS conference with a USA-centric name.

Except that one never actually made any money. It topped out with a 1.4 million a year per team Fox deal that came at the cost of flipping the bird to ESPN (which is what actually "killed" the league not any expansion mistakes or Judy).

(03-14-2024 12:27 PM)Eichorst Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 12:21 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  Temple can win in the AAC in football with the right coaching hire. They've proved that in the past. Temple is not going to the MAC, not voluntarily, at least. That's the first grade equivalent of realignment.

Once the money from exit fees and the current TV deal ends, I don't think the AAC is going to be ahead of the other G5 conferences. I don't see joining the MAC as unreasonable.

Except they'd have to pay at a minimum a 10 million exit fee to join the MAC, which even if the AAC's TV deal dropped to literally $0 (which it obviously wouldn't) would take at least 6-7 years to recoup from going to the MAC. This is the same as all the ECU to the Sun-Belt scenarios, on paper it sounds like it makes sense but it absolutely never does if you look 5 seconds at the finances (even if you operate under the assumption the AAC TV deal finally gets ripped up).

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:14 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  While watching the AAC championship game. i'm beginning to wonder if the question should be Why would Wichita want to stay in the American? The attendance (lack of) is shocking

Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

the only place that makes sense is Memphis. I don't care if that's a home court or not. That's as central as you can make it and at the very least there's Memphis, WSU and UAB games would theoretically draw well. I agree that it's embarrassing but most of these schools can't even draw for football.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

(03-18-2024 08:03 AM)Owls9878 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 05:49 AM)schmolik Wrote:  At this point the AAC is the new Conference USA. Any school that wants to be in this conference has low expectations. If the ACC gets raided, the domino effect will happen again. Eventually the money will dry up, the Power conferences will be cut out of the new Playoff, and the AAC won't be too far ahead of the Sun Belt and MAC. I don't know about Wichita State but the only reason Temple should stay in the AAC over the MAC is $, once that isn't a benefit they should go to the MAC, especially with UMass in.

Luckily the AAC’s media contract lasts through 2032. Temple won’t have to make a decision anytime soon. Furthermore, in their current forms, the MAC is no where near as attractive as the AAC, even if USF left for the ACC.

Who's left in the AAC? Is losing to UAB any different than losing to Akron?

(03-18-2024 10:29 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 08:03 AM)Owls9878 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 05:49 AM)schmolik Wrote:  At this point the AAC is the new Conference USA. Any school that wants to be in this conference has low expectations. If the ACC gets raided, the domino effect will happen again. Eventually the money will dry up, the Power conferences will be cut out of the new Playoff, and the AAC won't be too far ahead of the Sun Belt and MAC. I don't know about Wichita State but the only reason Temple should stay in the AAC over the MAC is $, once that isn't a benefit they should go to the MAC, especially with UMass in.

Luckily the AAC’s media contract lasts through 2032. Temple won’t have to make a decision anytime soon. Furthermore, in their current forms, the MAC is no where near as attractive as the AAC, even if USF left for the ACC.

Who's left in the AAC? Is losing to UAB any different than losing to Akron?

Memphis and South Florida for one.

(03-18-2024 10:29 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 08:03 AM)Owls9878 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 05:49 AM)schmolik Wrote:  At this point the AAC is the new Conference USA. Any school that wants to be in this conference has low expectations. If the ACC gets raided, the domino effect will happen again. Eventually the money will dry up, the Power conferences will be cut out of the new Playoff, and the AAC won't be too far ahead of the Sun Belt and MAC. I don't know about Wichita State but the only reason Temple should stay in the AAC over the MAC is $, once that isn't a benefit they should go to the MAC, especially with UMass in.

Luckily the AAC’s media contract lasts through 2032. Temple won’t have to make a decision anytime soon. Furthermore, in their current forms, the MAC is no where near as attractive as the AAC, even if USF left for the ACC.

Who's left in the AAC? Is losing to UAB any different than losing to Akron?

Not a ton, but no one is paying a 10 million exit fee to go lose to Akron instead of UAB.

(03-18-2024 08:41 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 11:47 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 11:31 AM)Eichorst Wrote:  I think all this just brings up what a weird league the AAC has become. Amazing history for the conference, producing a huge number of "call-ups" to the P5 ranks, but it's reached a new state where the membership is kind of all over the board. Feels unstable once the money dries up.

Sound eerily familar to another FBS conference with a USA-centric name.

Except that one never actually made any money. It topped out with a 1.4 million a year per team Fox deal that came at the cost of flipping the bird to ESPN (which is what actually "killed" the league not any expansion mistakes or Judy).

(George Kliavkoff is reading this and sadly nodding somewhere)

(03-18-2024 10:21 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:14 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  While watching the AAC championship game. i'm beginning to wonder if the question should be Why would Wichita want to stay in the American? The attendance (lack of) is shocking

Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

the only place that makes sense is Memphis. I don't care if that's a home court or not. That's as central as you can make it and at the very least there's Memphis, WSU and UAB games would theoretically draw well. I agree that it's embarrassing but most of these schools can't even draw for football.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

The AAC from a few years ago had the same problem that the ACC has now: too many juicy targets for Conferences higher up the food chain. They were never going to raid the Big 12 in 2021, but if the Pac and/or the ACC had been more forward thinking and raided the Big 12 leftovers then the AAC might have been able to do what the MWC is doing now and absorb a couple that nobody else wanted.

(03-18-2024 10:36 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 08:41 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 11:47 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(03-14-2024 11:31 AM)Eichorst Wrote:  I think all this just brings up what a weird league the AAC has become. Amazing history for the conference, producing a huge number of "call-ups" to the P5 ranks, but it's reached a new state where the membership is kind of all over the board. Feels unstable once the money dries up.

Sound eerily familar to another FBS conference with a USA-centric name.

Except that one never actually made any money. It topped out with a 1.4 million a year per team Fox deal that came at the cost of flipping the bird to ESPN (which is what actually "killed" the league not any expansion mistakes or Judy).

(George Kliavkoff is reading this and sadly nodding somewhere)

Another guy who like Judy was obviously not great at his job, but is going to take the fall and all the heat for a league dying when the big things that caused it to happen were either completely out of his control or happened long before he got there.

(03-18-2024 10:44 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 10:21 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:14 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  While watching the AAC championship game. i'm beginning to wonder if the question should be Why would Wichita want to stay in the American? The attendance (lack of) is shocking

Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

the only place that makes sense is Memphis. I don't care if that's a home court or not. That's as central as you can make it and at the very least there's Memphis, WSU and UAB games would theoretically draw well. I agree that it's embarrassing but most of these schools can't even draw for football.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

The AAC from a few years ago had the same problem that the ACC has now: too many juicy targets for Conferences higher up the food chain. They were never going to raid the Big 12 in 2021, but if the Pac and/or the ACC had been more forward thinking and raided the Big 12 leftovers then the AAC might have been able to do what the MWC is doing now and absorb a couple that nobody else wanted.

Academics blinded the PAC, and they paid the price for it. The ACC doesn't want to be a Big East clone, but that's where they are heading. However, they could use that to their advantage to still be top notch in basketball if not football.

(03-18-2024 10:29 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 08:03 AM)Owls9878 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 05:49 AM)schmolik Wrote:  At this point the AAC is the new Conference USA. Any school that wants to be in this conference has low expectations. If the ACC gets raided, the domino effect will happen again. Eventually the money will dry up, the Power conferences will be cut out of the new Playoff, and the AAC won't be too far ahead of the Sun Belt and MAC. I don't know about Wichita State but the only reason Temple should stay in the AAC over the MAC is $, once that isn't a benefit they should go to the MAC, especially with UMass in.

Luckily the AAC’s media contract lasts through 2032. Temple won’t have to make a decision anytime soon. Furthermore, in their current forms, the MAC is no where near as attractive as the AAC, even if USF left for the ACC.

Who's left in the AAC? Is losing to UAB any different than losing to Akron?

UAB has been to an Elite 8 and has featured numerous "name" coaches (Gene Bartow, Mike Anderson, Mike Davis and Andy Kennedy). UAB is much more high-profile than Akron.

(03-18-2024 12:18 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 10:29 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 08:03 AM)Owls9878 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 05:49 AM)schmolik Wrote:  At this point the AAC is the new Conference USA. Any school that wants to be in this conference has low expectations. If the ACC gets raided, the domino effect will happen again. Eventually the money will dry up, the Power conferences will be cut out of the new Playoff, and the AAC won't be too far ahead of the Sun Belt and MAC. I don't know about Wichita State but the only reason Temple should stay in the AAC over the MAC is $, once that isn't a benefit they should go to the MAC, especially with UMass in.

Luckily the AAC’s media contract lasts through 2032. Temple won’t have to make a decision anytime soon. Furthermore, in their current forms, the MAC is no where near as attractive as the AAC, even if USF left for the ACC.

Who's left in the AAC? Is losing to UAB any different than losing to Akron?

UAB has been to an Elite 8 and has featured numerous "name" coaches (Gene Bartow, Mike Anderson, Mike Davis and Andy Kennedy). UAB is much more high-profile than Akron.

I had to look up UAB's Elite 8. At least it was in my lifetime. But it was before the 64 team tournament.

Meanwhile the MAC has had a team in the Elite 8 since then, Kent State in 2002, and they're in a neighboring state.

(03-18-2024 10:21 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:14 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  While watching the AAC championship game. i'm beginning to wonder if the question should be Why would Wichita want to stay in the American? The attendance (lack of) is shocking

Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

the only place that makes sense is Memphis. I don't care if that's a home court or not. That's as central as you can make it and at the very least there's Memphis, WSU and UAB games would theoretically draw well. I agree that it's embarrassing but most of these schools can't even draw for football.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

New Orleans would be a much better spot. More central than Memphis and it’s actually a destination that people would travel to.

(03-17-2024 08:49 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 07:59 PM)Porcine Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:14 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  While watching the AAC championship game. i'm beginning to wonder if the question should be Why would Wichita want to stay in the American? The attendance (lack of) is shocking

Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

I thought you were telling a joke.

I laughed, especially at the part where he claims to be old enough to remember that they claimed to be P6. That was like 10 years ago. Hell, I remember when Georgia Tech and Tulane were in the SEC.

...and then there was Mark Price and John Salley...and Bobby Cremins!

(03-18-2024 01:09 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 08:49 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 07:59 PM)Porcine Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

I thought you were telling a joke.

I laughed, especially at the part where he claims to be old enough to remember that they claimed to be P6. That was like 10 years ago. Hell, I remember when Georgia Tech and Tulane were in the SEC.

...and then there was Mark Price and John Salley...and Bobby Cremins!

The Cremins days were good days for Tech. I paid for my wife and her sister to go to the Atlanta Regional to see Auburn and I think Tech was playing there as well. We all had a chance to see Cremins in action a few times in those years. I think Bartow was still at UAB and later we say UNLV and Tark lay one on us in Auburn. The highlight of that day was the UNLV dance team. Our girls were country sweet in appearance and those from UNLV looked like show girls!

(03-18-2024 12:29 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 12:18 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 10:29 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 08:03 AM)Owls9878 Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 05:49 AM)schmolik Wrote:  At this point the AAC is the new Conference USA. Any school that wants to be in this conference has low expectations. If the ACC gets raided, the domino effect will happen again. Eventually the money will dry up, the Power conferences will be cut out of the new Playoff, and the AAC won't be too far ahead of the Sun Belt and MAC. I don't know about Wichita State but the only reason Temple should stay in the AAC over the MAC is $, once that isn't a benefit they should go to the MAC, especially with UMass in.

Luckily the AAC’s media contract lasts through 2032. Temple won’t have to make a decision anytime soon. Furthermore, in their current forms, the MAC is no where near as attractive as the AAC, even if USF left for the ACC.

Who's left in the AAC? Is losing to UAB any different than losing to Akron?

UAB has been to an Elite 8 and has featured numerous "name" coaches (Gene Bartow, Mike Anderson, Mike Davis and Andy Kennedy). UAB is much more high-profile than Akron.

I had to look up UAB's Elite 8. At least it was in my lifetime. But it was before the 64 team tournament.

Meanwhile the MAC has had a team in the Elite 8 since then, Kent State in 2002, and they're in a neighboring state.

Wait a minute, schmolik. First you compare UAB and Akron men's hoops.

Now are you comparing AAC and MAC men's hoops? Seriously? As big a college basketball fan as you are? No offense to the MAC, but the current AAC membership has five programs with Final Four appearances (Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Temple, Wichita and Memphis) and two more with Elite Eight appearances (UAB and Tulsa).

I get the "geography element" you often focus on (thus why you might want Temple in the MAC). But let's be reasonable ...

(03-18-2024 12:34 PM)WhoseHouse? Wrote:  

(03-18-2024 10:21 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:54 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:19 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(03-17-2024 04:14 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  While watching the AAC championship game. i'm beginning to wonder if the question should be Why would Wichita want to stay in the American? The attendance (lack of) is shocking

Why is it shocking? The geography of the conference is horrible and the fan bases of most of the programs are very small. It's literally a league cobbled together of misfit toys from Philadelphia to San Antonio.

That many empty seats? I'm old enough to remember when they claimed to be P6. I get membership has changed but oh how the mighty(in some minds) have fallen. Not a good look

the only place that makes sense is Memphis. I don't care if that's a home court or not. That's as central as you can make it and at the very least there's Memphis, WSU and UAB games would theoretically draw well. I agree that it's embarrassing but most of these schools can't even draw for football.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

New Orleans would be a much better spot. More central than Memphis and it’s actually a destination that people would travel to.

This Memphis fan would be fine with New Orleans as the permanent AAC tourney host. But, please, never again Fort Worth. A disaster.

Seems like a good place for this.

When the AAC initially formed and you still had UCONN and Cincy to go along with Temple I thought the AAC should have made their permanent tournament home the Palestra. Size wise even during the games with small crowds it wouldn't have looked so bad and certain match ups would have had a full or close to full house with real atmosphere that would have been great to make the TV product a lot better. Oh well that didn't happen and now it's either put the thing in Memphis and have crowds only for the Memphis games or put it truly neutral site and pretty much have no crowd for any games. Maybe Nashville might make a tiny bit of sense being close-ish to Memphis and Charlotte (but Charlotte isn't a school that draws huge) and more of a tourist destination than Fort Worth. New Orleans makes some sense for similar reasons, but all of these places will have a bunch of games that look bad on TV doesn't matter what you do.