I notice on another site, a discussion of potential AAC expansion because we only have a couple years exemption as an 11 team conference to have a championship game. While the Big 12 (really 10) haven’t seemed to be bothered by this “inconvenience,” I have some thoughts.
First, from previous discussions on this topic, I agree with most on this site that adding another school for the sake of getting to 12 doesn’t make any sense. And the focus of most discussion seems to be to replace UCONN with a team from the East such as Appalachian State, Florida Atlantic, UMASS, Old Dominion, Army, or a number of other not very attractive options (at least not to me).
Boise State and San Diego State as a twosome have some merit with the difficulty of needing to eject a current member, or adding even one more to get to 14. And, even then, without moving teams from one side of the conference to the other, football divisions would be uneven. And, though it’s seldom mentioned, the cost of travel for sports other than football, especially the non-revenue sports, would be dramatically increased.
Frankly, I don’t have a solution that is at all likely. My personal preference would be to add BYU and shift Navy to the East, where they actually belong. BYU could join as a football-only school (similar to Navy) and retain its allegiance to the West Coast conference (as it does today) for all other sports. That solves the cost problem for non-revenue teams. We already have Wichita State as a non-football member, and though I don’t see the need, replacing UCONN with a non-football member within our geographic footprint might not be that difficult to swallow. A team from the Atlantic 10, such as VCU, George Mason, or St Louis could round out the conference, though, again, I really don’t see the need to add another non-football school.
To me, the problem with this scenario isn’t what BYU brings to the AAC, It’s what the AAC doesn’t bring to BYU. They’ve already got an excellent TV deal for football. They play several P5 schools each year including annual games against Utah. They also have a long term home and home against Boise State and they already draw more home attendance than any other school in the G5. Unless they are invited into a P5 conference, I don’t see the need from their perspective, to make a move.
So, I guess we stand pat until one or more AAC members gets the “golden” invite. I’m not holding my breath.
Roll Wave!!!
First, from previous discussions on this topic, I agree with most on this site that adding another school for the sake of getting to 12 doesn’t make any sense. And the focus of most discussion seems to be to replace UCONN with a team from the East such as Appalachian State, Florida Atlantic, UMASS, Old Dominion, Army, or a number of other not very attractive options (at least not to me).
Boise State and San Diego State as a twosome have some merit with the difficulty of needing to eject a current member, or adding even one more to get to 14. And, even then, without moving teams from one side of the conference to the other, football divisions would be uneven. And, though it’s seldom mentioned, the cost of travel for sports other than football, especially the non-revenue sports, would be dramatically increased.
Frankly, I don’t have a solution that is at all likely. My personal preference would be to add BYU and shift Navy to the East, where they actually belong. BYU could join as a football-only school (similar to Navy) and retain its allegiance to the West Coast conference (as it does today) for all other sports. That solves the cost problem for non-revenue teams. We already have Wichita State as a non-football member, and though I don’t see the need, replacing UCONN with a non-football member within our geographic footprint might not be that difficult to swallow. A team from the Atlantic 10, such as VCU, George Mason, or St Louis could round out the conference, though, again, I really don’t see the need to add another non-football school.
To me, the problem with this scenario isn’t what BYU brings to the AAC, It’s what the AAC doesn’t bring to BYU. They’ve already got an excellent TV deal for football. They play several P5 schools each year including annual games against Utah. They also have a long term home and home against Boise State and they already draw more home attendance than any other school in the G5. Unless they are invited into a P5 conference, I don’t see the need from their perspective, to make a move.
So, I guess we stand pat until one or more AAC members gets the “golden” invite. I’m not holding my breath.
Roll Wave!!!
