AAC Relocation

UNTexas · May 20, 2020

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2020/05/20/college-athletic-conference-finalizes-plans-for-more-to-north-texas/

Look, if they like North Texas so much, give NT a call some time. I'm sure Wren will answer.

Edited May 20, 2020 by UNTexas

El Paso Eagle · May 20, 2020

So a move to their Western most city is a better fit? Maybe they are planning ahead to the day the Big 12 splits.

I would love it if we could get past the point where it is perceived that SMU would never allow us in a conference with them.

Not really sure how much pull they have, but I worry with the coming ability for athletes to be "paid" if some on the old money boosters might try for one last push to stack their team.

DeepGreen · May 20, 2020

Brint Ryan should have offered the AAC "a deal" to move their operations into his tower off of 635.

El Paso Eagle · May 20, 2020

At least we know where to focus the billboards

Coach Andy Mac · May 20, 2020

Has anyone noticed that Ryan is all over CUSA sight and official sponsor of the conference?

Temp - Sticky Leaderboad Ryan

NorthTexan95 · May 20, 2020

With CUSA and AAC in the area, perhaps we should go ahead and merge the two together.

Green Crazy · May 20, 2020

That building is only a couple buildings down from mine. I've got this.🙂

Cougar King · May 20, 2020

1 hour ago, NorthTexan95 said:

With CUSA and AAC in the area, perhaps we should go ahead and merge the two together.

We dumped Marshall, Rice, UTEP, UAB and Southern Miss once. If we wanted them around, they would already be in the AAC.

All About UNT · May 20, 2020

Quoner ALSO moved from Providence to Irving (professionally) and THEN we got in the CUSA...and he worked across the street from the VERY SAME building (1 min walk) that they are moving into.

We got this!!

greenjoe · May 20, 2020

It will be hard for the AAC to at least not notice NT from that vantage POINT.

DeepGreen · May 21, 2020

34 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

It will be hard for the AAC to at least not notice NT from that vantage POINT.

Exactly! And don’t think for a minute that someone from the AAC won’t sneak in to see a UNT game.

Hunter Green · May 21, 2020

3 hours ago, Cougar King said:

We dumped Marshall, Rice, UTEP, UAB and Southern Miss once. If we wanted them around, they would already be in the AAC.

Like Texas, OU and Tech dumped you??

SMUleopold · May 21, 2020

8 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

So a move to their Western most city is a better fit? Maybe they are planning ahead to the day the Big 12 splits.

I would love it if we could get past the point where it is perceived that SMU would never allow us in a conference with them.

Not really sure how much pull they have, but I worry with the coming ability for athletes to be "paid" if some on the old money boosters might try for one last push to stack their team.

We don't have any more pull than any other school.

It's simple:

Win and you're in.

untjim1995 · May 21, 2020

54 minutes ago, SMUleopold said:

We don't have any more pull than any other school.

It's simple:

Win and you're in.

TV markets rule the day for conference affiliation. It’s not the SWC, WAC, or CUSA dayS when TCU and SMU and UH and Rice would be in the same conference. Today, the networks drive conference affiliation by eyeballs their market will drive and they don’t duplicate them. If you can’t bring new cities or states to a conference, you ain’t moving up. Look at the Big XII. ESPN and Fox paid the ten teams even more NOT to take any of the AAC teams that wanted to move up.

It’s why I advocate for the MWC if we ever could miraculously get an invite. But that doesn’t seem very likely anytime soon.

The only logical move for the SBCUSA is to realign and make travel cheaper and get more butts in seats from visiting fans.

NM Green · May 21, 2020

I feel Leopold speaks some truth. The Mean Green continue to demonstrate commitment, vision and a strong desire to rise above our current arrangement.

Many SMU alums realize the benefit of playing each other and cultivating another city rivalry. You have rich private school in major metro and massive state school in one of the country’s most coming regions. We add value in our profile and naturally developing attributes. Inject enthusiastic leadership and success and we will look even more attractive as a program to many.

Programs want to be surrounded by other attractive programs. The AAC has some deadwood as does CUSA and the Sun Belt. This unexpected situation we have been thrusted into can benefit some programs. All of a sudden you have a Pure reason to reset everything, including conference affiliation and peer program alignment.

I believe in Wren and Dr. Smastrek. As a fan I can support home and away, recruit fans, donate and encourage tv social media ratings. Sound familiar? Let’s start again this fall.

GMG

SMUleopold · May 21, 2020

35 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

TV markets rule the day for conference affiliation. It’s not the SWC, WAC, or CUSA dayS when TCU and SMU and UH and Rice would be in the same conference. Today, the networks drive conference affiliation by eyeballs their market will drive and they don’t duplicate them. If you can’t bring new cities or states to a conference, you ain’t moving up. Look at the Big XII. ESPN and Fox paid the ten teams even more NOT to take any of the AAC teams that wanted to move up.

For the record, I don't disagree with you. Rutgers and Maryland aren't in the Big Ten because of their gd football teams.

But I'm telling you as plainly as I can tell you, and I'm having this argument on the AAC boards:

The AAC needs a football team.

If 'P6' is the goal, and we say it is, then the conference has to win on the football field - has to. The conference media deal has just been signed, and isn't going to change significantly over the next decade, so in the meantime the biggest step forward has to be on a football field. As a result a team could exist in a city or state that 'brings' 5M to the TV sets, but if they lose on the football field nobody cares or wants to watch them and nobody takes the conference seriously in the most important field, so that school is dead weight; UConn fit this description to a T.

So you can take this for whatever it's worth, but I say whichever program can show that they can be a consistent top-25 presence is the answer. App State went 12-1 last year and beat two respected P5 programs, so they're on peoples radar. ECU may not like it, but if ASU does it again the next few years (I know their schedule this year includes Wisconsin) then they make a compelling case, and the pirates may get voted down.

If you could triple the TV contract the next time around, like the AAC did a year ago, by letting in a local competitor then you need to do it. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're a fool. I'm not being funny, or cute, or anything - if you dangle $25M/year in media rights in front of SMU then I'm willing to bet we'd happily go along with it, regardless of the addition.

Edited May 21, 2020 by SMUleopold
minor addition

MrAlien · May 21, 2020

even though I think the AAC would be an excellent conference for UNT football... SMU and UNT will never be in the same conference.

while many people focus on football, I think basketball might be our ticket to a better conference

untjim1995 · May 21, 2020

10 hours ago, SMUleopold said:

For the record, I don't disagree with you. Rutgers and Maryland aren't in the Big Ten because of their gd football teams.

But I'm telling you as plainly as I can tell you, and I'm having this argument on the AAC boards:

The AAC needs a football team.

If 'P6' is the goal, and we say it is, then the conference has to win on the football field - has to. The conference media deal has just been signed, and isn't going to change significantly over the next decade, so in the meantime the biggest step forward has to be on a football field. As a result a team could exist in a city or state that 'brings' 5M to the TV sets, but if they lose on the football field nobody cares or wants to watch them and nobody takes the conference seriously in the most important field, so that school is dead weight; UConn fit this description to a T.

So you can take this for whatever it's worth, but I say whichever program can show that they can be a consistent top-25 presence is the answer. App State went 12-1 last year and beat two respected P5 programs, so they're on peoples radar. ECU may not like it, but if ASU does it again the next few years (I know their schedule this year includes Wisconsin) then they make a compelling case, and the pirates may get voted down.

If you could triple the TV contract the next time around, like the AAC did a year ago, by letting in a local competitor then you need to do it. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're a fool. I'm not being funny, or cute, or anything - if you dangle $25M/year in media rights in front of SMU then I'm willing to bet we'd happily go along with it, regardless of the addition.

I agree with you about a huge TV contract being a reason for SMU to accept UNT as a conference mate. But I also know that will never happen because of the current way TV contracts are setup by the networks.

The AAC might add a 12th football team--but it will only make that decision if the networks allow them to add someone they deem worthy of that value. I still feel like that would be Army as a football only member because of the national brand and their rivalry with Navy. But beyond that, my next guess would be someone who wins a lot from the SBCUSA and represents a big market that hasn't been duplicated. So the obvious targets would be FAU, FIU, Georgia State, MUTS, ODU, UAB, UTSA, UTEP, or Texas State. It won't include teams from zero market schools, such as Marshall, WKU, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Southern Miss, Troy, La Tech, ULM, Ark State, or ULL. Those who duplicate markets are gonna be out--which is us and Rice. Charlotte is a possibility because they used to be in the old CUSA with Cincy, Memphis, Tulane, Houston, and USF for hoops, but football would really have to take a huge leap upwards very quickly to even imagine that occurring in the years ahead.

My guess is that the AAC will eventually make a deal with Army for football only, probably within the next couple of years.

meanrob · May 21, 2020

14 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

I agree with you about a huge TV contract being a reason for SMU to accept UNT as a conference mate. But I also know that will never happen because of the current way TV contracts are setup by the networks.

The AAC might add a 12th football team--but it will only make that decision if the networks allow them to add someone they deem worthy of that value. I still feel like that would be Army as a football only member because of the national brand and their rivalry with Navy. But beyond that, my next guess would be someone who wins a lot from the SBCUSA and represents a big market that hasn't been duplicated. So the obvious targets would be FAU, FIU, Georgia State, MUTS, ODU, UAB, UTSA, UTEP, or Texas State. It won't include teams from zero market schools, such as Marshall, WKU, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Southern Miss, Troy, La Tech, ULM, Ark State, or ULL. Those who duplicate markets are gonna be out--which is us and Rice. Charlotte is a possibility because they used to be in the old CUSA with Cincy, Memphis, Tulane, Houston, and USF for hoops, but football would really have to take a huge leap upwards very quickly to even imagine that occurring in the years ahead.

My guess is that the AAC will eventually make a deal with Army for football only, probably within the next couple of years.

If you are Army you have only one choice and that is to stay independent. Their CUSA experience was a disaster. Right now they can schedule smart, have a pre-determined bowl waiting for them and keep their tv deal with CBSSN. There isn’t one benefit from joining the AAC.

Look at their 2020 schedule. They’re almost guaranteed to make a bowl and they have OU coming to Michie.

Having said that, look at BYU’s schedule. If you want to make your coach’s life miserable and NOT make a bowl, that’s how you do it.

wardly · May 21, 2020

My money is in AAC to think long term and take a wait and see approach . Power 5 T.V. contracts expire 2023 - 2005 and if Big 12 implodes they could pick up some good gets.

bstnsportsfan3 · May 21, 2020

13 hours ago, SMUleopold said:

For the record, I don't disagree with you. Rutgers and Maryland aren't in the Big Ten because of their gd football teams.

But I'm telling you as plainly as I can tell you, and I'm having this argument on the AAC boards:

The AAC needs a football team.

If 'P6' is the goal, and we say it is, then the conference has to win on the football field - has to. The conference media deal has just been signed, and isn't going to change significantly over the next decade, so in the meantime the biggest step forward has to be on a football field. As a result a team could exist in a city or state that 'brings' 5M to the TV sets, but if they lose on the football field nobody cares or wants to watch them and nobody takes the conference seriously in the most important field, so that school is dead weight; UConn fit this description to a T.

So you can take this for whatever it's worth, but I say whichever program can show that they can be a consistent top-25 presence is the answer. App State went 12-1 last year and beat two respected P5 programs, so they're on peoples radar. ECU may not like it, but if ASU does it again the next few years (I know their schedule this year includes Wisconsin) then they make a compelling case, and the pirates may get voted down.

If you could triple the TV contract the next time around, like the AAC did a year ago, by letting in a local competitor then you need to do it. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're a fool. I'm not being funny, or cute, or anything - if you dangle $25M/year in media rights in front of SMU then I'm willing to bet we'd happily go along with it, regardless of the addition.

Might be the first SMU fan I have ever agreed with!

Edited May 21, 2020 by bstnsportsfan3

Quoner · May 21, 2020

19 hours ago, All About UNT said:

Quoner ALSO moved from Providence to Irving (professionally) and THEN we got in the CUSA...and he worked across the street from the VERY SAME building (1 min walk) that they are moving into.

We got this!!

SMUleopold · May 21, 2020

4 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

The AAC might add a 12th football team--but it will only make that decision if the networks allow them to add someone they deem worthy of that value. I still feel like that would be Army as a football only member because of the national brand and their rivalry with Navy. But beyond that, my next guess would be someone who wins a lot from the SBCUSA and represents a big market that hasn't been duplicated. So the obvious targets would be FAU, FIU, Georgia State, MUTS, ODU, UAB, UTSA, UTEP, or Texas State. It won't include teams from zero market schools, such as Marshall, WKU, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Southern Miss, Troy, La Tech, ULM, Ark State, or ULL. Those who duplicate markets are gonna be out--which is us and Rice. Charlotte is a possibility because they used to be in the old CUSA with Cincy, Memphis, Tulane, Houston, and USF for hoops, but football would really have to take a huge leap upwards very quickly to even imagine that occurring in the years ahead.

My guess is that the AAC will eventually make a deal with Army for football only, probably within the next couple of years.

Army has said 'no' a couple of times. We'll see if they change their minds. I don't think they are worth waiting around for.

The networks want someone who will move the needle. There really isn't any undiscovered markets out there, and every available G5 team, even in the AAC, plays second fiddle in their own markets, so you have to have someone who can compete on the field - it's the closest thing to a fair shot as we can find. As a result, UNT, App State, UAB, or whomever is going to have to punch their way into the top 25, allowing the AAC to make the case for them. If somehow a Boise State emerges from the Southeast/Texas region, that will be the easiest possible sell to the networks.

4 hours ago, MrAlien said:

while many people focus on football, I think basketball might be our ticket to a better conference

Avoid this trap. UConn has four national titles in men's basketball in the last twenty years alone, not to mention their powerhouse women's team, and they are the 'butterface' of college realignment. Basketball means little to nothing, as mean as that sounds.

El Paso Eagle · May 21, 2020

6 minutes ago, SMUleopold said:

Army has said 'no' a couple of times. We'll see if they change their minds. I don't think they are worth waiting around for.

The networks want someone who will move the needle. There really isn't any undiscovered markets out there, and every available G5 team, even in the AAC, plays second fiddle in their own markets, so you have to have someone who can compete on the field - it's the closest thing to a fair shot as we can find. As a result, UNT, App State, UAB, or whomever is going to have to punch their way into the top 25, allowing the AAC to make the case for them. If somehow a Boise State emerges from the Southeast/Texas region, that will be the easiest possible sell to the networks.

Avoid this trap. UConn has four national titles in men's basketball in the last twenty years alone, not to mention their powerhouse women's team, and they are the 'butterface' of college realignment. Basketball means little to nothing, as mean as that sounds.

I would hope that in addition to success, which we have been trending up, our massive investments in facilities would be a benefit when the time comes.

All About UNT · May 22, 2020

I really respect the SMU opinion on the matter. If they (Mainly Alumni) could possibly think that Tulsa has more to provide to the conference than North Texas then they are delusional. Also our metro has 7 million people and not 5% of those are SMU fans.