SI: Sources: C-USA Asks AAC to Consider a Reorganizing of Both Conferences

[shaft]

https://www.si.com/college/2021/10/12/conference-usa-aac-realignment-football

 

"The western conference would include SMU, North Texas, Rice, UTEP, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Wichita State, UAB, Memphis and UTSA. The eastern conference would feature East Carolina, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Temple, Marshall, FAU, FIU, South Florida, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky and two potential new additions."

Edited October 12, 2021 by shaft

[greenjoe]

Please read the entire Sports Illustrated article before responding.

[Wag Tag]

Nice to see a proactive move. Is UAB going to pay the exit fees and entrance fees to go into a conference not knowing who the members are or how much the distribution will be? Are existing AAC members going to give a full share to UAB? This makes a lot of sense.

[wardly]

Anyone troll the Mustang's fan site to get their take on this, or do we even have to?

[El Paso Eagle]

11 minutes ago, wardly said:

Anyone troll the Mustang's fan site to get their take on this, or do we even have to?

A few, though they hate it, admit it makes sense 

[greenb.o.g.]

I'm all for the plan, but it'll never happen.

And from a political standpoint this looks like desperation.

[Aquila_Viridis]

Has the AAC filed for the restraining order yet?

[Tom McKrackin]

[El Paso Eagle]

Seems like a lot of the same people that bitched about our conference not being aggressive are taking jabs when they are. 

[wardly]

2 hours ago, greenb.o.g. said:

I'm all for the plan, but it'll never happen.

And from a political standpoint this looks like desperation.

It is. After the AAC poaches 2 to 4 teams from CUSA we may be applying for membership into the SBC.

[PlummMeanGreen]

12 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Nice to see a proactive move. Is UAB going to pay the exit fees and entrance fees to go into a conference not knowing who the members are or how much the distribution will be? Are existing AAC members going to give a full share to UAB? This makes a lot of sense.

Still trying to understand all the UAB infatuation.  A recent winning football program (for now) that builds a 47,000 seat stadium that was less than half filled in its debut game?  Their 2’nd home game attendance looked even worse.  (See pic)

I think past traditional pecking orders of (mostly) perceived self-importance prevents Judy’s dream from happening.  I like most the names in the West Division, but not impressed with the East Division (as they are equally not impressed with the West).   

SMU will probably be the fly in the ointment with this having a chance to happen as they have one leg in the AAC & their other leg with Big 12 aspirations.  The SMU scenario has to have AAC Commissioner Aresca a bit frustrated; that is, having a school who ultimately doesn’t want to be in his conference still wielding so much power about his leagues future membership.  

Edited October 13, 2021 by PlummMeanGreen

[Wag Tag]

23 minutes ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Still trying to understand all the UAB infatuation.  A recent winning football program (for now) that builds a 47,000 seat stadium that was less than half filled in its debut game?  Their 2’nd home game attendance looked even worse.  (See pic)

I think past traditional pecking orders of (mostly) perceived self-importance prevents Judy’s dream from happening.  I like most the names in the West Division, but not impressed with the East Division (as they are equally not impressed with the West).   

SMU will probably be the fly in the ointment with this having a chance to happen as they have one leg in the AAC & their other leg with Big 12 aspirations.  The SMU scenario has to have AAC Commissioner Aresca a bit frustrated; that is, having a school who ultimately doesn’t want to be in his conference still wielding so much power about his leagues future membership.  

SMU has no more power than any other member. As someone had mentioned decisions will be made by School Presidents. $ 5.6m to buy out C-USA, WS paid $2.5 to join the AAC for basketball only I imagine full member is higher. Nobody is going to pay these fees and still be in a G5 conference.

[TheColonyEagle]

The three conferences—Sun Belt, AAC and C-USA—are separated by their television deals. The AAC distributes around $6 million annually in TV revenue compared to about $500,000 in the Sun Belt and C-USA. However, industry experts expect the loss of Houston, UCF and Cincinnati—three of the biggest G5 names—to adversely impact the American’s ESPN TV deal, decreasing distribution substantially.

 

Of course it will. The "AAC makes more TV money" is a dying argument because it won't be soon. There will be less financial reason to be in the AAC. ESPN is not going to pay the AAC a bunch of money without the schools that make the AAC good. The name of a conference means nothing. AAC is not the AAC as we know it in a few years. 

[MDH]

1 hour ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Still trying to understand all the UAB infatuation.  A recent winning football program (for now) that builds a 47,000 seat stadium that was less than half filled in its debut game?  Their 2’nd home game attendance looked even worse.  (See pic)

I think past traditional pecking orders of (mostly) perceived self-importance prevents Judy’s dream from happening.  I like most the names in the West Division, but not impressed with the East Division (as they are equally not impressed with the West).   

SMU will probably be the fly in the ointment with this having a chance to happen as they have one leg in the AAC & their other leg with Big 12 aspirations.  The SMU scenario has to have AAC Commissioner Aresca a bit frustrated; that is, having a school who ultimately doesn’t want to be in his conference still wielding so much power about his leagues future membership.  

 

You don't want to see a pic of Apogee pre-kickoff.

[MeanGreenTexan]

4 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

The three conferences—Sun Belt, AAC and C-USA—are separated by their television deals. The AAC distributes around $6 million annually in TV revenue compared to about $500,000 in the Sun Belt and C-USA. However, industry experts expect the loss of Houston, UCF and Cincinnati—three of the biggest G5 names—to adversely impact the American’s ESPN TV deal, decreasing distribution substantially.

 

Of course it will. The "AAC makes more TV money" is a dying argument because it won't be soon. There will be less financial reason to be in the AAC. ESPN is not going to pay the AAC a bunch of money without the schools that make the AAC good. The name of a conference means nothing. AAC is not the AAC as we know it in a few years. 

Right.   But do they expect the next deal to drop all the way to the C-USA/SBC levels of payouts?   If so, then this merger thing is the only "option B".   Again, if I'm SMU/Memphis, I'm pissed and putting everything I have into convincing the Big12 to take me out of this hole.
Option A for NT needs to be MWC, because even though their payouts will likely go down, I doubt it comes down to $400k/$500k level like where we currently are.

[MeanGreenTexan]

38 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

SMU has no more power than any other member. As someone had mentioned decisions will be made by School Presidents. $ 5.6m to buy out C-USA, WS paid $2.5 to join the AAC for basketball only I imagine full member is higher. Nobody is going to pay these fees and still be in a G5 conference.

These things can be negotiated (especially the buy-ins).   The AAC wouldn't necessarily require the full payment up front in cash.

[PlummMeanGreen]

1 minute ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Right.   But do they expect the next deal to drop all the way to the C-USA/SBC levels of payouts?   If so, then this merger thing is the only "option B".   Again, if I'm SMU/Memphis, I'm pissed and putting everything I have into convincing the Big12 to take me out of this hole.
Option A for NT needs to be MWC, because even though their payouts will likely go down, I doubt it comes down to $400k/$500k level like where we currently are.

If it’s only about money to get into the Big 12, I’m sure SMU already has that in place.  

They don’t sit around over at the Hilltop with such matter$.

[MeanGreenTexan]

1 minute ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

If it’s only about money to get into the Big 12, I’m sure SMU already has that in place.  

They don’t sit around over at the Hilltop with such matter$.

Oh, no doubt.    And they probably can pay both exit and entrance fees in cash.

[Wag Tag]

12 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

These things can be negotiated (especially the buy-ins).   The AAC wouldn't necessarily require the full payment up front in cash.

Buy Ins maybe buy probably not buy outs! ( no reason to) is the AAC worth paying a $5m plus buy out?

[MeanGreenTexan]

2 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

Buy Ins maybe buy probably not buy outs! ( no reason to) is the AAC worth paying a $5m plus buy out?

Well, if you get in during this current deal that pays out $6mil/school, then obviously yes!     
Then, next time, when the deal is re-negotiated, as long as they don't drop down to the same $400k/$500k range C-USA & SBC are currently receiving, then you're still making more, and you're in a slightly more prestigious conference.

[Rudy]

Judy after the proposal:

 

[Wag Tag]

6 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Well, if you get in during this current deal that pays out $6mil/school, then obviously yes!     
Then, next time, when the deal is re-negotiated, as long as they don't drop down to the same $400k/$500k range C-USA & SBC are currently receiving, then you're still making more, and you're in a slightly more prestigious conference.

Then why reduce the buy in and why give UAB a full share? This is the issue, B12 and AAC can’t replace what they lost.

[MeanGreenTexan]

3 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

Then why reduce the buy in and why give UAB a full share? This is the issue, B12 and AAC can’t replace what they lost.

AAC wouldn't have to reduce the buy-in, although it may help the teams joining.    What they can do is deduct it from the first few payouts instead of demanding it all up front.

C-USA likely wont budge on the buyout, so Pres. Smatresk would need to find that money somewhere.
But if NT spreads out the AAC buy-in over 4/5 years, they won't make as much as the legacy AAC institutions during that time, but will still probably make more money than what they're making now in C-USA. If you think the next round of broadcast deals brings the AAC down to Earth, imagine what's in store for C-USA!

And if Judy's/Smatresk's proposal were to make it through, who's deal (C-USA's or AAC's) do you think the negotiations start with?

Go West and join the stronger, more stable conference if possible.  Their deal will probably go down as well, but I bet MWC's deal is going to be bigger than AAC's.

[untjim1995]

1 hour ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

If it’s only about money to get into the Big 12, I’m sure SMU already has that in place.  

They don’t sit around over at the Hilltop with such matter$.

It isn’t about money, it’s about location. The networks know DFW is covered with TCU and Baylor, not to mention the Tech and OSU alums here. SMU is out for them. Their choice is the watered down AAC or figuring out a way to convince the MWC to take them. If I were at SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, and Memphis, this would be my sales pitch to the folks out west…

[ColoradoEagle]

5 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

If I were at SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, and Memphis, this would be my sales pitch to the folks out west…

If I were SMU, I'd be getting real friendly with the ACC schools.