Who did better? PAC 12 or Mountain West?

[meangreenfaninno]

And how did the AAC fair coming thru latest realignment as well.  I think the AAC fared well and is better than both!

 

[greenjoe]

I wish the American had been able to get the Air Force Academy to join us. 

[RBP79]

PAC has join the "Group of 5" to make it G6. The last realignment hurt both them and MWC. AAC came out on top of both....IMO

[keith]

In terms of the Pac12/MWC tweet above and what they both started with (not the legacy Pac, the WSU and OSU Pac), the Pac12 came out way ahead of the MWC.  They need 1 more right?  Where do they get it or do they try to add more than one.

In terms of the AAC, SMU out and Army In.  Love having another service academy as a conference mate and it was probably the best move the conference could make...national recognition and following.  The whole Army/Navy game piece is kind of a monkey wrench.  Overall, with SMU's performance and getting into the CFP this year makes the loss of SMU a bit more that the addition of Army (at least this year).  Let's see how the next couple years pan out.

Edited Wednesday at 03:55 PM by keith

[ColoradoEagle]

The PAC stands a real chance of becoming the 'Big East of the West', but I think they'll still be fighting to get into the CFP each year with the rest of the G5.

MWC obviously is a huge downgrade since they're the conference that got raided. The best thing they have going for them is stability. Outside of AFA and, to a lesser degree, NIU and UNLV, no one has any interest in those schools.

AAC did well with the Army pickup. What happens in the next few years under the new commissioner will be important. As a conference, we've scheduled ourselves into a one bid joke like Sun Belt or CUSA. They've gotta figure out some strategy there. For football, it's hard to say we're better or worse off than last year. SMU going to the CFP was a fluke compared with the past 30 years, but I imagine they'll be a stronger program in general than they were in the AAC due to the amount of money and attention the ACC brings. At least while it lasts...

[TripleGrad]

MWC is a push in overall terms from before the raid to after.  Still a solid G6 but lower than the AAC in my mind.

PACx has survived, which is all one can really expect for a conference that got shattered in the realignment.  But the 2 legacy P4 schools cannot elevate that new version higher than the G6 bunch.  

Both of the conferences will get low-to-mid TV coverage, and fill the late schedule spots.

For the AAC, I'm happy with Army over SMU.  I wish we could have pulled Air Force, but so be it.

I do expect the PACx to make another run at Memphis, that should be interesting.

Fun fact:  I've been tracking the realignment via a spreadsheet.  As of the NIU change, 46 teams have changed conferences since OUT announced their move to the SEC.

 

[greenjoe]

OUT gave me pause.  I like it.  

[MrAlien]

What do the TV deals look like for each conference?  Did the Pac12 ever get one?  I Know MWC had a TX deal with FOX, but with all the movement is the deal still in place? 

The Pac12 probably came out better, but they are no longer a power conference. 

The MWC was a strong G5 conference, now average at best, but I do think given the circumstances they added the right schools.

The winners in all this are the schools that left the Pac12

What does this mean for the AAC?  The AAC could become the top G6 conference, if al the schools pull their weight. 

[MCMLXXX]

The MWC is at this point only attractive to New Mexico State and FCS schools that want to move up. Otherwise, I think they have exhausted their expansion options.

If the PAC12 is unable to lure UNLV away from the MWC then I think their best option is to land a Texas Trifecta. I don't see a single Texas School wanting to be an outlier in the PAC (Texas State might go alone but I doubt it). Of course, any big media deal would change my opinion, but I doubt that happens.

[NT80]

PAC with 7 members still needs to add another football school to be a legit conference.  Their biggest gains were Boise, SDSU and Gonzaga.  

The MWC got gutted and had to find low-hanging fruit to refill.   

The best (strongest) result for both is still to merge it all.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

On 1/8/2025 at 6:00 PM, NT80 said:

PAC with 7 members still needs to add another football school to be a legit conference.  Their biggest gains were Boise, SDSU and Gonzaga.  

The MWC got gutted and had to find low-hanging fruit to refill.   

The best (strongest) result for both is still to merge it all.

This is it. But conference contracts, money at large, and mainly executive egos are in the way. 

[MDH]

PAC is ahead of AAC for sure, especially when it comes to hoops. While I like where we are now, ACC departures make us extremely vulnerable and would have us in CUSA 2.0. If we’re able to join the PAC, we run and don’t look back. I think our student body and alumni base would appreciate the names we would be playing, the increased media exposure in the PAC.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

2 hours ago, MDH said:

PAC is ahead of AAC for sure, especially when it comes to hoops. While I like where we are now, ACC departures make us extremely vulnerable and would have us in CUSA 2.0. If we’re able to join the PAC, we run and don’t look back. I think our student body and alumni base would appreciate the names we would be playing, the increased media exposure in the PAC.

I can't disagree with anything you're saying if ACC comes poaching and we're sitting here with Rice, Tulsa, and ULM/LAT as our most local conference peers. If that is the case, and it's a somewhat likely scenario, we need to be looking into the PAC as a viable option and not hush-hush turning them down. If anything, we probably should be lifting our skirt a little bit to keep it open as an option. 

[NT80]

5 hours ago, MDH said:

PAC is ahead of AAC for sure, especially when it comes to hoops. While I like where we are now, ACC departures make us extremely vulnerable and would have us in CUSA 2.0. If we’re able to join the PAC, we run and don’t look back. I think our student body and alumni base would appreciate the names we would be playing, the increased media exposure in the PAC.

No, not so sure.  The new(er) PAC with partial expansion (they still need another football program) has NO media deal yet. 

The AAC gets $82mil/yr until 2031 and mainstream ESPN exposure.   

Let's compare apples to apples...media exposure and revenue when the PAC gets some estimates.

[wardly]

Just asking,but what if the PAC 12 signs a media contract that is significantly better than the AAC and wants 2 football only programs in the Central time zone . Is this something UNT would/could/should pursue , similar to NIU's football only move to the MWC? If so, where would our other sports go?

[Matt from A700]

Before the PAC2 raided the MWC, I had been a supporter of joining a rebuilt PAC, as long as it was a true "Western Conference" of D1, and we shared a nice little 6-8 division with the likes of Memphis, UTSA, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, Tulane, and a Rice or Tulsa. But it did not appear the PAC was going to bring enough programs close to DFW to make the added travel and exit fees worth it.

Still don't know how the MWC held onto UNLV and Nevada, otherwise it'd be an even crappier conference than CUSA. But unlike the PAC7, it will still be recognized as an FBS conference next July. Doesn't seem like Memphis, Tulane, and USF will be going there, especially with an unknown TV deal.

Ultimately I think with realignment, one of the G6 leagues will dissolve. The American struggles by being a league with several new teams, no notable rivalries, and no regional tie like the PAC, SBC, MWC, and MAC claim. And there are plenty of moves we could make to improve across many sports, but the league is so saturated. If it were up to me, I'd get Rice, Tulsa, Charlotte, Temple out of the conference. Force FAU and UTSA to find a solution to their high school gyms. Add  Texas State, James Madison, Liberty, Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, and Louisiana. That would create a 16-team conference with a 8-team West Division UNT would share and play annually against with UTSA, TXST, Tulane, Louisiana, Memphis, Western Kentucky, and UAB. Instead of playing frickin' Temple three times in three years.

That would leave us at 15 teams for basketball, I'd add up to three non-football members between Dayton, St. Louis, VCU, Richmond.