American Athletic Conference Realignment & Expansion Thread

NorwichCat11 · **Joined:** Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:56 pm **Posts:** 69

If Navy backs out, then either Marshall or Northern Illinois U. would be a better pick than ODU. Marshall is a good geographical fit even though the market size is small. NIU has a better program and I might be wrong, but don't they have the Chicago market? This is my two cents!

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1033

NorwichCat11 wrote:

If Navy backs out, then either Marshall or Northern Illinois U. would be a better pick than ODU. Marshall is a good geographical fit even though the market size is small. NIU has a better program and I might be wrong, but don't they have the Chicago market? This is my two cents!

If Navy backs out, they'll add another Southwestern member like SoMiss or Rice to establish a solid divisional structure.
West-Tulsa, SMU, Houston, Tulane, Memphis, SoMiss/Rice
East-UCF, USF, ECU, Cincy, Temple, UConn

The only other possibility is to simply replace them with UMass which has been rumored to have Temple's support.

sec03 wrote:

I expect you are correct on this. As noted earlier, the A12/nBE does not want to complicate matters further regarding claims and disbursements until all the related fiscal issues get resolved.

THIS

The Bishin Cutter wrote:

It's politics. What's pitiful is that this new "Big East" (the CYO's) has essentially gotten everything it wants, while the shell of the old entity (the REAL Big East), are full of bitter lame-ducks who aren't going to do a thing.

I think the Catholic 7 gave up something like 7/10ths of 100 million dollars to get "everything they wants" which was what? A tattered name that has little to no respect in football and a tournament in MSG which the football schools only have 2 members even remotely close to that (UConn/Temple). Heck I don't think MSG did that much for anyone outside of the Northeast corridor, yeah NYC is cool but its expensive and take away a chance to host and make money for conference school's cities. They're already arguing over who gets to host (Houston/Memphis/Hartford/Dallas/Philly/Orlando/Tampa/NOLA). So I'm not sure what your driving at other than the fb schools are pathetic.

freaked4collegefb · **Joined:** Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:37 pm **Posts:** 7045

CBS article with comments from BE FB Commish regarding conference branding,expansion and other issues at http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/ ... defections

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 1490

Some people would accuse Aresco's statements as being overly Pollyanna-ish,
but there were so many factions pulling in different directions, that the best thing to do was to let this horrible "enhanced" hybrid
un-ravel, and split off the non-FB schools.
That finally happened rather rapidly, and now they can move ahead as an all-sports conference.

This unraveling of the hybrid should have happened years ago.

With regard to a conference name, I think 'BIG' is sort of lame and over-used;
they should avoid numbers (due to potential change in membership / number),
and go with something that might be an easy-to-pronounce acronym like "PAC", "MAC", etc.

What do you guys think of "National Athletic Conference" (NAC) ?

ncaanopaawaa2000 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:07 pm

How about "Urban America Athletic Conference" (UAAC)?

sec03 · **Joined:** Sat May 20, 2006 2:09 pm **Posts:** 1231

No term that would confuse with the NCAA or a reminder of big city blight.
Agree, too much Big, and numbers. Just about all directions have been used, and this group is spread out. America, National, etc., too over-stating or redundant. No Trans, continental stuff. Too unsettling.

All those locales have pine trees, don't they? Tall Pines Conference? :idea:

;

Shady Oaks?; opps, sounds too much like a nuring home. Doubt can use rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. White-tail deer are near all those places. Too many schools use bald eagle.
"Waves of Grain Conference" sounds too much like Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. "Blue Skies" may get confused with "Big Sky".

Stanford, used a tree for their political correctness re-naming.

Maybe after an early explorer that visited all those locations. DeSoto didn't; & there's already a Lewis & Clark College & L&C was all westward anyway.

Maybe name it after a person? Some President or a great educator? Hard to do also. Heck, find a great, benevolent philanthropist, who'll render major bucks for it to be named after him/her?

Maybe try a corporation sponsor-- like chicken sandwiches, tires, cameras, weedeaters, chips, apparel, etc. It happened to bowls.

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Sun Mar 24, 2013 1:34 am

Tulsa to the BE next week w/ WKU to CUSA right after

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x ... e-in-C-USA

ncaanopaawaa2000 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 24, 2013 6:41 am

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

Tulsa to the BE next week w/ WKU to CUSA right after

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x ... e-in-C-USA

If that happens next week, just as the article stands with these sources, what would be the future of the Sun Belt for football and as an all-sports conference with Western Kentucky joining C-USA to replace Tulsa who'll join the "leftovers of the Big East without a new conference name yet to be determined"?

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 1490

Sun-Belt will expand by 3 FB schools shortly thereafter, as replacements for MTSU, FIU, WKU (all of whom are moving to CUSA).

General consensus is that 2 of the replacement schools will be Georgia Southern and Appy State.
Other could be NMSU or an FCS upgrade such as Lamar, Jacksonville St., James Madison... a few others.

ncaanopaawaa2000 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:49 am

tute79 wrote:

Sun-Belt will expand by 3 FB schools shortly thereafter, as replacements for MTSU, FIU, WKU (all of whom are moving to CUSA).

General consensus is that 2 of the replacement schools will be Georgia Southern and Appy State.
Other could be NMSU or an FCS upgrade such as Lamar, Jacksonville St., James Madison... a few others.

Ok, but if other FBS conferences feel short in terms of not having the minimum number of schools for football as an all-sports conference to add FCS schools, what would be the future for the FCS? And I believe that both FBS and FCS should like merge together and become one (just like in basketball), have a 64-team playoff format, and in the final (where the national title would start) there will be the bowls depending on the rankings within the gameplay by those 64 teams.

freaked4collegefb · **Joined:** Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:37 pm **Posts:** 7045

CSNBBS MB thread discussing Tulsa/BE FB situation at http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=626124

The Bishin Cutter · **Joined:** Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:41 am **Posts:** 538

tkalmus wrote:

So I'm not sure what your driving at other than the fb schools are pathetic.

It's the degree of how pitiful it is that's the point. If you look at how active Aresco had to be for the Navy, Tulane, and "SUDS+SPUDS," then see how passive he got on that ECU all-sports invite, you can see how limited those left behind still are to the lame-ducks. These outbound programs are still dinkin' around with certain moves, and this ECU thing kind of screams it.

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1033

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

Tulsa to the BE next week w/ WKU to CUSA right after

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x ... e-in-C-USA

"Mainly, because Tulsa is a private school and there seems to be some sort of inexplicable umbilical cord between private schools. Since such private schools as SMU and Tulane are riding their horse with no name to this league with no name, Tulsa feels it needs to do the same."

This is why I've started to think that IF another SW school is added it will be Rice over SoMiss.

Though from a market and football standpoint, USM makes more sense than doubling down on the city Houston and Rice crappy fb.

Dennis · **Joined:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:07 pm **Posts:** 33

freaked4collegefb wrote:

Mark Blaudschun blog article discussing new BE FB name and ECU situation at http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=6023

While it certainly appears that ECU will be elevated to full member, I question whether that makes sense.

Historically, ECU has a worse basketball RPI than any team in the conference, including Tulane, UCF, and USF, current season not withstanding. Why would the basketball schools (UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, Memphis) accept a school that will lower the conference's basketball RPI, when there is really no need to do so?

As a full member, ECU would get a full share of the conference's media revenue. While the difference may be only a few hundred thousand dollars per year, this conference cannot really afford to pay more than necessary. And why pay ECU to lower the conference's basketball RPI?

There are no all-sports conference members anywhere close to ECU, making significant olympic sport travel cost savings unlikely. ECU is a flight trip, not a bus trip. Stopping at ECU to get another game on a road trip would mean another flight (or two) for the traveling team, and they could just as easily stop at Memphis, Temple, or Cincinnati. In any case, cost of a flight often has more to do with the particular lane than with distance.

Ideal conference size may be 10 full members plus 2 football-only members. Why go to 11 + 1?

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1033

Dennis wrote:

freaked4collegefb wrote:

Mark Blaudschun blog article discussing new BE FB name and ECU situation at http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=6023

While it certainly appears that ECU will be elevated to full member, I question whether that makes sense.

Historically, ECU has a worse basketball RPI than any team in the conference, including Tulane, UCF, and USF, current season not withstanding. Why would the basketball schools (UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, Memphis) accept a school that will lower the conference's basketball RPI, when there is really no need to do so?

As a full member, ECU would get a full share of the conference's media revenue. While the difference may be only a few hundred thousand dollars per year, this conference cannot really afford to pay more than necessary. And why pay ECU to lower the conference's basketball RPI?

There are no all-sports conference members anywhere close to ECU, making significant olympic sport travel cost savings unlikely. ECU is a flight trip, not a bus trip. Stopping at ECU to get another game on a road trip would mean another flight (or two) for the traveling team, and they could just as easily stop at Memphis, Temple, or Cincinnati. In any case, cost of a flight often has more to do with the particular lane than with distance.

Ideal conference size may be 10 full members plus 2 football-only members. Why go to 11 + 1?

I've made this very same point before too, but the general consensus is that its "the right thing to do" so they'll do it...

If I was the commish or a schools AD/prez I'd think long and hard about this issue before adding them as full members. If Navy backs out then I tend to think that it would be a no brainer to invite them because they'll want 12 all sports members but if Navy joins up it makes a lot of sense to just stay at 10.

tkalmus wrote:

Unless they want 10 all sports members and 2 fb onlys (ECU/Navy) 11 just isn't as clean (I know the Big Ten did it, but that was for Penn St, and the MWC is doing it but that was to take back BSU/SDSU and to help out long time rival Hawaii's fb)

East Carolina also doesn't really have much nonfb success 0 NCAA championships, 2 NAIA titles (57' men's swimming, '61 baseball), men's ball 2 NAIA & 2 NCAA tourney appearances (lost all four in 1st round) and in 2010 also lost first round of the CIT, women's bball made the NCAA tourney twice (and lost both time in the 1st round), baseball has made the NCAA tourney 25 time but has only gone to 1 super regional (and lost), softball has made the tourney twice but never won a regional, and it sounds like their golf and track are okay (a few all Americans, Olympians, and NCAA individual appearance) but nothing that special.

Couple all that with a small media market and I could see them not getting an invite and letting the current all sports members play round robin in bball, they have 8 for baseball/softball which is enough to sponsor the sports, and plenty for all the normal sports (they may even still be able to sponsor women's rowing) the only benefit to the Big East would be in swimming where they may be a member or two shy of being able two comfortably sponsoring the sport.

American Athletic Conference Realignment & Expansion Thread

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