Short read:


The musical chairs of conference realignment, largely quiet for the past few years, may blare again with Air Force among those scurrying to a new spot.

According to multiple reports, UConn is on the verge of leaving the American Athletic Conference to rejoin the Big East. Should that happen, national outlets like ESPN and Yahoo have suggested Air Force would be a top candidate to fetch a spot in the AAC as a football-only member (a role Navy has in the conference).

Or, the AAC could opt not to replace UConn and continue as an 11-team conference.

“My early leader on who replaces UConn would be Air Force,” New York-based Associated Press college football writer Ralph Russo tweeted Saturday.

Air Force did not immediately respond to The Gazette’s request for comment on the situation.

Sources consulted by The Gazette made such a move sound unlikely at best, though one said “it’s not impossible.”

The biggest hindrance would be what the Falcons would do with the rest of their 13 programs that compete in the Mountain West, as they would be highly unlikely to be taken by the AAC or stay in the MW without football attached. The only options (semi) regionally would be the Western Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley, Big Sky, Big West or West Coast Conference; and that only works if one of those leagues opens its arms to the academy. Or, the Falcons programs could try to compete as independents.

Those options are less than ideal, but the academy made a similar push for inclusion into the Big 12 three years ago as a football-only school. The money here wouldn’t be as significant as it would have been in the Big 12, but it might be substantial enough to make this worth exploring.

The AAC recently signed a 12-year, $1 billion deal with ESPN that will pay approximately $7 million per institution annually. Navy would not release its percentage of the figures, which are not made public, but has said it makes only “slightly less” than the conference’s full members.

The current Mountain West television deal pays roughly $1 million per school, and the conference is exploring alternatives to cable deals in the future to curtail the trend of television-fueled late-night kickoffs that have cut into attendance.

The AAC wouldn't be as cozy geographically as Air Force’s current setup in the Mountain West, where its division foes include Colorado State, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah State. But in the AAC it could potentially find its way into a division with teams in the Central Time Zone like Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane and Tulsa. Trips would be longer to the other schools in the conference — including Central Florida, Cincinnati, Eastern Carolina, South Florida and Temple — but division play would mean the Falcons would travel only once every four years to those destinations. Considering its current cross-division trips take it to Hawaii and multiple California schools, the travel would largely be a push.

There would be logistics to determine with Navy being in the league, assuming that series would continue every year, but perhaps Air Force and Navy could petition to the conference to play nonleague games in the years they don’t face off in AAC contests — provided they are not placed in the same division.

Army has also been suggested as a replacement for UConn, but the prospect of throwing the lucrative Army-Navy game into control of a conference with the revenue then distributed among other teams would be a deterrent to that happening.

The music won’t even begin playing until UConn officially departs the AAC, but once that happens expect Air Force to be among those at least eyeing a new seat.

https://gazette.com/sports/national-spec...38135.html

(06-26-2019 10:43 AM)Foreverandever Wrote:  Short read:


The musical chairs of conference realignment, largely quiet for the past few years, may blare again with Air Force among those scurrying to a new spot.

According to multiple reports, UConn is on the verge of leaving the American Athletic Conference to rejoin the Big East. Should that happen, national outlets like ESPN and Yahoo have suggested Air Force would be a top candidate to fetch a spot in the AAC as a football-only member (a role Navy has in the conference).

Or, the AAC could opt not to replace UConn and continue as an 11-team conference.

“My early leader on who replaces UConn would be Air Force,” New York-based Associated Press college football writer Ralph Russo tweeted Saturday.

Air Force did not immediately respond to The Gazette’s request for comment on the situation.

Sources consulted by The Gazette made such a move sound unlikely at best, though one said “it’s not impossible.”

The biggest hindrance would be what the Falcons would do with the rest of their 13 programs that compete in the Mountain West, as they would be highly unlikely to be taken by the AAC or stay in the MW without football attached. The only options (semi) regionally would be the Western Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley, Big Sky, Big West or West Coast Conference; and that only works if one of those leagues opens its arms to the academy. Or, the Falcons programs could try to compete as independents.

Those options are less than ideal, but the academy made a similar push for inclusion into the Big 12 three years ago as a football-only school. The money here wouldn’t be as significant as it would have been in the Big 12, but it might be substantial enough to make this worth exploring.

The AAC recently signed a 12-year, $1 billion deal with ESPN that will pay approximately $7 million per institution annually. Navy would not release its percentage of the figures, which are not made public, but has said it makes only “slightly less” than the conference’s full members.

The current Mountain West television deal pays roughly $1 million per school, and the conference is exploring alternatives to cable deals in the future to curtail the trend of television-fueled late-night kickoffs that have cut into attendance.

The AAC wouldn't be as cozy geographically as Air Force’s current setup in the Mountain West, where its division foes include Colorado State, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah State. But in the AAC it could potentially find its way into a division with teams in the Central Time Zone like Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane and Tulsa. Trips would be longer to the other schools in the conference — including Central Florida, Cincinnati, Eastern Carolina, South Florida and Temple — but division play would mean the Falcons would travel only once every four years to those destinations. Considering its current cross-division trips take it to Hawaii and multiple California schools, the travel would largely be a push.

There would be logistics to determine with Navy being in the league, assuming that series would continue every year, but perhaps Air Force and Navy could petition to the conference to play nonleague games in the years they don’t face off in AAC contests — provided they are not placed in the same division.

Army has also been suggested as a replacement for UConn, but the prospect of throwing the lucrative Army-Navy game into control of a conference with the revenue then distributed among other teams would be a deterrent to that happening.

The music won’t even begin playing until UConn officially departs the AAC, but once that happens expect Air Force to be among those at least eyeing a new seat.

https://gazette.com/sports/national-spec...38135.html

meh. We'd obviously be stronger with Air Force than UConn, but not sure if we'd be stronger with Air Force than with 11. I guess every schools local paper is going to be putting out stories about how their school is claimed to be a front-runner by "sources".

Just my $.02 over here in Eastern Carolina .

How do you write Eastern Carolina right next to South Florida?? I don’t get it.

I'd like to have Air Force, they'd be super intriguing to have from a political and interest perspective, but they wouldn't be much of a competitive add. It makes sense to stick em in the west with Navy, but do we want two teams in the conference that can only compete using the option? It seems like once teams in the conference get used to playing that style of play so often, it'd be even tougher for them to compete...

I don't know, I think staying at 11 is the smart thing to do if it's not BYU or Boise

(06-26-2019 11:13 AM)Kruciff Wrote:  I'd like to have Air Force, they'd be super intriguing to have from a political and interest perspective, but they wouldn't be much of a competitive add. It makes sense to stick em in the west with Navy, but do we want two teams in the conference that can only compete using the option? It seems like once teams in the conference get used to playing that style of play so often, it'd be even tougher for them to compete...

I don't know, I think staying at 11 is the smart thing to do if it's not BYU or Boise

Why would the west be stuck with 2 triple options teams?

(06-26-2019 11:06 AM)DowdyPirate Wrote:  How do you write Eastern Carolina right next to South Florida?? I don’t get it.

That might eventually be the most viable move for the AAC, Air Force in the west, Tulane to the east and VCU for Olympic sports.

Air Force could probably park Olympics in the Summit without too much hassle.

For the record, not the Capital Gazette.
Annapolis' newspaper is the Capital, the publisher is "Capital Gazette" (used to be two publications).
This is the Gazette out of Colorado Springs.

As much as AAC members would like to have the other Academies in the AAC conference its not going to happen. The Air Force Academy likes its relationship with the Range Schools and staying in the MWC provides a home for its other sports. Army has said no on multiple occasions, has its other sports safely tucked in the Patriot League, has the lucrative Army / Navy Game, can get P5 games when they want them, has access to CFP money, and can schedule 2 FCS teams for winnable games and still get to a bowl. Also look at what just happened - a Mid Major BB Conference with no FB just picked off the AAC's top branded school. Neither are coming to the AAC especially when the AAC is constantly on rocky roads with the top schools trying to go elsewhere every time P5 expansion comes up. The AAC is not only a "tweener conference" for the G5 and P5 narratives, it is also a volatile conference forever on the verge of breaking up should a major event happen with Texas, Oklahoma, and the B-12. The AAC is only stable as long as the B-12 is stable. If something major happens with the B-12 and more top schools are plucked from the conference, then the AAC goes back to another form of CUSA or the MWC in the future. Each Academy is fine where it is and will stay where they are now, at least until the next possible realignment period in 2025, and that can come and go with everything remaining the same. Maybe the AAC should stand pat too until 2025 and see what happens down the road.

Air Force would be a huge upgrade in football and if we can’t get BYU, would be the next best thing, IMHO.

If this were to happen, we would have to decide who to add (if anyone) for Olympic-sports only; VCU would still be at the top of my list.

(06-26-2019 11:23 AM)slhNavy91 Wrote:  For the record, not the Capital Gazette.
Annapolis' newspaper is the Capital, the publisher is "Capital Gazette" (used to be two publications).
This is the Gazette out of Colorado Springs.

Damn it, lol fooled. My algorithm usually brings me the Capital, I'll change title.

(06-26-2019 11:21 AM)Bogg Wrote:  Air Force could probably park Olympics in the Summit without too much hassle.

The WAC works better and is a better conference. It also means one major sport in the west and one in the east. The Summit is quickly becoming the Dakota version of the big west. They probably could get Denver to go with and be a travel partner, local rival for the WAC and the WAC needs programs with baseball and soccer and schools in general so they will likely make it very easy, especially since Air Force gets them in tr he Denver market.

(06-26-2019 11:36 AM)panite Wrote:  As much as AAC members would like to have the other Academies in the AAC conference its not going to happen. The Air Force Academy likes its relationship with the Range Schools and staying in the MWC provides a home for its other sports. Army has said no on multiple occasions, has its other sports safely tucked in the Patriot League, has the lucrative Army / Navy Game, can get P5 games when they want them, has access to CFP money, and can schedule 2 FCS teams for winnable games and still get to a bowl. Also look at what just happened - a Mid Major BB Conference with no FB just picked off the AAC's top branded school. Neither are coming to the AAC especially when the AAC is constantly on rocky roads with the top schools trying to go elsewhere every time P5 expansion comes up. The AAC is not only a "tweener conference" for the G5 and P5 narratives, it is also a volatile conference forever on the verge of breaking up should a major event happen with Texas, Oklahoma, and the B-12. The AAC is only stable as long as the B-12 is stable. If something major happens with the B-12 and more top schools are plucked from the conference, then the AAC goes back to another form of CUSA or the MWC in the future. Each Academy is fine where it is and will stay where they are now, at least until the next possible realignment period in 2025, and that can come and go with everything remaining the same. Maybe the AAC should stand pat too until 2025 and see what happens down the road.

My reply lol

https://csnbbs.com/thread-878223.html

(06-26-2019 12:00 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(06-26-2019 11:21 AM)Bogg Wrote:  Air Force could probably park Olympics in the Summit without too much hassle.

The WAC works better and is a better conference. It also means one major sport in the west and one in the east. The Summit is quickly becoming the Dakota version of the big west. They probably could get Denver to go with and be a travel partner, local rival for the WAC and the WAC needs programs with baseball and soccer and schools in general so they will likely make it very easy, especially since Air Force gets them in tr he Denver market.

I came to suggest exactly this. I worked at Denver for a handful of years, and have a number of friends still associated with the athletics department. Denver has pretty much wanted out of the Summit since they joined the Summit after they had to leave the Sun Belt. They're not interested in the WAC (I know this for fact), but the West Coast Conference and Missouri Valley are their dream landing spots. They've always lacked a travel partner, however. This could be that opportunity.