(10-03-2014 04:21 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  1. The ESPN contract, which is the remnants of the old Big East contract, expires this season. I very much doubt ESPN is going to re-up, especially with Louisville and Syracuse now in the ACC.

2. Since when does UCF, South Florida, UH, Memphis, Tulane, Cincy and ECU have greater name recognition. Yes, most are bigger schools than Rice with far bigger alumni bases, but none of them (save for perhaps ECU) attracts large attendence figures and none of them boast big TV audiences. Yes, they are a far superior basketball conference, but basketball really doesn't drive conference alignment despite being the #2 revenue sport with the #2 TV market.

The AAC's deal with ESPN was a multiyear deal only signed last year?

Those schools have greater name recognition the moment they're compared to the FCS startups and SunBelt teams that now dominate CUSA.

Several of those schools are among the largest drawing for attendance in the G5.

Basketball $$ is a big deal for the have-nots.