(10-24-2019 08:54 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(10-23-2019 01:54 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  

(10-23-2019 07:03 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(10-23-2019 06:56 AM)EvilVodka Wrote:  

(10-22-2019 10:48 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  Really? Another best-of-the-rest fantasy conference thread? Haven't we had, like, a hundred of these over the past couple of years?

I don't see a shred of real evidence that BYU or any MWC team is hankering to join a three or four time zone spanning AAC. There was some kerfuffle last week after Calhoun publicly bellyached about the MWC possibly not being "really a match" for AFA just before his team had to fly seven hours to play a road game in Honolulu, but not another peep after the Falcons beat the hell out of the Warriors.

Until the offseason dead period rolls around again I would think there are better things to talk about.

It's called a message board

Why are you responding to a thread you don't like?

"I hate this thread, and don't think it's timely..........I'm going to say something about"

Yes, it's like the trolls who complain, "I'm sick of seeing all this conference realignment discussion on this conference realignment discussion forum!"

Fair points. In my defense I’ll point out I’ve been on this board a long time and rarely criticized a thread. Morever I’ve never had an issue with any thread, regardless of how repetitive, that starts with some explanation or theory about what could trigger a potential conference realignment. It’s harder though to see value in threads that just start with an assertion that Conference A should go out and grab schools from Conference B without bothering to state any rationale for why or how it could actually happen.

I could post a thread here every month telling you the Pac 12 should add Hawaii because I like the idea. But I don’t because I can’t present any currently valid rationale for how it could happen. It would just be speculation or fantasy on my part and if I kept doing it I suspect you folks would get tired of it.

As the OP I feel obligated to explain why I think this makes sense to the parties involved.

The one thing all these schools want, with maybe the exception of the two academies, is P status.

De jure P status is probably not going to happen for anyone and if it does happen they will be ascending into a weakened conference on the cusp of losing its status (BE 2005-2012).

What these schools can do, within the existing structure, is position themselves to be in the very best G conference such that their conference champ always lays claim to the NY6 slot. This is de facto P status.

The 11 AAC schools are already in fairly solid shape. What they can do to increase their likelihood of locking down the G5 NY6 spot is cherry-picking the competition.

Enter stage left Boise St. They are historically the biggest challenger for that NY6 berth but they don’t get a lot of help from their conference mates as they aren’t perceived to be as good as the top AAC schools. Adding Boise to the AAC greatly improves the AAC’s chances of being in the NY6 annually. Boise also brings a lot of name recognition and that is good for the tv contract. As a western school they also bring the possibility of using some late night time slots (also adding to the attractiveness of the tv package).

BYU is a little different. They want to be national. They want to be perceived as P level like Utah. Independence sort of separates them from G status stigma but also cuts them out of the NY6. Convince them that the AAC can be both national and de facto P status and you’ve added a program that averages 60K in attendance with a huge fan base spread nationwide. BYU gains a much easier path to the NY6.

AFA has made statements expressing displeasure in the MWC. They offer a land bridge to other two western adds and as a service academy they have a broad fan base and a lot of appeal. MWC membership has really localized them to the western states, AAC status would offer a national footprint. Having Navy as a divisional opponent opens more OOC scheduling opportunities that the CiC OOC rivalries currently limit.

I think there is an appeal there for not only the AAC but all 3 expansion schools as well.

Aresco has the right idea when he tried to go national before; he just failed in the execution when the organization from BCS to Playoffs/NY6 scared the western schools away.

Aresco needs to ask the question to Boise and AFA: Is MWC membership getting you where you want to be? The same question need be asked to BYU regarding independence.

This is the key comment:

"The 11 AAC schools are already in fairly solid shape. What they can do to increase their likelihood of locking down the G5 NY6 spot is cherry-picking the competition."