(06-01-2021 08:49 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(06-01-2021 08:42 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(06-01-2021 08:34 AM)solohawks Wrote:  

(06-01-2021 08:24 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I wonder what the reasoning was for its swift removal.

No clue

Suprised though any potential Western expansion might not involve Air Force

I would go to 16 and add Air Force and UNLV

5 MWC schools + Tulsa + Wichita/Navy + SMU would be a solid Western bloc with travel completely minimized

If Air Force is willing to do football only you could do Gonzaga/Air Force.

Right. Air Force is a considerably more valuable brand than either San Diego St or Colorado St. The Falcons have a national fan base.

Eh, even though a fan base is national doesn't necessarily mean it is large. It just means it is spread out. I would say both those schools are brand-equal to Air Force.

I've got to believe that this AAC expansion scenario is football-only for everyone involved. To Fighting Muskie, Gonzaga isn't going to the AAC in any form - there's no way that Western school basketball and other sports are going to go to the AAC.

I think Air Force is a bigger national brand, but San Diego State and Colorado State are quite attractive to a league like the AAC because of the strength of their local markets. The California-based Pac-12 schools don't really cover the San Diego market in the same way that flagship/flagship-equivalent schools in other places cover all markets in their respective states.

At the same time, I *love* Colorado's demographic growth if I'm looking toward the future. It's fast-growing because of tons of highly-educated people in high-demand fields flocking there (which is very different than the better weather/lower tax-seeking reasons that a lot of Sun Belt states are growing). While Air Force is located in Colorado, it's not really a "Colorado school" for market purposes. Colorado State is more like a "flagship equivalent" #2 school for the state of Colorado, which I believe is a very valuable position to be in for the long-term.