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Someone on the CSNBBS AAC thread suggested that one way for that conference to take a step forward might be to sponsor a major bowl game in an open time slot on 12/31 or 1/1 to compete with the NY6 bowls.

Whether or not the AAC would have the savvy and the gumption to do something like that isn't certain, since they haven't even had the gumption to replace UConn, but another idea would be for the G5 conferences as a group to take that ball and run with it.

The nation's most highly-ranked G5 team that doesn't play in a NY6 bowl would play one of the top P5 (or FBS independent) teams that don't play in a NY6 bowl.

These are the kinds of teams that would have played in such a bowl over the past few years:

2020: (#12) Coastal Carolina (11-0) vs. (#11) Indiana, (#13) UNC, (#14) Northwestern, (#15) Iowa, (#16) BYU, or (#18) Miami

2019: (#19) Boise State (12-1) vs. (#11) Utah, (#12) Auburn, or (#13) Alabama, (#14) Michigan, or (#15) Notre Dame

2018: (#21) Fresno State (11-2) vs. (#12) Penn St., (#13) Wash St., (#14) Kentucky, (#15) Texas, or (#16) WVU

2017: (#20) Memphis (10-2) vs. (#14) Notre Dame, (#15) TCU, (#16) Michigan St., (#17) LSU, or (#18) Washington St.

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There are some southern cities with large stadiums, such as Las Vegas, Austin, TX, and San Francisco/Oakland that don't currently sponsor bowl games on those dates, and given the nation's voracious appetite for college football, such a game would be guaranteed to generate solid viewership.

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The primary benefit to the G5 conferences is that it would double the number of G5 teams that would be playing on or about January 1st, and would thus double the likelihood that one of the G5 teams might win one of those games.

Sponsoring such a bowl game might give a needed boost to the regular season viewership of G5 conference teams, and it would also be beneficial from a recruiting standpoint, as millions of aspiring young athletes would see the G5 conferences as being competitive alternatives to the P5 conferences.

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All that would be necessary to make such a bowl game happen would be for the G5 conferences to set aside a sufficient pool of money to underwrite a "NY7" quality bowl game. Most of the costs would be covered and recouped through corporate sponsorships and broadcasting revenue from the network that would cover the event.

To ensure that a wide range of G5 conferences would benefit, there could be a requirement for the NY6 and "NY7" bowl G5 teams to represent two different G5 conferences.

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It would be interesting to know what some of you might think about this idea.

Would you have any reservations or recommendations? If so, what would they be?

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This is just one of the ways that the G5 conferences could work cooperatively in their common best interests, and/or to boost their collective profile.

Other ideas that they might consider could include sponsoring regular season basketball invitational events, mutually-beneficial scheduling alliances, cross-promoting cross-conference regional rivalry games, and cooperative advocacy/lobbying on issues of common interest.

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