College Football Off Topic

[Tovarich]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheShizNo1

It's actually a pretty good list. Hits a lot of the regions they're already in and keeps that print in Texas. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Rice doesn't really bring the Houston market just because they're in Houston. Your average person there probably barely knows they play sports. Hell, the geniuses who attend it might not be aware. North Texas is the third most popular school in the Dallas area, out of three. And Denton is practically in Oklahoma. SMU is already in the conference. No additional following there. Not to mention, they're both awful at football and mostly have been for a while now. Florida Atlantic and UAB are the only CUSA teams I'd be excited about. UTSA happens to have stumbled into being good at football this season and are in a big city at least by themselves. Charlotte is meh overall. They likely play 5th fiddle in their own city behind the ACC schools. If it's all about markets, then ok I guess, but if they wanted six schools, the Cajuns, Coastal and App State are superior football teams and they seem more interested in convincing everyone they're the power 6 conference, so football quality should probably be more important than "markets" that I don't even really think they're adding. Liberty even would be a better football choice than most of these CUSA schools.

[jeebs9]

I just can't across this lol.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CVQ13...dium=copy_link

How....?

[AUChase]

I think UAB is a no-brainer for expansion. I'm sure some teams like Memphis may feel like they are back in the C-USA but you get a chance to renew that game. ESPN also had an article that I read that said since 2008 Birmingham has been their top rated market. I think It's based more on the % of televisions tuning into programming but still.. it's one of the best sports TV markets. They also just opened a brand new stadium in "Uptown" and got out of Legion Field.

I know Legion Field holds a lot of fond memories for some people but this isn't the 1980's anymore. The area isn't very safe and since the Steel industry hasn't been the same in many years the surrounding neighborhoods have suffered as well. The last game I went to was a Birmingham Iron game and I told my wife it's not an area I would want to take my kids to a game at.

Bill Clark is also married to UAB. He could leave but I think he's pretty content. UAB has a really good athletics director and their future is probably bright. Losing some teams to other conferences like UCF will likely drop conference revenue but still I think the C-USA pays out around 500K opposed to almost 8 million for the AAC. Even if they drop down to 5-6 million per school a smart athletics department can do a lot with that.

I'm not a UAB fan but I'm excited they may be getting to leave the C-USA. They went from being a dead program in 2014 to coming back in 2017 to win the conference. Since their return they got a new 22.5 million dollar practice/football facility and now a 175 million dollar football stadium.

[legendkiller5]

I won't tolerate any Rice slander.

[rdnk]

Quote: Originally Posted by illwill10

"Sources: The American Athletic Conference is expected examine expansion this week, with six schools expected to send applications. The AAC is expected to receive an application from – FAU, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB this week."

So the American is basically becoming what the C-USA was before the Big East fell apart?

If they just wanted to go into markets, probably would have went with Georgia State over North Texas. It's a pretty meh slate of schools to add, but there's not a ton of good options.

Speaking of which, where does the C-USA go from here? Do they raid the Sun Belt, or do they trying to cobble together a few independents and FCS schools who are ready to jump?

[Tovarich]

Quote: Originally Posted by rdnk

Do they raid the Sun Belt, or do they trying to cobble together a few independents and FCS schools who are ready to jump?

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/co...nce-usa-teams/

According to that, the Sun Belt is raiding CUSA. If those two really are defecting, then CUSA has 6 left and if teams would rather go to the SBC, then they have 1-AA and the Independents and that's it. Not even sure the MAC teams would leave.

[AUChase]

The Sun Belt would definitely be the better football conference. I'm not sure the C-USA with 6 could secure enough teams to make themselves marketable when TV contract time rolls around. They could definitely be absorbed by the MAC.

I was off on my numbers yesterday about revenue. Looks like the new additions to the AAC will have their funding capped for a few seasons but it's still a sizable upgrade over C-USA funding for UAB.

[rdnk]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tovarich

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/co...nce-usa-teams/ According to that, the Sun Belt is raiding CUSA. If those two really are defecting, then CUSA has 6 left and if teams would rather go to the SBC, then they have 1-AA and the Independents and that's it. Not even sure the MAC teams would leave.

Makes sense that the Sun Belt would go up to 12 football schools. It's interesting that the two schools that are going to the Sun Belt were never in the Sun Belt before.

I don't think anyone is leaving the MAC. It's the pinnacle of stability.

Might be best just to put the CUSA out of it's misery.