With Cal and Stanford up for grabs, it would be a good idea for Michael Aresco to kick those tires and see if a merger into the AAC is possible. Additionally, a San Diego State and UNLV combo with those two would create a solid regional POD out west. To polish out the conference expansion to 20 strong, an expansion back out east would make more sense. Some universities to ponder: Georgia State (they can use the Falcons football stadium similar to what UNLV is doing and can use the Hawks basketball arena) and FIU to add another Florida school to pair up with FAU. Reasoning for these two universities will be size of current enrollment and alumni base, but definitely a long-term investment.
Some may argue that Colorado State and Air Force would make an immediate impact, but if the ESPN contract allows to pay the universities above the same allotment or even sweeten the deal with incentives, the long-term outcome of this suggested alignment may work better. The key point will be if the AAC can secure more money from ESPN annually or maybe an NFL network/Amazon Prime deal can inject more annual funds, which would get the AAC payout into the double digits (double the current payout). Either way, if ESPN makes up for the missed opportunity on the B1G TV deal, or the other networks expand their footprint, the AAC has options. This should make for an interesting discussion.
Some may argue that Colorado State and Air Force would make an immediate impact, but if the ESPN contract allows to pay the universities above the same allotment or even sweeten the deal with incentives, the long-term outcome of this suggested alignment may work better. The key point will be if the AAC can secure more money from ESPN annually or maybe an NFL network/Amazon Prime deal can inject more annual funds, which would get the AAC payout into the double digits (double the current payout). Either way, if ESPN makes up for the missed opportunity on the B1G TV deal, or the other networks expand their footprint, the AAC has options. This should make for an interesting discussion.
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