UCONN exit from the AAC to cost them $17 million

[greenie78]

I hope it's USM. I totally understand the demographics and the desire to go west. But hey, that's what I hope. I like playing them.

I'm with you. So are a lot of our fans that enjoyed the rivalry. I don't think it will be them unless the league gets shot down by all the others they seek to the west. Their football program is bouncing back and with the additional money they's make in the AAC they would continue to get better.

Hattiesburg has a population of about 46,000. Metropolitan Hattiesburg has a population of about 150,000. USM is a directional university,
the flagship university of Mississippi is Ole Miss. USM has an abysmal academic ranking and reputation.

And, the AAC couldn’t care less about any past football rivalry between Tulane and USM, at its zenith during the 70’s & 80’s. USM will not be offered by the AAC

I thought I made it clear it was a personal preference but that I realize they are way down the list of who it might be. Rip on them all you want but a good bit of our fans who go to the games would like them back.

I wouldn’t want them back. Us being in the AAC gives us an advantage over them especially in recruiting since they’re in the same region. That’s why USM and UAB have blocked South Alabama from getting in C-USA. We should do the same to Louisiana Tech and USM if they ever became considered for the AAC. Plus it’s a crappy school overall in a crappy city.

[greenie78]

Also I wouldn’t want to move too far West. Traveling can become an issue for teams on the East coast.

[golfnut69]

Mark my words, Cincinnati is out next, followed 2 more.

Really? Where the heck are they going?

C-USA, MAC and the Big East are possible landing spots...they are waiting for the call from the Big12 to be a geographic partner with WVU....OSU ain't gonna allow dem in da Big10

C-USA and the MAC is a joke and they can’t play football in the Big East. It’s either the Big 12 or staying in the AAC.

my post was meant as a joke, but like us they are awaiting a call from The Big 12, with Mack Browns endorsement

[Wave755]

I hope it's USM. I totally understand the demographics and the desire to go west. But hey, that's what I hope. I like playing them.

I'm with you. So are a lot of our fans that enjoyed the rivalry. I don't think it will be them unless the league gets shot down by all the others they seek to the west. Their football program is bouncing back and with the additional money they's make in the AAC they would continue to get better.

Hattiesburg has a population of about 46,000. Metropolitan Hattiesburg has a population of about 150,000. USM is a directional university,
the flagship university of Mississippi is Ole Miss. USM has an abysmal academic ranking and reputation.

And, the AAC couldn’t care less about any past football rivalry between Tulane and USM, at its zenith during the 70’s & 80’s. USM will not be offered by the AAC

I thought I made it clear it was a personal preference but that I realize they are way down the list of who it might be. Rip on them all you want but a good bit of our fans who go to the games would like them back.

Let's try to keep the USMs of the world in our past. We should be in conference only with other national universities. UCONN is a national university, the flagship university of its state. We should try to replace UCONN with another national university, not an USM or a Marshall.

[DrBox]

Let's try to keep the USMs of the world in our past. We should be in conference only with other national universities. UCONN is a national university, the flagship university of its state. We should try to replace UCONN with another national university, not an USM or a Marshall.

[Bigschtick]

I'm surprised no Cajuns have piped in proposing to have UL-Lafayette take UConn's place.

Great idea! Thanks proposing them!

[tpstulane]

TV market size will determine the new team if they even decide to replace UCONN

[Wave755]

I'm surprised no Cajuns have piped in proposing to have UL-Lafayette take UConn's place.

Great idea! Thanks proposing them!

And, perhaps as a little "lagniappe" in appreciation for their invite, Bobby Boucher (pronounced "Boo-Shay"), the ULALA Water Boy himself, might even give all of us a big cup of high quality H2O!

[RobertM320]

One thing positive is, Tulane will get a nice little bump in revenue between the exit fee UConn pays and splitting the TV pie fewer ways. My understanding is the exit fee is $10M, but that's with a 27 month mandatory advance notice. UConn wants to be in the BE by the 2020-21 season, which probably means an additional payment.

Also, no having to play baseball on a field with no lights.

[winwave]

I hope it's USM. I totally understand the demographics and the desire to go west. But hey, that's what I hope. I like playing them.

I'm with you. So are a lot of our fans that enjoyed the rivalry. I don't think it will be them unless the league gets shot down by all the others they seek to the west. Their football program is bouncing back and with the additional money they's make in the AAC they would continue to get better.

Hattiesburg has a population of about 46,000. Metropolitan Hattiesburg has a population of about 150,000. USM is a directional university,
the flagship university of Mississippi is Ole Miss. USM has an abysmal academic ranking and reputation.

And, the AAC couldn’t care less about any past football rivalry between Tulane and USM, at its zenith during the 70’s & 80’s. USM will not be offered by the AAC

I thought I made it clear it was a personal preference but that I realize they are way down the list of who it might be. Rip on them all you want but a good bit of our fans who go to the games would like them back.

Let's try to keep the USMs of the world in our past. We should be in conference only with other national universities. UCONN is a national university, the flagship university of its state. We should try to replace UCONN with another national university, not an USM or a Marshall.

I hear ya. I'm just looking at it from an athletics perspective. Their program is starting to bounce back and with the additional money the new TV contract will bring I believe they would get that much better. I'm not afraid of competition and I don't like being hypocritical and trying to keep schools out because they might hurt us in recruiting. To me there's not a lot of good realistic schools out there that we can get . Plus Like many others I enjoyed the rivalry and it's a good trip. Having said all that I trust Aresco to take care of business and lure in one of the schools that most believe wouldn't be coming.

[Wavetime]

I hope it's USM. I totally understand the demographics and the desire to go west. But hey, that's what I hope. I like playing them.

I'm with you. So are a lot of our fans that enjoyed the rivalry. I don't think it will be them unless the league gets shot down by all the others they seek to the west. Their football program is bouncing back and with the additional money they's make in the AAC they would continue to get better.

Hattiesburg has a population of about 46,000. Metropolitan Hattiesburg has a population of about 150,000. USM is a directional university,
the flagship university of Mississippi is Ole Miss. USM has an abysmal academic ranking and reputation.

And, the AAC couldn’t care less about any past football rivalry between Tulane and USM, at its zenith during the 70’s & 80’s. USM will not be offered by the AAC

I thought I made it clear it was a personal preference but that I realize they are way down the list of who it might be. Rip on them all you want but a good bit of our fans who go to the games would like them back.

Let's try to keep the USMs of the world in our past. We should be in conference only with other national universities. UCONN is a national university, the flagship university of its state. We should try to replace UCONN with another national university, not an USM or a Marshall.

I understand what you are saying and I agree with it. However, who are our natural rivals? LSU, don't play them. Ole Miss, Miss St. Vandy, play once every 5 or so years. Rice, USM, same.

I'm a season ticket holder and go to all the games. With the exception of Cincinnati (niece went there), Memphis, Navy and UCF I just don't get excited about any of the teams in our conference. If we are truly better than USM and New Orleans is a better town than Hattiesburg then what's the issue? Yes, I'd rather Rice and any of the other above mentioned schools, but that's not going to happen either.

[tpstulane]

A dig at Tulane
https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-u-conn ... 00471.html

The Huskies lost their geographic relevance in basketball by leaving the Big East, as organic rivals like Providence, St. John’s and Syracuse were replaced by strangers like Tulane, East Carolina and Memphis. Passion has been replaced by apathy, as once-teeming arenas became filled with empty seats and a once-rabid fan base has turned ambivalent.

[waveprof]

The view from New Jersey:

https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/06/who-w ... -else.html


The American Athletic Conference is likely losing UConn as a football member.

The AAC should not be terribly broken up about this - the Huskies have been an on-field tire fire recently - but it does present a new challenge: Who replaces UConn as the conference’s 12th football-playing member, assuming the Huskies do not stay on as a football-only member?



1. Army: AAC commissioner Mike Aresco has to make the call and see if the Black Knights want to join Navy as football-only members. But it will take a lot to get West Point to say yes. While joining the AAC as a football-only member would give Army access to the New Year’s Six bowl games - something it lacks as an independent but may covet given the program’s recent revival - the challenges and downsides are likely too much to overcome.

The Army-Navy Game is the sport’s most sacred institution. The game will never move, and it never should move. The AAC could craft a schedule format that puts Army and Navy in separate divisions and allows them to play a non-conference game after the title game each season. But what happens when the programs win those divisions? Is the AAC ready to cancel its title game and hand out an afterthought trophy at Army-Navy. Because that would be the only solution. The AAC has a hell of a lot more to gain here than Army does. That’s why it won’t happen.


2. BYU: The AAC is not going to do much better in terms of adding a quality program and BYU would likely be a football-only member. If the money is right, it makes sense for both sides. But BYU may prefer life as an independent unless it can get into a Power 5 league.

3-4. Air Force and Boise State: This one is more complicated because Air Force and Boise State would likely need to leave the Mountain West entirely rather than join the AAC for football only. It makes football sense at both schools and the AAC makes more money than the other Group of 5 leagues. But the Falcons or Broncos would be spending much more on travel for their other athletics programs as well as a full-fledged member.

5. UMass: The Minutemen should be doing everything they can to swap spots with UConn as New England’s hopeless independent program and get into the AAC. It would not be the sexiest pick the AAC can make, but it may be a smart one. UMass has a quality all-around athletics department and allows the AAC to maintain a presence in the region while moving to a bigger media market in Boston.

6. Buffalo: The Bulls have strong football and men’s basketball programs and are a geographic outlier in the MAC. They may be willing to move and they would also allow the AAC to stay in the region.

7. UAB: The Blazers are hot in football, have a quality men’s basketball program and are successful in other sports. UAB would expand the league’s footprint while meshing quite easily with its existing members.

8. Take your pick: The options are pretty slim. The AAC is obviously not about to snag a Power 5 program and the programs listed above are the best options. Liberty desperately wants in a conference, but there’s a lot of baggage to take on there. Marshall would be a solid-enough fallback plan. Maybe Southern Miss? Or Florida Atlantic or Florida International?

[RollWaveRoll]

Big 12 moved its hq from Kansas city to DFW and lost 3 key members because of it. Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado. They then moved the Championship football game from KC to DFW which was icing on the cake. Big 12 sided with the TX schools and crapped on the big 12 north and lost half of the North division schools and counting. KU and KSU wants out too because of it. Simply by moving the HQ and championship game....sounds like not much, but that is HUGE.

Big 12 then started finagling the 3rd tier rights around and the LHN happened.....A&M bolted because of 3rd tier rights finagling and the uneven revenue distribution of 1st tier.
Not everyone was treated equal at the time like the SEC does. OU wants out because of 3rd tier finagling and uneven revenue distributions and has been on record saying so. OSU, TTU, basically all of them do to.

Does any of this sound familiar? This is exact same thing AAC is doing. They finagled the revenue around and Uconn felt slighted. UCONN felt slighted by the revenue and forcing all their games off SNY and onto espn + that no one watches and then add in the hq move to top it off. They are a huge national basketball brand, and now people are talking about adding rice and usm? lol you've got to be kidding me.

They then are moving the HQ from the North East to the DFW where they don't belong. This craps on 90% of the schools in the conference outside of maybe a couple. AAC has no business in TX and they think they will gain from being there, but will lose big league in long run by this decision. AAC has terrible leadership. This conference was just created and they already have drastically different long term viewpoints than just a couple years ago. This conference is far from stable, and leadership not making rational decisions. Desperate moves.

[RollWaveRoll]

The view from New Jersey:

https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/06/who-w ... -else.html


The American Athletic Conference is likely losing UConn as a football member.

The AAC should not be terribly broken up about this - the Huskies have been an on-field tire fire recently - but it does present a new challenge: Who replaces UConn as the conference’s 12th football-playing member, assuming the Huskies do not stay on as a football-only member?



1. Army: AAC commissioner Mike Aresco has to make the call and see if the Black Knights want to join Navy as football-only members. But it will take a lot to get West Point to say yes. While joining the AAC as a football-only member would give Army access to the New Year’s Six bowl games - something it lacks as an independent but may covet given the program’s recent revival - the challenges and downsides are likely too much to overcome.

The Army-Navy Game is the sport’s most sacred institution. The game will never move, and it never should move. The AAC could craft a schedule format that puts Army and Navy in separate divisions and allows them to play a non-conference game after the title game each season. But what happens when the programs win those divisions? Is the AAC ready to cancel its title game and hand out an afterthought trophy at Army-Navy. Because that would be the only solution. The AAC has a hell of a lot more to gain here than Army does. That’s why it won’t happen.


2. BYU: The AAC is not going to do much better in terms of adding a quality program and BYU would likely be a football-only member. If the money is right, it makes sense for both sides. But BYU may prefer life as an independent unless it can get into a Power 5 league.

3-4. Air Force and Boise State: This one is more complicated because Air Force and Boise State would likely need to leave the Mountain West entirely rather than join the AAC for football only. It makes football sense at both schools and the AAC makes more money than the other Group of 5 leagues. But the Falcons or Broncos would be spending much more on travel for their other athletics programs as well as a full-fledged member.

5. UMass: The Minutemen should be doing everything they can to swap spots with UConn as New England’s hopeless independent program and get into the AAC. It would not be the sexiest pick the AAC can make, but it may be a smart one. UMass has a quality all-around athletics department and allows the AAC to maintain a presence in the region while moving to a bigger media market in Boston.

6. Buffalo: The Bulls have strong football and men’s basketball programs and are a geographic outlier in the MAC. They may be willing to move and they would also allow the AAC to stay in the region.

7. UAB: The Blazers are hot in football, have a quality men’s basketball program and are successful in other sports. UAB would expand the league’s footprint while meshing quite easily with its existing members.

8. Take your pick: The options are pretty slim. The AAC is obviously not about to snag a Power 5 program and the programs listed above are the best options. Liberty desperately wants in a conference, but there’s a lot of baggage to take on there. Marshall would be a solid-enough fallback plan. Maybe Southern Miss? Or Florida Atlantic or Florida International?

would love BYU and Boise state, but you have about a .00001% chance of that happening. Probably won't even get a phone call with either one of those schools. The others would be a disaster and bring nothing.

[tpstulane]

Every team in the AAC should have aspirations to leave for a better situation. Apparently UCONN feels like the Big East is best for them. IMO we won’t be able to replace them with a better multi-sport school. I just hope it’s not much worse. As you can see by the date of the first post in this thread they have been wanting to leave for the last 5 years. The only thing I’ll miss is their WBB team coming here once in awhile. Their baseball park is horrible and we won’t have to worry about being snowed out. Will miss them in FB because of the loss of a likely win. Oh well.

[wave97]

The view from New Jersey:

https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/06/who-w ... -else.html


The American Athletic Conference is likely losing UConn as a football member.

The AAC should not be terribly broken up about this - the Huskies have been an on-field tire fire recently - but it does present a new challenge: Who replaces UConn as the conference’s 12th football-playing member, assuming the Huskies do not stay on as a football-only member?



1. Army: AAC commissioner Mike Aresco has to make the call and see if the Black Knights want to join Navy as football-only members. But it will take a lot to get West Point to say yes. While joining the AAC as a football-only member would give Army access to the New Year’s Six bowl games - something it lacks as an independent but may covet given the program’s recent revival - the challenges and downsides are likely too much to overcome.

The Army-Navy Game is the sport’s most sacred institution. The game will never move, and it never should move. The AAC could craft a schedule format that puts Army and Navy in separate divisions and allows them to play a non-conference game after the title game each season. But what happens when the programs win those divisions? Is the AAC ready to cancel its title game and hand out an afterthought trophy at Army-Navy. Because that would be the only solution. The AAC has a hell of a lot more to gain here than Army does. That’s why it won’t happen.


2. BYU: The AAC is not going to do much better in terms of adding a quality program and BYU would likely be a football-only member. If the money is right, it makes sense for both sides. But BYU may prefer life as an independent unless it can get into a Power 5 league.

3-4. Air Force and Boise State: This one is more complicated because Air Force and Boise State would likely need to leave the Mountain West entirely rather than join the AAC for football only. It makes football sense at both schools and the AAC makes more money than the other Group of 5 leagues. But the Falcons or Broncos would be spending much more on travel for their other athletics programs as well as a full-fledged member.

5. UMass: The Minutemen should be doing everything they can to swap spots with UConn as New England’s hopeless independent program and get into the AAC. It would not be the sexiest pick the AAC can make, but it may be a smart one. UMass has a quality all-around athletics department and allows the AAC to maintain a presence in the region while moving to a bigger media market in Boston.

6. Buffalo: The Bulls have strong football and men’s basketball programs and are a geographic outlier in the MAC. They may be willing to move and they would also allow the AAC to stay in the region.

7. UAB: The Blazers are hot in football, have a quality men’s basketball program and are successful in other sports. UAB would expand the league’s footprint while meshing quite easily with its existing members.

8. Take your pick: The options are pretty slim. The AAC is obviously not about to snag a Power 5 program and the programs listed above are the best options. Liberty desperately wants in a conference, but there’s a lot of baggage to take on there. Marshall would be a solid-enough fallback plan. Maybe Southern Miss? Or Florida Atlantic or Florida International?

This guy gets paid for this drivel? Absolutely no insight whatsoever.
Army or Air Force isn't joining, they won't make the same mistake Navy made.
BYU is doing just fine on their own, they're having no difficulty scheduling who ever they want. (Just Like Army & Air Force)
Boise isn't giving up their own gravy train in the MW.
UMass has no effect on the "Boston market". Amherst, MA is further from Boston than Baton Rouge is from NOLA, and nobody gives a hoot about college football in New England. Isn't that why we're here?
Buffalo isn't going to happen.
The only two contenders as I see it are UAB & Old Dominion. In spite of initial success, Bobby Wilder has flaked out - he's lost control of his program at ODU. It will take a 9-3 season, or he'll be gone by December. If ODU is offered by the AAC they'll attract a great hire for their 2nd coach since starting their program from scratch in 2009.
As I see it ODU is the star in the making:
Relatively soft in-state p5 competition.
A media market of 700,000 (Bigger than New Orleans), with no competition for sports entertainment (currently one AHL hockey team Norfolk Admirals)
Legendary Football/Basketball talent within the Tidewater region.
70 million dollar upgrade currently underway on stadium.
Full institutional and fan support for football.
I wouldn't be surprised if ODU has already had talks with Mike Aresco

[golfnut69]

the ESPN view
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/sto ... t-programs

[Aberzombie1892]

Big 12 moved its hq from Kansas city to DFW and lost 3 key members because of it. Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado. They then moved the Championship football game from KC to DFW which was icing on the cake. Big 12 sided with the TX schools and crapped on the big 12 north and lost half of the North division schools and counting. KU and KSU wants out too because of it. Simply by moving the HQ and championship game....sounds like not much, but that is HUGE.

Big 12 then started finagling the 3rd tier rights around and the LHN happened.....A&M bolted because of 3rd tier rights finagling and the uneven revenue distribution of 1st tier.
Not everyone was treated equal at the time like the SEC does. OU wants out because of 3rd tier finagling and uneven revenue distributions and has been on record saying so. OSU, TTU, basically all of them do to.

Does any of this sound familiar? This is exact same thing AAC is doing. They finagled the revenue around and Uconn felt slighted. UCONN felt slighted by the revenue and forcing all their games off SNY and onto espn + that no one watches and then add in the hq move to top it off. They are a huge national basketball brand, and now people are talking about adding rice and usm? lol you've got to be kidding me.

They then are moving the HQ from the North East to the DFW where they don't belong. This craps on 90% of the schools in the conference outside of maybe a couple. AAC has no business in TX and they think they will gain from being there, but will lose big league in long run by this decision. AAC has terrible leadership. This conference was just created and they already have drastically different long term viewpoints than just a couple years ago. This conference is far from stable, and leadership not making rational decisions. Desperate moves.

Well, one would agree if the AAC was a power conference or was not the premier G5 conference, however, because the AAC is in fact the premier G5 conference, there are not many options for teams that would like to leave. Yes, UConn is a major brand that cannot be replaced, but that does not impact the conference too much as no other existing members (1) care about basketball at that level and (2) would have a similar opportunity.

If the AAC was truly serious about being a national power, it would kick out Navy, ECU, and Tulsa, and bring on San Diego State, Boise State, BYU, and (most likely) Colorado State (to get to 12 total football programs), as doing so would solidify the conference as a major alternative to the P5. If the AAC wanted to go a step further, they could add Buffalo and Georgia State (not premier, but solid). The conference would look like:

Temple
Buffalo
Cincinnati
UCF
USF
Georgia State
Memphis
Houston
SMU
Tulane - (A hypothetical conference schedule would be UCF, @Memphis, SMU, @Temple, Boise State, @BYU, Colorado State, and @Houston. That's not terrible from a neutral fan perspective.)
San Diego State
Boise State
BYU
Colorado State

That's certainly not likely for many reasons (i.e. travel expenses, interest, removing programs, etc.), but here we are. Is it ideal? No. Does it combine the Louisiana, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Florida recruiting grounds? Yes. Does it cut unnecessary programs? Also yes.

As for Rice and USM, the conference might as well disband if it adds either of them.

[golfnut69]

while I am on site ....there are only a few schools that make $$$$ and Geographic sense in replacing UConn in all sports.... UMass, U keep a N'east rep....UAB, decent size mdia market and fits well geographically....Colorado State...Big media market,but it is shared with Colorado, The Broncos and to a lesser extent Air Force ..... I believe if UConn goes to the Big East, they will drop down to FCS in football, CUSA & MAC are not that desperate for a one sport member, and being an Independent is insane, unless U are Notre Dame , and even they did not want anything to do with the Big East and decided the ACC was a better choice for all other sports

[NOLABigSteve]

If the AAC was truly serious about being a national power, it would kick out Navy, ECU, and Tulsa, and bring on San Diego State, Boise State, BYU, and (most likely) Colorado State (to get to 12 total football programs), as doing so would solidify the conference as a major alternative to the P5.

You left out Tulane.

C'mon man. We all act around here like Tulane is some hot commodity that every major conference can't do without. If that were the case, we would have 1. either been invited back into the SEC in the past 50 years, or 2. asked to join the Big XII when expansion talks were going down a while ago.

Bottom line is, today the AAC is what CUSA used to be. Until Tulane consistently wins and dominates, we will always be treading water in the same type of conference. We need the AAC more than the AAC or any other conference will ever need us. And we are the only ones who can change that.

[NOLABigSteve]

Oh. And as much as we want to be a P6. We won't. The AAC won't. It's not going to happen. You want to be included with the best? Then you beat the best and become one of them. I honestly really wish all this P6 crap would stop too. We are NOT a power conference. Never was, never will be.

[RobertM320]

UConn really thinks mighty of themselves. Losing value by association?

[Aberzombie1892]

If the AAC was truly serious about being a national power, it would kick out Navy, ECU, and Tulsa, and bring on San Diego State, Boise State, BYU, and (most likely) Colorado State (to get to 12 total football programs), as doing so would solidify the conference as a major alternative to the P5.

You left out Tulane.

C'mon man. We all act around here like Tulane is some hot commodity that every major conference can't do without. If that were the case, we would have 1. either been invited back into the SEC in the past 50 years, or 2. asked to join the Big XII when expansion talks were going down a while ago.

Bottom line is, today the AAC is what CUSA used to be. Until Tulane consistently wins and dominates, we will always be treading water in the same type of conference. We need the AAC more than the AAC or any other conference will ever need us. And we are the only ones who can change that.

Tulane has certain value beyond its on the field performance - Louisiana recruiting, New Orleans media market access [not control], academic relevance, etc. - but, in regard to on the field performance, the football programs appears to be stabilizing. Those beyond the field value should be really what drives membership into the conference in the first place, and it does to an extent since many of the other members of the conference have some similar value (major tv markets, major recruiting markets, relevance in state relative to other FBS programs, etc.). However, in contrast to those programs, ECU, Tulsa, and Navy were added primarily due to their on the field performance (hence ECU's original football only invitation, Navy's football only invitation, and Tulsa's invitation that was extended after preferable programs backed out), and that is not how a conference should expand since winning can easily change, and, if the program does not provide much value beyond that winning, then there is no real value there.

Tulane would probably be next on the kickout list after Tulsa, ECU and Navy, but Tulane with a decent football team is a worthy member of the AAC.

On a side note, yes, the TV contract hurt UConn. The contract was s***.

[NOLABigSteve]

Tulane has certain value beyond its on the field performance - Louisiana recruiting, New Orleans media market access [not control], academic relevance, etc. - but, in regard to on the field performance, the football programs appears to be stabilizing. Those beyond the field value should be really what drives membership into the conference in the first place, and it does to an extent since many of the other members of the conference have some similar value (major tv markets, major recruiting markets, relevance in state relative to other FBS programs, etc.). However, in contrast to those programs, ECU, Tulsa, and Navy were added primarily due to their on the field performance (hence ECU's original football only invitation, Navy's football only invitation, and Tulsa's invitation that was extended after preferable programs backed out), and that is not how a conference should expand since winning can easily change, and, if the program does not provide much value beyond that winning, then there is no real value there.

Tulane would probably be next on the kickout list after Tulsa, ECU and Navy, but Tulane with a decent football team is a worthy member of the AAC.

On a side note, yes, the TV contract hurt UConn. The contract was s***.

I don't disagree with you on what we have to offer. But if we were such a hot commodity, we would be where we want to be. Not on the outside looking in.

We Tulane fans put this highest price on our product and what we have to offer. But we're only worth what someone is willing to pay... and none of the big players want us.