Realignment Carousel Spins Up again (USC and UCLA to Big 10)

[Stickboy46]

One thing that was tossed around was that there was a "look in" in the AAC contract. So people we saying that ESPN would drop the dollar amount leveraging that.

Apparently the look in can only increase the contract and not decrease it. So that's off the table.

[SubGod22]

I'm curious if AFA staying put is actually the MWC telling the PAC they have to take them all and we see a merger instead

How much would that potentially dilute their media payout? I doubt whoever the PAC is working with for media rights for this new conference is going to give them more money because they add Wyoming and San Jose State.

And if we can't lure AFA at this point, I have to think ESPN isn't paying for us to expand. We already had a better deal than the MWC. We would get AFA into Texas. Though how much of an issue would it be to get AFA a full share while the CUSA6 came in at 50%?

I do believe the AAC deal with ESPN goes through 2030 or 2031. Though in the release I believe it was mentioned that the AAC would be actively looking at expansion as well.

To sum up, I have no clue what to expect at this point. I do believe we can position ourselves as the consistent 5th best conference in football and remain a top 7 conference in basketball.

At least until the ACC implodes and then all bets are off.

[1972Shocker]

I believe you're totally underestimating the ICT cavers.

My sarcasm meter on that post by Aargh about bringing back football:

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[Stickboy46]

I'm curious if AFA staying put is actually the MWC telling the PAC they have to take them all and we see a merger instead

[SubGod22]

No idea who this is .. but sounds like more to come today

I'm not familiar with Front Office Sports, but she may very well have sources and such.

[WstateU]

[Stickboy46]

No idea who this is .. but sounds like more to come today

[Stickboy46]

Maybe it was based on the AAC schools joining?

[TrackSuitAndTie]

As long as there is no unequal revenue sharing .. F that.

Yeah I'm hoping more like an across-the-board raise and green light for further expansion or something haha

[Stickboy46]

I have to assume the administrators at Memphis, Tulane, USF, and UTSA were smart enough to leverage the PAC-12 interest into some concessions from the AAC/ESPN, hopefully to the benefit of all schools in the conference. Something like a pay bump in media money and the green light to add a school like James Madison would be a pretty nice outcome (if the MWC schools are out of consideration).

As long as there is no unequal revenue sharing .. F that.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Reading through more of his thread, the PAC was only willing to pay 2.5M of the 25M exit fee.

Someone called it a 10% off coupon lol

[TrackSuitAndTie]

I have to assume the administrators at Memphis, Tulane, USF, and UTSA were smart enough to leverage the PAC-12 interest into some concessions from the AAC/ESPN, hopefully to the benefit of all schools in the conference. Something like a pay bump in media money and the green light to add a school like James Madison would be a pretty nice outcome (if the MWC schools are out of consideration).

[SubGod22]

Reading through more of his thread, the PAC was only willing to pay 2.5M of the 25M exit fee.

[Stickboy46]

I'm curious if ESPN is willing to raise the rate at all. Sounds like the PAC deal has a top end of 15M and that might be optimistic.

Yea current all in annual revenue is 10 mil for the AAC apparently. 2 Million in expected additional travel costs were floated. So if it lands in the middle of the 10-15 ...basically paying an Exit fee to fly across the US to play MWC teams for the same amount of money.

[SubGod22]

I'm curious if ESPN is willing to raise the rate at all. Sounds like the PAC deal has a top end of 15M and that might be optimistic.