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

[Dan]

SMU boosters are buying a pro level sports team, that's the bottom line. The only way this will backfire is if the ACC dissolves when the next round of TV deals expire and the SEC swoops in to poach the best teams. You gotta have billionaires on your booster roster to compete in todays college sports environment.

[BostonWu]

Would like to know outside the Army-Navy game how many eyeballs are watching those teams. And I say this in all due respect as a veteran and AF season ticket holder, I just don't see it. AF puts a great product on the field, churning out 10 win seasons, with a current 3 win bowl streak against the P5... it's down right disrespectful the little support they receive in home attendance and overall national media reputation/coverage. Even the service academy matchups are not particularly well attended.

Does anyone on this board know anything about service academy football? What's your level of knowledge? Name the sunflower state product who was 1000 yard rusher a few seasons ago without googling it. Name the local product who just signed without googling it.

[Stickboy46]

Would like to know outside the Army-Navy game how many eyeballs are watching those teams. And I say this in all due respect as a veteran and AF season ticket holder, I just don't see it. AF puts a great product on the field, churning out 10 win seasons, with a current 3 win bowl streak against the P5... it's down right disrespectful the little support they receive in home attendance and overall national media reputation/coverage. Even the service academy matchups are not particularly well attended.

Does anyone on this board know anything about service academy football? What's your level of knowledge? Name the sunflower state product who was 1000 yard rusher a few seasons ago without googling it. Name the local product who just signed without googling it.

The numbers are in the tweets.

Average viewers, Navy and Army are the 2nd and 3rd most watched non-p5 football teams (behind Boise who is now in the B12). Army draws a little over double the number of viewers as SMU.

Home attendance is not going to be a great measure of a service academy. Considering the majority of your recent graduates are going to be stationed all over the world and will likely make homes farther away from the school than your normal college. TV viewers will matter more.

[BostonWu]

The numbers are in the tweets.

Average viewers, Navy and Army are the 2nd and 3rd most watched non-p5 football teams (behind Boise who is now in the B12). Army draws a little over double the number of viewers as SMU.

Again, would like to know the viewership on an individual game basis outside of Army-Navy game. Reality is no one, not even avid college sports fans can tell you anything about the current service academy teams. Name one player and what you know about them.

[Stickboy46]

Again, would like to know the viewership on an individual game basis outside of Army-Navy game. Reality is no one, not even avid college sports fans can tell you anything about the current service academy teams. Name one player and what you know about them.

Well the numbers are there. Take Navy as an example of a service academy in a conference. Average 976k for 12 games is 11.7 million total viewers. Subtract 6.94M viewers for the Army-Navy game that SHOULD still could but you don't want to count it. That leaves 4.77M viewers for the remaining 11 games. So 433k viewers for the non-Army/Navy games. So 40% higher viewers than SMU.

Army-Navy game is worth it alone but even for the sake of your moving the goal post argument, a service academy in the AAC is still more valuable than SMU from a viewership standpoint. Army is a little harder to do an apple to apples comparison because their schedule is so bad as an independent.

[BostonWu]

Well the numbers are there. Take Navy as an example of a service academy in a conference. Average 976k for 12 games is 11.7 million total viewers. Subtract 6.94M viewers for the Army-Navy game that SHOULD still could but you don't want to count it. That leaves 4.77M viewers for the remaining 11 games. So 433k viewers for the non-Army/Navy games. So 40% higher viewers than SMU.

Army-Navy game is worth it alone but even for the sake of your moving the goal post argument, a service academy in the AAC is still more valuable than SMU from a viewership standpoint. Army is a little harder to do an apple to apples comparison because their schedule is so bad as an independent.

Well done. You made your case. I'll admit when I'm wrong. Not someone who will die on a hill arguing a lost cause like a scorned teenage girl. Guess I didn't realize how weak SMU numbers are.

Still waiting for anyone to display their service academy football knowledge.

[1972Shocker]

The numbers do

Don't confuse us with the facts.

[Dan]

SMU viewership will go up just by having better competition. Not sure whey this is even being debated. I'd bet the Navy/Notre Dame game draws a lot of viewers but it's not because of Navy.

[rjl]

Well done. You made your case. I'll admit when I'm wrong. Not someone who will die on a hill arguing a lost cause like a scorned teenage girl. Guess I didn't realize how weak SMU numbers are.

Still waiting for anyone to display their service academy football knowledge.

I'm with you on this in spirit, but I think there are a lot of big name teams that play the service academies. So, maybe not fans of the academies, but fans of the teams they are playing against.

[Stickboy46]

SMU viewership will go up just by having better competition. Not sure whey this is even being debated. I'd bet the Navy/Notre Dame game draws a lot of viewers but it's not because of Navy.

Well comparing Navy's AAC numbers to SMU's AAC numbers is still relevant to the point. The initial post was around whether Army or SMU would be better for the AAC from a viewership standpoint. From all the data we have, Army will be a net positive from an eyeballs standpoint.

[Shock Top]

Who would be the best option to become the second WSU?

[Stickboy46]

[SubGod22]

Who would be the best option to become the second WSU?

Best option? VCU or Dayton. I don't think either would join. Dayton is still looking at the Big East should they expand, though Xavier may be an issue. I believe VCU is very happy with a much tighter geographic conference.

Now, I still think you'd have to reach out and try to get one, but I'm not sure it would work out.

I'm not sure if there are any other non-football playing schools that would potentially add value and join.

Grand Canyon is probably too far west with no other schools in the conference out there.

I always thought Arlington would have potential, but I'm not sure they've really invested in making that happen.

Boston U has never really showed an effort to be more than they are.

Bradley has never been able to capitalize on the potential I always thought that they had.

College of Charleston may not be a horrible look, but I'm not sure if it's a fit.

Florida Gulf Coast was a hot commodity at one point with their exciting play, but I'm not sure that's a good fit.

George Mason never invested and capitalized off of their run.

Little Rock never really sustained anything.

Milwaukee always had a lot of potential, but last I heard had major financial issues and with no team in Ohio it's kind of out of the way.

North Florida has never done anything that I'm aware of, but they're a large public in a decent sized city. I know little about them otherwise.

SLU is waiting on a Big East invite.

UIC has had some okay years and are in a massive market. Not that they matter in it.

Honestly, there aren't a lot of attractive non-football options once you get past VCU, Dayton and SLU. And SLU is only slightly attractive. Others all have issues, some larger than others. If Army does get added, I'm not sure another non-football school gets added.

If the Army option falls apart, it will also be interesting as to where they would look. But we'll worry about that if we get word the Army move is off the table.

[BostonWu]

I hear Milwaukee, Ohio is beautiful this time of year

[Shoxing Me Softly]

NM

cant get tweet to post