BYU and the AAC/MWC

We're having a discussion on the AAC boards regarding BYU and the AAC. We've come to notice that BYU's scheduling is pretty much split 50/50 with the AAC and MWC.



Your AD has made statements before about scheduling difficulty late in the year and bowl agreements.



How would a Notre Dame type of scheduling agreement for football and other sports in the AAC be received among BYU fans?

4 games - home and away - November.



That would be better than what we have been getting in November. The only issue I would have with such an arrangement, would be the wear and tear of the long road trips on both teams.



Maybe a 3-way deal would be better. BYU vs 2 MWC and 2 AAC and 2 AAC vs MWC games every November. Maybe a Saturday - Thursday arrangement so coast 2 coast traveling teams could make 1 trip and play 2 games. Then create a shared Bowl arrangement matching the 2 best teams from the pool - AAC, BYU, MWC - with an out if a team makes the playoffs or a bowl with a higher payout.



Alternatively



BYU could do a deal with AAC for 3-4 games a year and a separate deal with MWC for 3-4 games a year all in October / November and then BYU could round up 4-6 September / October games each year with Big 12 and PAC teams mainly with occasional Big 10, ACC, or SEC teams mixed in.



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I'd even be willing to trade a football home game for a couple AAC bball teams coming to Provo every year.

I think it would be fairly well received, as long as it wasn't too many games a season.

hawkwing wrote:
I think it would be fairly well received, as long as it wasn't too many games a season.

Right now you guys are playing 4 a season vs the AAC



I know you have series with:



ECU

UConn

UCF

Cincy

Houston



I think a 4 or 5 team rotation schedule would make sense. Getting BYU some exposure on TV in high population centers of the east coast during east coast time.

If it came down to it, and basketball was included in the deal, would BYU choose an affiliation with the MWC or the AAC?

I like playing AAC teams. Maybe one road game in late Sept/early Oct and one in Nov. I think we all need to work together for more exposure and better bowl games.

I know the travel would be brutal for reg season games but I would rather our bball move to AAC than stay wcc. The wcc is just way too top heavy. And it appears to me that we were on the verge of becoming a west coast power but we seem to be playng down to the conference. I will admit that as a whole the wcc was better this year but they still trail the power conf by a mile. Our last year in the Mwc the conf as a whole was stronger than some of them. And Utah was still weak then. It was too bad the Mwc had to be too difficult to deal with.



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I think that we'd be crazy to leave the WCC. This conference is full of great schools in great locations and some have good basketball teams. If we're currently scheduling football games with the AAC and can make an arrangement to continue to do so, I would wholeheartedly welcome that, but not if changing our basketball and other sports arrangement with the WCC. The AAC is a good conference in basketball, better than our current conference, but not as good of a fit given our proximity to WCC schools.



PS it does a heart proud to hear the Utes give arena smack in our WCC alignment. For the entire history of the universe the Utes always said “Arena smak is lame lame lame and only a moron would use it when we bragged that our stadium and gym hold way more than theirs. Now, even though their arena still holds about half of ours, but they think that they, by making fun of the arenas of others, somehow makes them and their cute little arena better than ours

ABYUFAN wrote:
I think that we'd be crazy to leave the WCC. This conference is full of great schools in great locations and some have good basketball teams. If we're currently scheduling football games with the AAC and can make an arrangement to continue to do so, I would wholeheartedly welcome that, but not if changing our basketball and other sports arrangement with the WCC. The AAC is a good conference in basketball, better than our current conference, but not as good of a fit given our proximity to WCC schools.



PS it does a heart proud to hear the Utes give arena smack in our WCC alignment. For the entire history of the universe the Utes always said “Arena smak is lame lame lame and only a moron would use it when we bragged that our stadium and gym hold way more than theirs. Now, even though their arena still holds about half of ours, but they think that they, by making fun of the arenas of others, somehow makes them and their UGLY COMMUNIST STYLE arena better than ours

Altered your quote and completely agree.

I would absolutely love a 4 or 5 game scheduling affiliation with the American, especially if it included access to bowl affiliations and basketball.



It would actually be a great balance to have 4 AAC opponents, 4-5 MWC opponents (Utah St., Boise St., plus 2 or 3 of UNLV, Hawaii, SJSU, Fresno St., Nevada, etc.) and 4 P5 opponents (see USC, Stanford, Cal, Utah in November...other P5's in September).



BYU should play in Texas or Florida every other year, regardless, and the AAC affiliation would deliver that with the UCF/USF and SMU/Houston tandems. Occasional games with Cincinnati, Navy, Uconn, and ECU would be fun. Memphis, Tulane, and Temple help to balance out the schedule, without having to play Savannah St. in November (uck!).



I don't think a full membership deal with Olympic sports makes sense for BYU, simply because of geography.



I would propose a 4-game deal, with 2 games in Provo and 2 in AAC territory to be played in October and November. The AAC-affiliated bowls could also select BYU. This would include the Hawaii and Armed Forces bowls, as well as games in Orlando and Tampa (I don't think Birmingham would be that attractive for either BYU or the Compass Bowl). BYU could also get option deals with the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego and the nameless Fight Hunger bowl, now in Santa Clara, against PAC 12 and MWC opponents.



Similarly, a 4-game-per-year deal with AAC basketball, 2 in Provo, 2 in AAC territory (as long as UConn, Cincy, Houston, and Temple are regulars in the rotation).



That works for me!

For what it's worth, an AAC affiliation would fit in nicely starting in 2016 (and note that Indiana just bought out its 2015 and 2016 games with South Florida):



BYU Upcoming schedules:



2016

Arizona (Glendale, AZ)

at Utah

*

West Virginia (Landover, MD)

*

*

at Boise St.

* (USF)

* (at Tulane)

* (SMU)

at Cincinnati

Southern Miss

Utah St.



BYU would just need two more games and has a September and no MWC opponents other than Boise and USU.



2017



*

Utah

California

* (at Tulsa)

at Utah St.

Boise St.

* (BYE)

at ECU

SJSU

at Fresno St.

* (Navy)

* (Houston)

at Hawaii



BYU would just need one other game, with a September opening.



2018

at Arizona

*

at Wisconsin

*

* (at Tulane)

Utah St.

* (UCF)

at Boise St.

*

* (at ECU)

* (UConn)

Hawaii

at Utah



BYU would just need two more games, with two opening in September.

I would be fine with a scheduling agreement with the American, but I would do whatever it takes to get a deal with the Big 12.



BYU should sign a deal to play 3 road games and 2 home games against every Big 12 team in both football and basketball over a 10 year period. In return, BYU would get access to all the Big 12 affiliated bowl games outside of the major bowls. BYU would give half of their bowl revenue to the conference and not participate in the bowl revenue sharing of the conference.



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Not a bad idea. Would it lower or increase the chance to become a full member in the future?

The AAC bowls aren't any better than what is already scheduled outside the Compass Bowl (SEC opponent), Beef O'Brady (ACC every other year), and Armed Forces (Big12 starting 2016 every other year).



Also, any one of the AAC teams would go to a P5 conference (just like BYU). And the teams worth a contract with the AAC (UCF, USF, UConn, Cincinnati, Houston, SMU and ECU), can be mostly had without a formal ND style contract. The only one you might lose out on is Navy.



I'd like 2 games in California and 1 game in Texas yearly as well as a game in the Southeast every other year. I think four games a year with the AAC is one too many.