The article by the Provo Herald Sports’ Editor about the American Athletic Conference and the potential advantages for BYU in football and/or all sports seemed good to me. With a potential expansion of the NCAA Football Playoffs and BYU’s needs becoming a member of the AAC seems a good idea to me. Let’s talk guys. What do you think about BYU and membership in this conference in the current situation?
Is that the Atlantic Conference? The Atlantic? How is that going to work out? Maybe for football but not anything else. Too far.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is the ACC. The AAC is the one with Cincinnati and Memphis. It’s a great basketball conference but not the best fit because of travel. I also don’t see the board of trustees approving the move.
I haven’t read the article. But what advantages would this provide to BYU? More money, more exposure, more control over our schedule, more influence over our TV rights? I would say the only thing it helps is to provide for easier schedule making. That’s all. I wouldn’t move.
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Financially I think it’s less appealing to go to a G5 and as an east coast fan I have been able to see more games than ever before as an Independant.
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At this point, I believe BYU should wait for an offer from a P5 conference (changes ARE coming) or stay independent. Unless a G5 conference is willing to allow BYU to keep its rewarding association with ESPN and also schedule 8 or so games in a conference, like the deal Notre Dame has with the ACC. I agree with BoiseCougar that it wouldn’t likely be approved even if the offer were extended to BYU.
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BYU wouldn’t approve it. Too far and too much costs. I agree with you.
Where did you come up with Atlantic Conference, try the AAC, AMERICAN Athletic Conference.
What are the real chances of BYU getting into a P-5 conference? The PAC-12 has too many liberal schools to let BYU in, i.e.-Stanford, California, So. Cal., Oregon, Washington, et. al. Tell me when the Big 12 (Little 10) will ever expand. With the AAC perhaps Boise State or Air Force may get in with BYU and then there is Houston, SMU, Tulsa and Memphis, all in the Central time zone, plus the eastern schools like Cincinnati, Navy, ECU, Central Fla., and So.Fla. This conference has more of a chance of becoming a Power conference than any other G-5 conferences. BYU may have some negotiating opportunities involving ESPN, possibly some more money than any other G-5 conference, and BYU’s own channel and perhaps some of the better bowl tie ins than any other G-5 conference with the ACC affiliation.
Throw Utah in with the liberal Pac 12 schools. From personal experience and sources.
You have to look at this from the AAC point of view. Do they want to deal with a BYU? Other then what BYU does for the conference (elevates then) I just don’t see where they would want to add BYU, nightmare to travel to, BYU’s quirkiness, honor code and not willing to play on Sundays
I agree that at this point, it seems unlikely that the AAC would make the offer to have BYU join their conference for the reasons you mentioned. However, if by adding BYU and Boise State they felt that their chances of becoming a Power Conference were much more likely or guaranteed, they just might think it was worth it.
Then, so would the Mountain West. BYU and Boise join them and become a Power 5 conference 
Sunday’s is not an issue in football. With the AAC adding a school like Air Force or Boise there would be a travel partner for BYU. These two schools would be in the AAC western division including Houston, SMU, Tulsa and Memphis and Tulane. Seven teams in each league division, including Navy, Temple, Liberty in Va., East Carolina, Cinn., and Central Florida and South Florida and another team from independence or a Sun Belt team in the south like Appalition State in North Carolina, and perhaps another Sun Belt school for sixteen schools in the AAC if they like. This would allow for two divisions for football and basketball. In Olympic sports the east and west divisions would work, playing divisional sports and in basketball and football an unbalanced schedule with three to five games in each division and a few games from the other division like 4 or five games in either sport.
This would allow all schools with a chance for the 12 team football Championship playoffs and the basketball teams may get multiple bids for the NCAA tourney after conference playoffs. Teams like SMU, Houston, BYU, Memphis, and some other teams might qualify for these multiple bids.
By having BYU in a western division in the AAC with a travel partner like Boise State or Air Force or Colorado State a two division conference like the SEC or ACC conferences in both basketball and football could be enhanced. An unbalanced schedule for football could work, playing all opponents within a division and an unbalanced scheduled with the other division like a lot of conferences. An unbalanced or balanced inter divisional sked in basketball could work. Advantages like enhanced opportunities for the 12 team football playoff and a more evenly balanced basketball league would allow for BYU to maybe win some bball conference championships.
Olympic sports could be advantaged with unbalanced schedules for these sports.
If there was a good chance of the AAC becoming part of a more inclusive group of Power Conferences, willing to share the millions and millions of dollars from post season bowl games, then YES, I like the idea. Currently the P5 conferences have a lock on those dollars and seem VERY reluctant to share with even 1 or 2 G5 teams. It may involve using the court system to change what has become a very unfair college football consortium. I really like the way you are thinking, but it may meet with a lot of resistance when it comes to expanding power conferences.
I don’t see the P5 expanding to the P6. It hasn’t been that long ago that the Big East was one of the then P6. Of course you know what happened, the ACC over time plucked Boston College, Virginia Tech, Miami, Syracuse, and Pitt. The Big Twelve grabbed West Virginia. U Conn eventually got out because all the other football schools were gone. Little by little the Big East lost every football school and is now a basketball only league made up of primarily private Catholic schools.
About the time the Big East fell apart Utah was plucked by the then Pac 10 and shortly thereafter TCU went to the Big Twelve. If the Mountain West hadn’t lost Utah, BYU, and TCU they would have been worthy of power conference status because Nevada, Hawaii, Boise, and Fresno were about to join the Mountain West and those were all good football programs at that time. The P5 evolved the way has by eliminating its weakest link, the Big East, and seeing to it that the Mountain West was weakened so it could be kept out of the party. I wouldn’t doubt that the P5 consortium finally stuck a fork in the Big East because with the expansion of the Mountain West it would have been at least as good, and probably better, than the Big East and could have put legitimate pressure on for inclusion in the BCS system. To make sure the P5 club was kept exclusive Utah was plucked from the Mountain West because the Mountain was starting to look like a strong football conference. If the AAC expanded to include teams like BYU and Boise you can bet some power conferences would start looking to siphon off schools to keep their P5 monopoly. .
I think legal action is the only solution to break up the monopoly because the P5 is happy with the status quo. You can take it to the bank that in any 12 team playoff great pains will be taken that no more than one mid major gets in, if any, and if one gets in the playoff great pains will be taken to seed them very low.to make things difficult no matter their record or AP ranking.
I prefer the idea of a 12 team playoff to the current system because it at least, in theory, gives a non P5 team a small hope, but I suspect the P5 conferences view the playoff as a chance for more money for their conferences by getting more teams in the playoff. I could see the SEC getting up to 3, and possibly, 4 bids and some years the Big Ten and ACC could get up to 3 teams in. I think there would need to be some cap put on the number of teams from any one conference that could make the playoffs. I would think a limit of 2 would be about right. That would allow 2 non P5 teams to make the playoffs.
aro, your thoughts are my thoughts on this issue. You stated it well and supported it with evidence. Well done. Anyone else having thoughts to share?
BYU seems to be thriving in Indy. Covid certainly helped and BYU’s 40-0 win over navy to start the hype machine created a magical year for BYU. Beating CC would have made BYU the talk of a championship entry and helped BYU in any P5 campaign. Wilson in the NFL helps our cause greatly, just hope the he does not die the NY Jets death like so many past high drafts.
Witts and Sitake’s friendship could get some traction if Witt could pull a championship in the P12 so you have to root for the Utes in a very weakened P12 league. I can think of few times when BYU and Utah have had coaches in not just football but basketball as well, where all four coaches are winners and going to do great things for the state of Utah. (Smith at Utah should have them dancing in a couple of years)
Do I think BYU will get an invite to the P5? No, not just yet…but ESPN and seeing BYU on TV more then any other program in the nation makes BYU an inviting place for talent.
How will the new rules of making money as a college athlete work…I see several definite things about to happen:
1- the rich will get richer. ( to be seen at the “hot” school that is linked to $$$ donors) (just this week, I saw that a gym is giving $500 to every player on Miami, and that is peanuts…wait until we see millionaires coming out of Alabama or OSU cause it’s coming)
2 -cheating to get these 5 star athletes will be astronomical.
3- social media will drive things at warp speed.
BYU’s connection to ESPN just became uber important.