Seems like that’s what should be done but that’s not what they’re doing 🤷🏾‍♂️

A lot of that is being used to keep the conference running and some is being used to help the 5 MWC schools coming into the PAC. Depending on how the poaching penalty federal law suit goes, some of that money could be freed up to assist any AAC to move if the PAC's media deal in lucrative enough.

I try to find as much as I can. I do a 💩 job at being organized and writing down my notes, so I end up having to “remember” info I found lol. I’ve been following conference expansion/realignment going back to when the Big East “ended” and AAC was born. Media deals are newer to me because past deals didn’t seem as super lucrative as they are now, but even then I know the power conferences were making exponentially more than the “group of” conferences.

So this is what I wonder… is there a reason to counter if the numbers/percentages presented just weren’t good enough in general. My takeaway from what their AD said was that he/the powers that be need to know what the media rights payout is going to be. I saw the AAC’s 2022/23 Distributions and Tulane received $12.3M while Memphis received $8.93M… it’s safe to assume that 23/24 & 24/25 the distribution numbers for Tulane and Memphis more than likely increased. At the end of the day, the PAC numbers need to flat out dominate the AAC numbers. If Memphis or Tulane is only making $1 or $2M more than they are in the AAC currently, that might not be enough to get them to jump ship. They will be at the disadvantage as their sports teams will be doing more traveling westward than everyone else. Like I said in the video, PAC should’ve had a “summit” with all the schools they wanted and straight up said “this is what we’re trying to create, an East and West division…”

@@4PhaseDelta The chances of Memphis & Tulane ending up in a P4 (ACC) are slim and none. The AAC's base media payout is 6.9-7 million per school. There are other things that are additive, like: MBB units for the NCAA tourney, & bowl games. That goes for all conferences. Donner contributions, sponsorships, and attendance are not part of that number. Estimates for the new PAC12 are somewhere between 9-14 million. Depending on where that number falls will determine if any AAC school will be interested in moving. My guess is around 13 million would be that number. Memphis fans are not happy in the AAC, they have already lost most of the conference value with SMU, Cincinnati, Houston, and USF leaving the conference. Men's BB isn't very good outside of Memphis, and the football will likely fall behind the PAC12. The MBB will definitely be better in the PAC. If E$PN does do a look in the AAC's media deal could drop because of the lost schools, but I don't t that is likely. If E$PN does though , that would change everything. If the numbers work and some AAC teams decide to move, I don't think it would happen until 2027 because of the high exit fees. AS for the media deal for the MWC, there current deal is for 3.8 million per school, and is due to end after 2025. They need a new one for 2026 and beyond. They lost their most valuable commodities to the PAC. the MWC commissioner has promised to keep the schools media payout at 3.5 million if their media deal falls below that. She also promised huge bonuses to AF & UNLV to stay in the MWC, around 20 million (plus) to each of those two schools. She is expecting to get that money from the exit fees of departing schools and a poaching clause in the scheduling agreement with the PAC12. Both of those are being challenged in multiple lawsuits in court. The poaching penalty is in Federal court. Who know when those lawsuit will be done/settled. Mean while most of that money won't be incoming to the MWC.

lol, no. They did not look at Rice. They looked at SMU.

@@DocSkirv Think what you want, but they did do a brief look at RICE because of their academics. The main schools driving the decision were Stanford, CAL, Oregon, Washington & Arizona. It was a financial professor at Utah that came up with the number that the PAC10 was worth 50 million.

@@jeh58 lol, no, no they didn’t.

The pecking order and viewership is more like Utah Jazz BYU Utah Utes Utah Hockey Club Utah State Their flagship station in Salt Lake City only does about 5% Aggie content. The rest of the content is Jazz, BYU, and Utes. However, most Utag grads do live in the SLC Metro. 7:10 Utah States value doesn't lie in their Media Market. It lies in their competitive value. They consistently punch above their weight. Also, in their post season earning power. They rank fourth in the MW in that department.

Yes they do. They need 1 more full member in order to officially be a conference. I think they would like to be at 9 football members. 8 conference games is preferable.

This is one reason why it doesn't help to have ESPN be a media partner for everybody. They'll pick and choose which conferences to favor over others. The talk about Toledo being a target for other conferences is nothing new. I've been hearing that for months. I've hinted at this on The Big Mountain's latest live show. I'm keeping a close eye on MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher from now on. Either he's going to be a competent leader and get more help from ESPN (or any media partners), or he's going to be George Kliavkoff 2.0 and be a massive failure.

@@stevenvitte He needs to talk to ESPN and find out what they are thinking.

On Toledo's part, why would they initially tell the MWC no, and then turn around and say yes? Surely Toledo's officials would be crunching the numbers just like NIU's officials did. The talk about Toledo is part of the main point of why MAC officials need to get off their butts and start making moves. You need to make your remaining members happy.

@@stevenvitte Absolutely true. But then again, I can't guarantee what anyone will do in conference realignment.

This is what I believe… promises were made and a lot of it was money related. The two abandoned PAC schools thought that if they could snag the 6 “better” MWC schools and 4 from the AAC (Memphis, Tulane, UTSA, etc…) they’d create a “best of the rest” conference that would bring in a substantial payout. The number wouldn’t be $25M+, but it would be somewhere between $15-20M. The problem is they thought all of these schools would automatically jump on the train and only 5 did… the AAC schools also shot down joining the PAC. So now the PAC is desperate to make additions and waiting to see what potential media rights deal they can land. While the PAC was doing all of that, the MWC was making every strategic addition that they could. In this new MWC, NIU, UNLV, and Air Force for the most part be the top 3 programs. NIU brings the best media market, so we should see a nice chunk of our games on Fox/FS1. The MAC did not take advantage of the Chicago Media Market the way they should have, their loss.

I'm super excited being an NIU Alumni living in Reno. It's going to be fun.

@@rangersking6699 thanks for the engagement, but may I say, next time let the vid play all the way then write one solid comment hitting all of your criticism… I don’t have the attention span to reply to each comment you left. Some I can understand your PoV, some I disagree with and view mostly as pettiness. Whether you want to believe it or not, NIU taps into the Chicago market, it’s not about OWNING the market, it’s about TVs turning on to watch the game. Chicago has a population of about 2.7M people… if 10% of that 2.7M turn on a NIU football game, that’s instantly 270K viewers. Chicago is a sports city and there a ton of bars in the city and surrounding suburbs that will turn on a local football game when ones available. NIUs MACtion viewership ranked higher than the rest of the conference, and it’s largely due to Chicagoland area TVs. Don’t underestimate what folks will watch on a Saturday at 11am; if a football game is available, TVs will be on.

@ niu has never gotten close to 10% of the Chicago market except for ny6/BCS bowl games