Yeah, well that is my point. ESPN+ will be positioned as it can be for the short term, a place to dump peripheral product for the super fan and in the process it will narrow rather than expand the audience for said product as the causal fan will just fail to find it as they scroll through their programming guide. And yes, the cable services over time will integrate ESPN+ into their platform so that the scroller is teased by the channel and so over time it will get easier to use. This is all going to play out and under these circumstances circling back to Boise State, do you really need to pay any sort of coin for Boise St as an add to the AAC when the existing AAC deal already gets you a good range of markets and content? Again, the AAC is programming filler (it doesnt move the needle much), there is no other way to view it when ESPN is spending so much more on the SEC, ACC, NBA and NFL. IDK - I'm just saying BoiseSt/to the AAC might not be the slam dunk this question was 10 years ago for ESPN.
Specifically as it relates to Boise- no ESPN doesn't have to pony up anything extra unless there is a pro-rata clause in the new deal. The
only reason I'd add a 12th football team if I'm the American is because your waiver to play a title game with 11 ends after this upcoming season in 2021. Assuming that waiver doesn't get extended, they'll have to bring in somebody because I'd imagine the conference title game is an important part of the TV deal.
Adding Boise gives you the West/East splits of:
Boise
Houston
Memphis (Or Tulane)
Navy
SMU
Tulsa
Cincinnati
ECU
Temple
Tulane (or Memphis)
UCF
USF
The other thing is for TV windows... does adding Boise mean any AAC game played there can be used in the 10:30 ESPN/2 slots? Opening another window to have UCF @ Boise, Cinci @ Boise, Memphis @ Boise, etc be played "After Dark" may be interesting for both sides. Also.. does the AAC solely focus on wanting a football only school to add at this point? Or would they be open to the right team joining for all sports?
Another thing... I really don't know what Boise's long term football outlook/potential is. They're sort of stuck in this weird no mans land, they're clearly the king football brand of the MWC but there are no other "brand" type teams to make any of the matchups compelling. If it was similar to the old WAC and TCU/Utah were still there plus BYU in the league then you'd have something... reality is even with a team like SJSU being great and winning the league this year the "branding" for those games stinks. As mentioned above, Boise recruits a TON of guys from California that are on shaky academic grounds and also dips into Texas regularly. What impact would joining the league have on their California recruiting base? And if Boise drops off even to the point where they are competitive but no longer a threat to make a NY6 game, sending teams like ECU, Temple, UCF, USF, Memphis, Tulane, and Cincinnati as far as 2600 miles to Idaho to play an average college football team potentially in the snow with a game ending around 1:30am ET doesn't sound that great.
The other candidates for the 12th member for the AAC that I think are at least somewhat realistic are:
JMU: Great football, ready made stadium, good alumni support, and forms a nice mid-Atlantic group of schools with JMU, Navy, Temple, ECU
Richmond: Same as above, still has solid football but much smaller enrollment/alumni base
App State: Good fan base, great football, tradition of winning, but do you need another small brand school in NC?
Georgia State: Massive enrollment, campus in a large urban metro area of Atlanta fits the existing profile of schools like UH/Cincinnati/Memphis/Tulane/SMU etc. Sports stink for the most part and they have no money or popularity in their own market
UAB: Financial difficulties, decent basketball brand and in a large city but state legislature wants to cut the legs out from under them
Then there's a pile of steaming garbage to choose from like Charlotte, ODU, Louisiana, Middle Tennessee, etc.
BYU football only would be the dream but I don't see them giving up Independence in the future. They saw what a schedule of G5 games did for them in the playoff rankings and its clearly not worth it.
Obviously Boise is a known brand at this stage, but I'd really think twice before adding them if I'm Aresco. There are just so many possible negatives and I don't know that they truly outweigh the positives of bringing the Broncos into the league full time. How many times would Boise State have to win the league and make the NY6 in the next 11 years (when current TV deal ends) to financially justify the Broncos being in the league? Cinci, ECU, Houston, UCF, and USF all have future home and homes with them already. I'd maybe encourage the league to schedule the Broncos in the non-conference and knock them out of the NY6 race on an annual basis, but I don't know if bringing them into the league is the best concept for either side. While Boise wants to align itself with football minded schools, it needs to be careful about losing its existing recruiting base and identity. JMU has proven they can win games and is a much much much better fit geographically than Boise. And if you wanted to get back to 12 for hoops you could easily include JMU for all sports to the league.
