Thanks.
But where are they going to go? The PAC doesnt want them, and they're too far away from any other conference to be attractive on a large scale. Even if they lose these 2 + Boise, there are still 8 schools in need of a home. And they can pick off the reconstituting WAC if they need more teams.
In contrast the AAC has become an ungainly mess of mediocre teams (even by G5 standards), spread out over a large area, and with several competitors that can offer lower travel costs, local rivalries, and possibly even better quality. (Coastal, App St, and ULL of the Sun Belt are as good as what AAC 2.0 has, if not better.)
The Big XII is the rumor for Boise State, but obviously a lot can change. But if not the Big XII you are correct they would have no other P5 conference interested (PAC 12 and Big 10 no due academics, ACC / SEC too far and not enough value to TV deal).
While the AAC is a mess (a lot of dead weight programs, terrible travel considerations, no natural rivals, all for not a lot of TV money in the grand scheme of things), it does have some of the best remaining football programs in the G5 and in better timezones for more viewers than MWC.
ESPN also appears to be sucking up as many college football rights as possible while competitors (NBC, CBS, FOX) appear to be shying away. I don't know why, but the competition seem more interested in EPL, Golf, and other things. This will likely become more apparent when all P5 conference excluding ACC are up for negotiations on their deals in the next 3-4 years. Let's hope for the sake of UConn (FB & CBS, BB & FOX) that the competition still wants in on live sports or that big tech finally gets involved.
So if you're Air Force or CSU and AAC / ESPN tell you that TV money can be doubled in the AAC, probably a hard no especially when MWC is in a 50/50 position of crumbling once BSU walks. SDSU probably wouldn't be far behind if they weren't so far from Temple, USF, ECU, and Memphis.