ACC

[proasu89]

Switching conferences isn’t going to get our fanbase to give more money and no conference we join is going to be a windfall in regards to TV money.

Champagne dreams on a Natty Light budget.

[spacemonkey]

Conference USA 1.0 is about to be put back together in the ACC. My guess, ECU gets the invite back to join the former BigEast football schools. I just hope UNCC amd JMU, ODU dont get the invite to go with them and we are left out.

[311neers]

State just fired Keatts. Woah. Didn’t think they had the balls. 1 year removed from a final 4.

[BambooRdApp]

State just fired Keatts. Woah. Didn’t think they had the balls. 1 year removed from a final 4.

Well, they were terrible this year. Frankly, they were not that great during regular season last year. Had to win ACC Tournament to get to March Madness. That is the Cardiac Pack way when they make a run.

Unless State is going to make a substantial commitment to NIL bball money, it is tough to win consistently with Dook and Heels in their back yard. ....or goes to the Bennett (former VA coach) style of play...with hopes of winning by D effort and using all the clock on offense. Those can be unique players that can be decent.

[Yosef84]

OK, I understand the idea that folks want the best for App. That said, we are CURRENTLY in a conference of peer institutions. The "regional conference" that people describe is literally the Sun Belt East with a little tweaking. Seems to me that, if the issue is leadership / media contracts, those issues can be addressed within the Sun Belt and that seems a lot more likely.

I'm just thinking that the attraction of any conference (ACC or AAC) diminishes without the teams that made them what they are (or were for the AAC). The AAC is riding the momentum of the past and things will catch up to them with the downgrade they have gone through.

I mean if an amazing opportunity presents itself, SURE. I just don't see pining away after a rebuild.

[AppState222]

All this talk of more money, switching conferences, etc... the problem is that the Sun Belt media deal is absolute trash and Gill got bent over at the negotiating table. We have like 4 regular season basketball games broadcast on the national network for the whole conference. It might mean playing games on days other than the normal thurs/sat, but Gill and the ADs have to figure out a way to get conference basketball on a national broadcast if they want to be relevant.

From a 2023 Yahoo article:
- The AAC has a 12-year contract worth nearly $1 billion with ESPN.
- Conference USA’s current deal with ESPN, CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, Facebook and Stadium will expire next year. It’s worth around $5.5 million per year. (They signed a new TV deal since that article. Google didnt give total numbers on a quick search, but seems to worth around 9.5 mil)
- The Mid-American Conference’s deal ends in 2027. It’s worth about $8 million per year with ESPN and CBS Sports.
- The Mountain West Conference’s deal is with CBS Sports and FOX, running through 2026 and paying $270 million per year.
- The Sun Belt Conference has a deal with ESPN that runs through 2031. Most of the games are on ESPN+ and the deal pays $7 million per year.

- Couldnt find actual numbers for the Ivy, but a google search shows their basketball are on national networks significantly more often than Sun Belt teams.

From a Sun Belt release earlier this year:
2025 Sun Belt Men’s Basketball ESPN2/ESPNU Wildcard Schedule
January 23 – App State at Arkansas State [ESPN2]
February 5 – Arkansas State at Marshall [ESPNU]
February 15 – Troy at Arkansas State [ESPN2]
February 28 – App State at Marshall – 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT [ESPN2/ESPNU]

Pathetic.

[ASUFan4863]

That is why I prefer the AAC over the SBC, even without Georgia Southern. It’s all about money and right now, the money is not in the Sun Belt.

[Stonewall]

Someone who knows Gill professionally describes him as “handsome but slow”. The conference has and is slipping , falling behind. I’m told he has a couple of strong supporters among the league’s CEOs that deflect any criticism of him. Until that changes, its unlikely the trajectory will.

[Yosef84]

Ask Charlotte what happens when you wind up in a conference where you have no rivals.

[BambooRdApp]

Charlotte is not a great example. Charlotte had no rivalries before. They are in their infancy as a program in grand scheme of things.

[hapapp]

Someone who knows Gill professionally describes him as “handsome but slow”. The conference has and is slipping , falling behind. I’m told he has a couple of strong supporters among the league’s CEOs that deflect any criticism of him. Until that changes, its unlikely the trajectory will.

He will be the chairman of the NCAA D1 basketball selection committee for 2026. Not that will necessarily do anything for the Sun Belt. But, thought it was interesting that he will be in that position.

[Stonewall]

Yes. He was on the committee last year. I am told he made no argument for us. Granted it was not in the cards but who is paying his salary?

[BallantyneApp]

All this talk of more money, switching conferences, etc... the problem is that the Sun Belt media deal is absolute trash and Gill got bent over at the negotiating table. We have like 4 regular season basketball games broadcast on the national network for the whole conference. It might mean playing games on days other than the normal thurs/sat, but Gill and the ADs have to figure out a way to get conference basketball on a national broadcast if they want to be relevant.

From a 2023 Yahoo article:
- The AAC has a 12-year contract worth nearly $1 billion with ESPN.
- Conference USA’s current deal with ESPN, CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, Facebook and Stadium will expire next year. It’s worth around $5.5 million per year. (They signed a new TV deal since that article. Google didnt give total numbers on a quick search, but seems to worth around 9.5 mil)
- The Mid-American Conference’s deal ends in 2027. It’s worth about $8 million per year with ESPN and CBS Sports.
- The Mountain West Conference’s deal is with CBS Sports and FOX, running through 2026 and paying $270 million per year.
- The Sun Belt Conference has a deal with ESPN that runs through 2031. Most of the games are on ESPN+ and the deal pays $7 million per year.

- Couldnt find actual numbers for the Ivy, but a google search shows their basketball are on national networks significantly more often than Sun Belt teams.

From a Sun Belt release earlier this year:
2025 Sun Belt Men’s Basketball ESPN2/ESPNU Wildcard Schedule
January 23 – App State at Arkansas State [ESPN2]
February 5 – Arkansas State at Marshall [ESPNU]
February 15 – Troy at Arkansas State [ESPN2]
February 28 – App State at Marshall – 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT [ESPN2/ESPNU]

Pathetic.

3 sec beat reporters Shane Mettlen harry minium and Ben Moore all reported or confirmed when we added jim+cusa3 our new deal was average of $2MM a year.


I know it sucks but basically everyone except us jimmy southern miss and odu basketball have pretty lackluster fan bases. Even ga southern isn’t that impressive.

If we moved to the aac we’d be the 5th or so largest fanbase.

[JTApps1]

OK, I understand the idea that folks want the best for App. That said, we are CURRENTLY in a conference of peer institutions. The "regional conference" that people describe is literally the Sun Belt East with a little tweaking. Seems to me that, if the issue is leadership / media contracts, those issues can be addressed within the Sun Belt and that seems a lot more likely.

I'm just thinking that the attraction of any conference (ACC or AAC) diminishes without the teams that made them what they are (or were for the AAC). The AAC is riding the momentum of the past and things will catch up to them with the downgrade they have gone through.

I mean if an amazing opportunity presents itself, SURE. I just don't see pining away after a rebuild.

Hopefully Texas State heads to the PAC and we replace them with someone closer to the center of the conference.

[appdaze]

How do you measure the size of a fanbase accurately? We may have a good amount of alums, but I don't actually consider us a large one even medium fanbase. A step further is that given our size, our fans give very little overall in donations compared to what it would take to do what many seem to think we should. Many of our alum groups are very small. Look at our alumni chatter section on this board. 48 threads since August 2012.

Our fans love to show up on game day which is big. But it mostly stops there. Until we are able to bridge this gap we will have a very hard time in the current sports world.

[hapapp]

Yes. He was on the committee last year. I am told he made no argument for us. Granted it was not in the cards but who is paying his salary?

Kind of hard to justify our getting in after losing in the semifinals.

[JTApps1]

All this talk of more money, switching conferences, etc... the problem is that the Sun Belt media deal is absolute trash and Gill got bent over at the negotiating table. We have like 4 regular season basketball games broadcast on the national network for the whole conference. It might mean playing games on days other than the normal thurs/sat, but Gill and the ADs have to figure out a way to get conference basketball on a national broadcast if they want to be relevant.

From a 2023 Yahoo article:
- The AAC has a 12-year contract worth nearly $1 billion with ESPN.
- Conference USA’s current deal with ESPN, CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, Facebook and Stadium will expire next year. It’s worth around $5.5 million per year. (They signed a new TV deal since that article. Google didnt give total numbers on a quick search, but seems to worth around 9.5 mil)
- The Mid-American Conference’s deal ends in 2027. It’s worth about $8 million per year with ESPN and CBS Sports.
- The Mountain West Conference’s deal is with CBS Sports and FOX, running through 2026 and paying $270 million per year.
- The Sun Belt Conference has a deal with ESPN that runs through 2031. Most of the games are on ESPN+ and the deal pays $7 million per year.

- Couldnt find actual numbers for the Ivy, but a google search shows their basketball are on national networks significantly more often than Sun Belt teams.

From a Sun Belt release earlier this year:
2025 Sun Belt Men’s Basketball ESPN2/ESPNU Wildcard Schedule
January 23 – App State at Arkansas State [ESPN2]
February 5 – Arkansas State at Marshall [ESPNU]
February 15 – Troy at Arkansas State [ESPN2]
February 28 – App State at Marshall – 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT [ESPN2/ESPNU]

Pathetic.

That AAC contract will drop next time around and that's before Memphis and Tulane likely leave.

[Saint3333]

The new AAC members are getting half shares of the AAC deal, aka at most $2M more than the SBC deal.

The idea that would solve money issues is a farce.

[Stonewall]

Didn’t say otherwise but you make the case in any event especially given a win over the Southeastern Conference champion and a sweep of ours.

[BambooRdApp]

Having $2 to $3 million more, net is better than not having it...