Source: AAC likely to stand pat with 11 teams for now
Uconn officially set sail back to the Big East on Thursday — although it won’t officially depart the American Athletic Conference until 2020.
But the imminent move raises the question: Where does the AAC go from here? Commissioner Mike Aresco has made it abundantly clear in multiple interviews this week that there’s no shot the Huskies remain in the league as a football-only member.
The number of options facing the six-year-old (in its current configuration, at least) AAC. It could venture out in search of a replacement for all sports. Or, it could hold still with 11 football teams and 11 basketball teams. Or, it could add separate football- and basketball-only programs. Or, it could stand pat with 11 football teams and make a basketball-only addition.
The most likely scenario, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told The Commercial Appeal on Friday, is the AAC will remain an 11-team football and basketball league — possibly for a couple of years. The source said the programs that have been the subject of the most fodder in recent days (BYU, Army, Boise State) either don’t have reciprocal interest or don’t make sense for the league from a geographical standpoint.
Aresco has alluded to as much in recent days.
“We’ll consider a 12th school, but unless that school helps our strength and really enhances our brand, why would you do it?” Aresco told the Houston Chronicle. “We’re not going to do anything that dilutes the brand and diminishes us at all.”
Another wrinkle in need of addressing should the AAC stay at 11 teams is scheduling and how the league’s football championship game would work.
The source said each football team would continue to play eight conference games a year and the teams with the two best regular-season records would then meet to decide the AAC championship.
In basketball, the teams would play a round-robin schedule.
The largest drawback of the 11-member set up is the league’s new media rights deal.
Although specifics have not been officially announced by the league, since the long form of the contract has not been signed, the reported 12-year deal (which goes into effect in 2020) would have paid the AAC’S 12 members $6.94 million apiece annually.
Uconn’s piece of the pie might not necessarily wind up getting divided 11 ways and distributed to the rest of the league’s members, according to the source.
Although it’s unlikely, the source said a provision exists in the contract stating ESPN reserves the right to renegotiate and could potentially keep what would have been Uconn’s share of the money.
Whatever the league decides, it likely will not happen until the AAC’S presidents and athletic directors convene in mid-july.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.