to be able to play more games in front of fans outside the mountain west footprint. AAC accomplishes that.
Another reason why was to increase our exposure on ESPN. AAC’s deal is with ESPN and Aresco seems to value exposure more than squeezing as much money as he can out of TV partners.
I also think that there is a genuine commitment from AAC schools to stay relevant in football. This was an unspoken reason why BYU, TCU and Utah outgrew the MWC; those three schools just cared more about high level athletics (especially football) than the other MWC programs did.
I hope BYU seriously approaches the AAC about joining, especially if we could bring some Mountain West teams like Boise and AFA along. It would be a fun conference and we would be competing for a playoff spot every year.