Air Force being in a conference called the "American" just makes sense, especially considering Navy is also a member. If they could land Army, that would be a coup for the AAC. And honestly, from a dollars & cents perspective they likely would have similar TV value to the teams that left. Military academies have production ceilings on their programs but they definitely have TV value. Also, those front range schools recruit Texas far more than they recruit California so getting into a conference with SMU and likely another addition helps with their recruiting.