The American Athletic Conference will soon have an opening and will be looking to add another member

[tornado]

With UConn leaving to go to the Big East there will be an opening in the AAC

Should Bradley make a pitch? - There might never be a better time to consider a move with Bradley coming off their best year in a decade.
I realize the AAC is largely football members, but maybe having another non-FB member to go with Wichita will give the AAC more balance.
I am not saying I am in favor of making such a move - only that maybe we should explore it.

Back in 2012 Joanne Glasser and Michael Cross travelled to meet with Lee Reed, the Georgetown AD and acting commissioner of the Big East who was organizing the split of the Big East that ultimately led to two different conferences (The Big East & The AAC) - with the hope of getting into the Big East and out of the MVC like Creighton was doing. Of course with Joanne running Bradley into the ground, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that anyone would want to add Bradley at that point - but NOW is different. Bradley Athletics have returned to the BIG TIME.
Anyone else think we should give it a try?

[Da Coach]

First, no offense, but IMO there is no way the AAC would even consider accepting Bradley. Why would they want to replace a large state school that plays football and with a record of tremendous basketball success (4 national titles in the last 20 years) with a small school in a relatively small city well outside their conference footprint, and with limited recent success that doesn't play football? Bradley has virtually nothing in common with the others in the AAC, and despite last seasons 9-9 MVC record, and the first NCAA bid in 13 years, Bradley doesn't have enough to offer them. Plus, there are other schools that would be better for them to consider.

Of the 12 AAC schools, 9 are massive public universities located in or near major cities, and 3 are private schools (Tulsa, Tulane, and SMU). In most sports, the private schools struggle to stay competitive with the much larger, better funded public schools with better facilities.
Bradley is just too small, located in a small, out-of-the-way city, and with an athletic budget that is microscopic compared to the other members. Nearly every other AAC school is far east or south of Peoria. Even Wichita, Memphis, and Cincinnati, the 3 closest schools, are a long way away from Peoria, much farther than every city in the MVC (one exception: Cincinnati is slightly closer to Peoria than Springfield, MO). Many of the AAC schools are 1000 miles or more away. Travel costs alone for Bradley to compete in 13 different sports would be cost-prohibitive.
If the AAC decides to add one more school, I am sure they will have many applicants that would be far better options for them than Bradley.

There just isn't another conference that is better for Bradley than the MVC. Bradley is best suited to stay in a non-football conference with geographically favorable member schools located in medium-sized midwest cities. And there simply is not another option anywhere near as good for Bradley as the MVC.
I also believe that if the Glasser/Cross era had not happened and done the massive damage it did to Bradley and it's fan base, alumni support, and athletic success, we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion.

Here are the current 12 members of the American Athletic Conference with 2018 enrollment numbers. Bradley just isn't a very good fit there.-
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, public, enrollment 68,569
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, public, enrollment 50,755
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, public, enrollment 44,388
University of Houston, Houston, TX, public, enrollment 42,704
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, public, enrollment 40,240
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, public,, enrollment 32,257
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, public, enrollment 29,131
University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, public, enrollment 21,521
Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, public, enrollment 15,784
Tulane University, New Orleans, private, enrollment 13,581
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, private, enrollment 11,649
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, private, enrollment 4,352

[tornado]

well, the last member the AAC added was the MVC team that had just won the conference, went to the NCAA and who had the best attendance...
...why wouldn't they consider doing exactly the same again? The Big East also added the MVC school with the best attendance but only an enrollment of about 4,000.
The topic of Bradley seeking another conference has been brought up dozens of times - even by Doug Elgin - so I think it is a reasonable question.
As I said - I am not claiming we should do it - only that we should study all the facts and consider it....
If the AAC would take Bradley - the slightly increased travel costs would be only a tiny fraction of the increased revenue Bradley would make.

The AAC just signed an enormously lucrative media deal with ESPN for $1 BILLION !!!!
Yes, I said ONE BILLION DOLLARS that ESPN will pay the members of the AAC over the next 12 years...
That works out to about as much as $8-10 million per year for each school - guaranteed for the next 12 years!
(Bradley's total athletic budget isn't even that much currently)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...espn/39229011/

[Da Coach]

Bradley is not Wichita State. Maybe when we have undefeated seasons, multiple conference championships, make the NCAA every year, generate $30 million in revenue each year (several times what Bradley generates), and make it to the Final Four, who knows.

[tornado]

so Army, Air Force, BYU, North Texas, UAB, UMass, Libery, and Appalachian State have undefeated seasons and generate $30 million?
Cuz that's who the pundits are already saying are among the top candidates to join AAC as replacement for UConn
https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/06/wh...-who-else.html
https://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...a-replacement/

I think Bradley is as good of a choice as any of those except for the FB issue, but obviously Wichita doesn't have football - and contrary to th BS we've been reading - they likely NEVER WILL have football.


The interest in starting up football at Wichita State has cooled tremendously.....
the movement now might be towards men's & women's soccer instead:
"Wichita State’s interest in football stymied in 2016...
...Right now, it’s the wrong time to get into anything.....Soccer, down the road, might be possible."

https://thesunflower.com/37498/sport...-on-the-table/

stories elsewhere describe that adding football would then require possibly adding as many as 80 or more roster & scholarship spots for women's sports due to the Title IX requirements....and that is fiscally impossible.

[wizard1]

A move to the AAC would be terrific for Bradley. Better and much stronger schedule, Increased attendance, A better foundation to recruit from. Leaving a one NCAA bid conference would be excellent, The size (number of students) is almost meaningless----How big is Notre Dame?..Tulsa is smaller than Bradley. And don't forget that BU would add some major prestige in non-athletic areas....Bradleys speech successes, the grade point averages of our teams adds academic excellence and we would shed being locked into a conference with Evansville, Ind. State, Valpo, etc. Bradley should explore the way this opportunity could move our program and our entire school up instead of staying in a one horse, one bid, weak conference that doesn't do very much for us. High sounding statements and speeches from the BU administration regarding Bradleys plans for the future and growth are meaningless if we do not at least explore this possibility.
Wizard

[Da Coach]

so Army, Air Force, BYU, North Texas, UAB, UMass, Libery, and Appalachian State have undefeated seasons and generate $30 million?
Cuz that's who the pundits are already saying are among the top candidates to join AAC as replacement for UConn
https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/06/wh...-who-else.html
https://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...a-replacement/
....

Those are all football schools. You are making my point for me.
Plus, those are just someone's guess and not a realistic list of schools the AAC would consider. Most of them are a bit unlikely (BYU?, Air Force?)

[wizard1]

Coach....Your reaction and comments regarding Bradley and the AAC would most certainly doom us to a future as a small, no-growth, private midwest school, playing year in and year out in a weak, low level Divn.1, one bid conference with a weak schedule. Surely, under your scenario, the once proud Bradley program could deteriorate, lose fans, and ultimately look to a future in Divn.2.
Wizard

[tornado]

kudos wiz...
I would like to still think BIG - few non-power conference programs draw as well, have the history we have, the incredibly strong & loyal fan base that we have, and are on the UPSWING like we are...

Joanne & Mike Cross started this whole idea of thinking SMALL, and some Debbie-downer fans have hooked their wagons to their butts and still think small and aim low. They told us never to expect wins again, never to expect big crowds again, never to expect to win titles again....
They blamed the fans for being impatient - told us that we were as good as we were gonna be, celebrated how IMPROVED we were when we still had a 16-16 season and called it a great success ("light years better"). They trashed fans for wanting to be good and wanting it wayyyy too fast. They even had their PJStar shills telling us that we should be quiet and give those losers running BU "several more years" because it was so impossibly hard to build a winner. They even told us it was important to move to a tiny on-campus gym just becasue it might help us win when we play SEMO, Norfolk State or Eureka College. They even had plans to take us down to DII or DIII and preached at us that fans were unreasonable to expect to be able to compete with the big boys again - just not gonna happen. They resorted to LIES when they claimed Geno was the only candidate they targeted - and yet we knew they had offered the job to a dozen other candidates who all read the terms and said "NO" and promptly left town. I do NOT want to ever go back to that embarrassing time when our leaders thought small and aimed low - and produced GARBAGE for the fans and called it "excellence"..

Nope, wiz, I still want to think BIG, aim high and keep expecting winners.

[BravesWinINStyle]

Everything Da Coach has posted in this thread is rooted in reality. I imagine any president or AD reading DC’s posts in this thread would co-sign.

[Da Coach]

Everything Da Coach has posted in this thread is rooted in reality. I imagine any president or AD reading DC's posts in this thread would co-sign.

Thanks. We are all entitled to our opinions, and I love it that fans want to elevate Bradley to the highest level, but we need to be realistic. Let's stay and try to dominate the MVC like Creighton and Wichita State did before we think we'll start getting calls from far better (and richer) conferences.

Coach....Your reaction and comments regarding Bradley and the AAC would most certainly doom us to a future as a small, no-growth, private midwest school, playing year in and year out in a weak, low level Divn.1, one bid conference with a weak schedule....

And Wizard, the MVC is not and never was "a weak, low level Divn.1 conference". It was always a top 6, 7 or 8 conference until last year.
I am not against moving to a better conference if it benefits Bradley. But name another conference that would be a better fit for Bradley other than the MVC, and be realistic? It won't be the AAC. They would never be interested in Bradley. You'll find there really aren't any other better conferences that are even remotely realistic options.

[Mikovio]

A few things.

1. The $1 billion contract for the AAC is mostly for football rights, and non-football members (like Wichita) don't get a full piece of that. Now, it's still a big piece, and might pay for the increased travel expenses. Plus the AAC gets a lot of NCAA money due to multiple bids and good seeds. Ultimately, increased travel costs wouldn't be much of an issue.

2. The AAC will likely look for a football school to replace UConn in all sports, but it's conceivable that they add Army as a football-only member (like they do with Navy). In that case they'll look for a basketball-only companion, and they'll probably look to Gonzaga again (which turned them down before) or an A-10 school like St. Louis or Dayton. Bradley (and Loyola) would be near the top of Valley candidates, but I think they'll approach a few A-10ers like those two before BU and LU.

3. If #2 plays out and the A-10 gets raided, THAT'S where it could get interesting. Would BU or LU (or both) want to jump to a (presumably weaker, if UD or SLU leave) Atlantic 10? I'm not sure what the A-10's contract is but I'm sure it's not close to the AAC. Travel expenses would be out of control for an Illinois team. They usually get 2-3 bids, but the number of teams is 14, so at larges are more necessary than in the Valley, and we know it's harder and harder for non-P5s to get those. Plus BU would be booting its regional rivalries, though that's less of an issue for LU. Could get interesting but again, that's only if the AAC doesn't add an all sports member.

[tornado]

any such decisions would be dependent on financial info that we are not privvy to...

remember - the MVC has done reasonably well in the NCAA Tourney and that revenue is slowly being paid out over several years...
so we would lose that and may have to also pay an exit fee to the MVC. So I doubt any fan could ever know enough of those facts to be in position to make an informed call....but all I am saying is that whether it's the AAC, A-10 or BE that might come calling, we ought to give them serious consideration

[patrick_o'brian]

I’m agreeing with everything in this post.

-Should we make a pitch? Absolutely!!! We have a fantastic AD in Reynold’s his team. From him all the way down to Bramwell in tickets are nationally recognized and everyone in between. Possibly the best in the Midwest. Coach Wardle is a phenomenal competitive, hard working coach, who has built a conference champ in just 5 years with 1 returnee his first year. We have got to be as competitive as he is because he is and already has raised the bar. We have at least 1 NBA caliber player and a handful of pros on the roster right now. 5,000 of us have sat through the worst decade in Bradley Basketball ever and most never missed a game. We are capable of 9,000-10,000 every night with the occasional 11,000.

-Reality: As previously stated we have not been very successful up until last year. We definitely aren’t a football school. Our city is remote and small compared to most, if not all the markets in the AAC. However, is there a more rabid basketball town than Peoria? The AAC could do a Geographic division with BU, Tulsa, WSU, Memphis, Cincy, and SMU(who we owned last year, by the way. Also, 5 of 6 are former MVC members.) Give the fans a reason and they will be there. Imagine doubling attendance overnight. Extra revenue from a major conference and the aforementioned AD who is the best National Ambassador for Peoria basketball possibly ever at BU!! I’m optimistic that it could happen.

I know it’s a long shot, but let’s take advantage of “The Arrival”. And if not, I’m happy with continuing with the MVC, and helping turn it back into more than a 1 bid league.

[tornado]

...has built a conference champ in just 5 years ....

he did it in under four years

https://www.pjstar.com/article/20150327/SPORTS/150329195