Firstly, let me say that I was a Managing Consultant for Fortune 500 companies in the past but I always took a different approach to considering whether a project was profitable or not. My time in the entertainment industry taught me that every successful project should tell an impactful story and I applied this knowledge to consulting. So I would always prepare a clear, concise, one-page treatment to any MC project just like a producer would; the difference being that I would present a spreadsheet instead of a synopsis of the script. No matter what, I would always let the numbers tell the story.
Thus I present several reasons as to why Miami should move to the AAC:
Miami is not a cultural fit for the ACC.
- The ACC is primarily a wannabe Ivy League conglomerate that emphasizes basketball.
- They only tolerate Miami for access to a primary market.
Miami is also an outlier geographically.
- The bulk of the ACC is located in or near the Carolinas.
The ACC does not want to be represented by a school like Miami.
- Therefore we will always get treated unfairly
- Whether it’s biased officiating or out right racism which is documentable.
The ACC does not promote Miami, the most recognized brand in college football.
- The ACCN is a clear example of of where the marketing priorities of the ACC lie, and it’s not UM.
The locations of ACC are not in ideal marketing locations.
- The only rapidly growing areas outside of Miami are the research triangle and Tallahassee.
- Both of these areas are negligible due to school loyalty and the meaningful population that impacts growth being transient students.
Miami is the largest metropolitan area and only primary market in the ACC but has no leverage.
- The conference alignment is not set up correctly and the championship game is in Charlotte.
- Neither of these are favorable for Miami.
The ACC only has 1 consistently ranked playoff team (Clemson) and is just as weak as the AAC.
- The ACC is weaker now than its ever been on every level.
- The national perception of the ACC is just as bad or worse than the ACC.
We have no built in rival in the ACC. Why are we traveling to Pitt or Duke on rivalry week?
- The ACC didn’t provide any advantages in football or basketball.
The marketing value of cities in the ACC is far less than the AAC.
On the contrary:
The AAC misses Miami, the former Big East appreciated and celebrated Miami.
- Miami instantly legitimizes the AAC as a Power conference.
- UCF is consistently ranked and needs another high profile opponent.
Miami is a much better cultural fit in AAC.
- The AAC has has much better metropolitan locations.
- If you look at the states that produce the most NFL talent.
- The AAC provides a much better recruiting advantage and marketing exposure.
- Tampa, Orlando, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, DMV, Philly, Ohio, Memphis, Ohio & Connecticut.
The AAC presents new marketing and greater opportunities for networks and sponsors.
- Conference realignment could have UM playing in Florida or warm climates most of the season.
- AAC locations would increase fan support due to ease of accessibility and desirable locations.
Because of weaker teams in the AAC, UM could schedule more high profile out of conference games.
- AAC have several primary markets in cities that are thriving and growing.
- We have built in rivals in the AAC.
- We could possibly play FSU, UF, UCF, USF, FIU, FAU & FAMU In one season. True state champs.
We could add an up and coming Georgia State team and retain the ATL/GA market.
- Adding Miami would make the AAC better than the ACC in football and closer in basketball.
We need our own conference.
It’s time - if you have UM connections, please submit this for real analysis. Thank you.
It’s always all about The U
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OK, look, let's have an honest conversation here. I'm not going to criticize your bona fides and I'm sure you do good work in the real world. But this entire analysis is insanely flawed. Insanely. I'll be as brief as possible, but allow me to logically destroy the foundation upon which your delusional conclusions are built.
1. You included UConn in the AAC. Right there, you are slipping. UConn is being kicked out of the AAC.
2. You completely ignore reality by hyper-focusing on the physical location of the schools, rather than where the alumni actually live. For example, the SEC is not freaked out about the TV-market area for, say, Gainesville, because they know that Gaytor alums live all over the state of Florida, including all the major cities. Thus, you completely ignore, say, Charlotte, NC (which is filled with UNC, NC State, Duke, and Wake graduates). You completely ignore DMV area (DC-Maryland-Virginia), which has plenty of UVa and VaTech grads. Similarly, there are plenty of F$U grads in all the major Florida cities. And worst of all, you minimize the impact of Notre Dame, based upon its college-town TV market, while not even considering that they have such a powerful NATIONWIDE following that they are able to play (largely) as a football independent and they have negotiated THEIR OWN television deal with NBC.
3. Similarly, you act as if certain massive AAC television markets would deliver upon the promise of their population, without ever taking into account whether those massive populations truly support the "home team". Sure, SMU is in Dallas and Houston is (obviously) in Houston, but there is no way in **** that people in those cities would watch the "home team" over, say, TEXAS. Or Texas A&M. And even Baylor and TCU games would be more compelling, based upon recent success. You act as if Tulane "delivers" New Orleans when nearly everyone there roots for LSU. Same with Memphis, when Tennessee rules the state. And if you think anyone in Philly roots for Temple football, you have another thing coming. And don't even get me started on how "Georgia State" would miraculously deliver the Atlanta market over UGa and GaTech.
4. Your geographic argument is silly. Sure, we would trade 1 Florida school (F$U) for 2 (UCF, USF). But we would swap out NY, MA, SC, KY, IN, VA (and possibly GA) for...OH, OK, TN, LA, MD, TX (and, hey, I didn't hold your CT idiocy against you on this point)...I don't see any major advantages. Sure, the two biggest outliers are Syracuse (NY) and Boston College (MA), but we rarely face Syracuse, and when we do, they have a domed stadium. So, sure, we'd shift more to the west than the northeast, but OH-TN-MD are fairly similar to SC-KY-IN-VA when it comes to proximity and climate. More importantly, you don't address the issue of whether any of the AAC fanbases (outside of UCF and USF) would travel to Miami in large numbers to support their teams (hint, the answer is "highly unlikely"). Miami is ALWAYS going to be a geographic outlier, we are at the peehole end of the Florida *****.
5. No conference wants to be represented by Miami. We are only tolerated due to our past success and our massive TV market. I am tired of people romanticizing the "love affair" we had with the Big East. Here's the reality. They all hated us. We had to dump the Big East because every issue that Miami tried to raise with Tranghese was ignored. The AAC is NOT the Big East. The AAC does NOT "miss Miami". The only team on that AAC list (and, again, I'm not going to hold your CT idiocy against you on this point) that was ever a part of the Big East is Temple. And right now, I don't think Temple is very happy with Miami.
6. WE HAVE NO BUILT-IN RIVAL IN THE ACC? Seriously, are you insane? We play both F$U (longtime in-state rivals from the independent days) and VaTech (independent, BE, and ACC rivals) on an annual basis. So what if F$U plays the Gaytors during rivalry week, or VaTech plays UVa during rivalry week. For THIS we are going to switch to the AAC to play manufactured rivalries against "hated in-state opponents" UCF and USF, or longtime rival Temple?
7. Why do you think that UM would suddenly get more "high-profile" OOC games? Ask UCF how that's going. What happens when the Gaytors offer us a 2-for-1? ****, the idiot fringe of our fanbase thinks we should only schedule one Power 5 OOC game per year, along with 3 cupcakes. You think we are going to get 4 Power 5 OOC games each year, particularly with our poor-negotiating idiot AD? Jesus Lord, in one of your most idiotic delusions, you talked about us playing FIVE Florida teams that would, presumably, all be OOC games (UF, F$U, FIU, FAU, and FAMU). Please tell me you had taken some really good drugs before you screwed up THAT math. You had a 14 team conference (before your CT idiocy), five OOC games, thus we would have, what, 7 conference games, yet you are giving us all of this "media market" exposure benefit for markets we would rarely play in, because I'm assuming you would have to have 2 divisions for a 13 or 14 team league, right?
8. How does adding Miami to the AAC make the AAC "better" (your words, not mine) than the ACC in football? Did Clemson cease to exist? By results only, adding Miami to the ACC doesn't even make the ACC better in football, as we have finished mid-pack most years, and have only won the Coastal ONCE since we joined.
And none of the above even addresses the real realities of leaving the ACC for the AAC. A MASSIVE conference buyout. A MASSIVE drop in conference revenues. An IMMEDIATE lack of credibility and access to the playoff system (****, UCF can't even get an invite with an undefeated season). And, hey, you can say the word "Amazon" three times in a row, but if the ONLY thing preventing Amazon from signing a deal with the AAC tomorrow is the lack of Miami's presence, then there IS NO impending Amazon deal. Because Miami, while historically successful, does not exactly deliver stellar ratings when we are 0-2. MAYBE someday the AAC revenues will increase. MAYBE someday the AAC champ would seriously be considered for the playoffs. But those pipe-dreams are not yet reality, and while we wait for them to become so, we will be relegated to the shadows, we will lose recruits, and we will (eventually) lose the merchandising and adidas revenue that we currently enjoy.
So, if anyone has any UM connections, PLEASE DO NOT submit this for "real analysis". The proposal is insane.