Q: The league unveiled the Power 6 initiative late in the season. How has that gone so far?
A: “I think we feel it’s gone well. We feel we’re gaining more and more adherence and we’re gaining more and more friends who say this conference deserves to be in that conversation – they’re a P6. Look at their record. … We’re having real success – I don’t think there is any question top to bottom this is the strongest the conference has been since it was reinvented four years ago. I think the plan is going well and people understand what we’re doing. It’s going to take some time and we recognize that.”
Aresco is in a tough position. AAC is a good football league, but with the declining subscriber base for cable TV, the ESPNs and Foxs of the world are more inclined to keep them as a bargain. A league that gets decent ratings in vastly different parts of the country for cheap. I don’t care who the commish is, that fact isn’t going to change. As for bowls, the best the AAC can do is be on the 2nd place list in case PAC or Big 12 or B1G teams don’t have enough teams eligible. I don’t think any bowls with name recognition are going to put AAC is the #1 tie-in.
Not sure how you are expecting him to change any of the facts. The writing on the wall is for a P4, in the future, not a P6. He is just trying to make the best out of the situation they are in.
If UH would have met its early season potential and won the games the program was supposed to win (in addition to the games it had to win-which the team did), then Aresco’s job would’ve been made easier.
Imagine Mike Aresco’s platform is UH made the College Football Playoff. However, Herman was occupied with the next move, the team read through all the BS and the focus dropped off and UH fell off the map.
The bottom line is ESPN owns the conference for pennies and there is no incentive to pay more for something they already own.
No question the top of the league competes with P5 well. The problem is the bottom of our league. The conference invested in too many schools that don’t invest in themselves.
