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AAC, a target for expansion poachers, could join conference realignment race

After losing schools like Cincinnati, UCF and Houston, the conference could be ready to go on the offensive itself.

The American Athletic Conference was born out of conference realignment. The conference has lived within the space, often being the target of poaching by other conferences, as the acquisitions of Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston by the Big 12 showed.

Now, the AAC could be ready to go on the offensive itself.

The AAC, according to multiple people familiar with conference realignment negotiations, have expressed interest in expansion. Particularly, the conference is interested in the four remaining Pac-12 schools: Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State.

The AAC isn’t the only conference interested in those schools. Stanford and Cal are two candidates the Atlantic Coast Conference has reportedly discussed adding. The ACC has also discussed adding SMU, multiple people familiar with the situation told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday.

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“Everybody is talking to everybody,” one person told The News.

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In addition, the Mountain West Conference also released a statement on Wednesday regarding its current status.

“Monday night, the Mountain West Board of Directors, comprised of our 12 presidents, met to reaffirm our collective commitment to the conference and its future,” the statement reads. “With the recent changes in membership composition in several conferences, the Mountain West is exploring all opportunities to strengthen the league, including through the addition of new member schools.”

The four remaining Pac-12 schools will have options.

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Sources within the AAC indicated they’d be interested in adding two of the Pac-12 schools just as much as all four of them. The AAC believes all four schools would add value. The conference also believes it could provide value to the four Pac-12 schools, as well.

The AAC’s current television deal is a big reason why. The AAC signed a 12-year, $1 billion TV deal with ESPN back in 2019. The conference distributed an average of over $8.3 million to its 11 all-member schools in 2022, according to tax records. The Mountain West Conference distributes around $4 million annually, according to multiple reports.

ESPN could also assist the AAC financially in the acquisition of new members, according to people familiar with the AAC’s expansion efforts. It’s something that happened when the AAC added six schools from Conference USA for this season.

It’s also a maneuver that was revealed on Wednesday to play a role in the Big Ten’s acquisition of Oregon and Washington.

“FOX brought new money to the table,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said on Wednesday.

One downside for the four Pac-12 schools is distance. Oregon State, for example, is over 3,200 miles away from Florida Atlantic.

One high-level AAC source downplayed the distance as a unique problem for west coast schools. They pointed to the Mountain West having Hawaii in its conference. If Stanford and Cal were to join the ACC it would mean playing games constantly along the opposite coast.

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There’s no current timetable for realignment aside from the urgency of the four Pac-12 schools to figure out their next home. Could that end up being the AAC for the four schools, or some combo of the group?

On Twitter: @JoeJHoyt

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