This is your fourth football season as commissioner of the conference.  What do you consider the conference’s biggest football achievement during your tenure?

Our stability and rebranding are critical for any future hopes, and the conference has been stabilized and the rebranding has been extraordinarily successful. As for on-field accomplishments, clearly the Fiesta Bowl win by UCF over Baylor was perhaps our signature football achievement, although UCF and Temple defeating Penn State in separate years, East Carolina defeating Virginia Tech in back-to-back years, and our early success this season against the so-called Power 5 conferences, which include Cincinnati’s recent win over Miami, would be right up there. As for the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, Baylor had decisively defeated just about all of its opponents and they were decisively beaten by UCF in the bowl. That is an absolute highlight, no question about it.

Perhaps our most significant overall football achievement, however, is that our teams have gotten stronger and stronger and we have hired and retained outstanding coaches. We have a roster of coaches that can rival anyone’s, and you can see, especially this year, the overall progress that our football conference has made.

Adding a great institution and team such as Navy and going to divisional play and establishing a championship game are also very important markers for us. And I would add that we have played very tough teams from some of the best conferences in the regular season and in bowl games and we have held our own. Being willing to challenge ourselves will make us stronger and will pay dividends down the road.

Mike Aresco was named to his current position Aug. 14, 2012 and has overseen a strategic reinvention of the conference, which has quickly become one of the premier conferences in the nation. READ MORE

You travel to many games across the conference during the football season. Why is this so important to you, and what do you do on these trips?

I think that it is important for me to try to get to all 12 of our campuses during the football season, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be able to do that again this year. I think it does several things. First, it shows that I and the conference office are genuinely interested in what is happening on our campuses and committed to the visibility of our league. The fans and local media appreciate it and the national media takes notice. I also have the chance to spend time with our presidents, athletic directors, coaches and student-athletes, better get to know them and the needs and concerns of our leadership, which gives me great perspective on what we are doing as a conference.

It allows me the opportunity to tell our story and talk about the great things happening on our campuses, whether it is at a fundraising event with key alumni and donors, or through in-person meetings with the local media. It is all part of what it takes to build the conference.

Beyond that, at heart, I am a lifelong college football fan. It is in my blood, so I especially appreciate the opportunity to see our teams compete, while enjoying the pageantry and atmosphere which cannot be replicated by any other sport.



Along those lines, there has been a noticeable climb in attendance in The American this season. What are some of the things that have contributed to that trend?

Through four weeks of the season, our average attendance is up by about eight percent from the same point last season. It is likely to go higher, and we we may well end up about 20 percent higher than where we were at the end of last year. I think a few things have made an impact. We have good teams that people want to see. We have four undefeated teams through the season’s fifth week. Schools like Memphis and Houston are continuing their recent success. Our three schools that have first-year head coaches hired arguably the top offensive coordinators in the country last year – Tom Herman at Houston, Chad Morris at SMU and Philip Montgomery at Tulsa. All three have brought excitement and explosiveness to their programs. Navy joining the conference has contributed to an attendance boost.

We also have passionate fan bases. East Carolina has nearly 50,000 for every game. Navy plays in a magnificent venue with deeply loyal alumni and fans. Temple had nearly 70,000 on hand when it beat Penn State. Its home game against Notre Dame will be a sellout. Our divisional games will create excitement that will lead to increased attendance. Our teams are winning over fans in their large markets.

Also, I think our schools’ commitment to scheduling quality teams has had a real impact on attendance. As I mentioned, Temple has Penn State and Notre Dame coming to Philadelphia. SMU opened with Baylor in Dallas. East Carolina regularly has Virginia Tech on its home schedule. Cincinnati hosted Miami this year. Ole Miss is visiting Memphis. Duke played at Tulane. These are games that our fans want to see, and our schedules over the next several years will continue to feature such matchups.



How important is it for teams in The American to challenge for a New Year’s Bowl spot year-in and year-out?

I would say that our goals are the same as those from any other top conference. We want our teams to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff. If we don’t have a team that qualifies for the CFP, then we want our conference champion to be chosen for a New Year’s Bowl.

Of course, there is only so much of that process that is within our control. For example, our teams have to perform on the field and then survive a competition among four other conferences for the New Year’s Bowl slot. However, I am confident that, more often than not, the team that wins our conference championship will have the best resume when it comes to a New Year’s Bowl selection. UCF’s Fiesta Bowl win erased any doubt as to our ability to succeed on that stage.



What is the biggest challenge facing The American going forward?

The so-called Power 5 and Group of 5 divide is a major challenge for us in terms of perception and scheduling. Our next television/media contract will be critical to our future. We enjoy great exposure from our ESPN and CBS Sports Network deals and that helps us build our brand. But we need and deserve more revenue. We have come a long way in three years. We will continue our upward trajectory and I am confident that that will result in a far better television deal in a few years. We will be a sought-after league.

The legal challenges to the collegiate experience also threaten our and other conferences. We have made great strides in the last few years to improve the overall student-athlete experience. We were among the first conferences to support the full-cost-of-attendance model for athletic scholarships. We have adopted more stringent controls in areas of concussion assessment and player safety. But there is still pending litigation that could have a profound effect on college athletics.

I have stressed repeatedly that our student-athletes are amateurs and that preserving the amateur model reflects the values of our institutions and their educational mission. We are seeing threats to that model on many fronts, from initiatives that would create a salary structure for players to the proliferation of online fantasy games that include college players – in essence, legalized gambling.

As educators and leaders, we need to confront these threats and deal intelligently with complex issues. We must protect amateurism in college athletics, or we will no longer have college athletics as we have known it.



You started with the conference in a fluid time in college athletics. What were some of the things you considered as you constructed the current membership of The American?

We looked for schools that were a good cultural fit, were strong academically, had strong leadership and had good across-the-board success in their athletic programs. We added East Carolina, which has a long and excellent athletic tradition, especially in football. We added Tulane, which has done a remarkable job in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. And we added Tulsa, which has a terrific sports history. Of course, we had already added the Naval Academy just before I arrived, and they joined us this year in football. We are thrilled to have a national institution of the stature and quality of the Naval Academy.

Essentially, you try to find schools that fit the membership profile and who also bring other things to the table. Media interest and fan interest in a team’s market are important. And it helps if they also fit in the conference’s geographical footprint.



Having worked for many years at both ESPN and CBS Sports, how did the relationships you established over time help you in securing and growing The American’s current agreements with two of the industry’s premier properties?

It helps to know what the networks are thinking and the kind of things that drive them, how they determine value and what they are willing to pay and the exposure they are willing to provide. It also helps to have relationships with key people at each network. Having worked at both ESPN and CBS, and having dealt with them as competitors, many of the people I knew are still there. Essentially, it helps to know what their needs are and how we can provide value to them. You also have a better sense of the overall TV and media landscape.

When we did our TV deal, we were not as stable as we are now. We were a reinvented league that people were not sure about, and therefore we were not in a position to generate maximum revenue at the time. But we were able to get incredible exposure for the conference and that will help build our brand, which should lead to more revenue down the road. We have been getting stronger each year. We are building our fan bases. We are earning national respect. All that will translate into higher ratings and value for our television partners.


What many people used to know as the Big East, you quickly rebranded your group as the American Athletic Conference.  What did you do to accelerate this?

Well, we didn’t have a lot of time. We knew that finding a new name and rebranding would not be easy and we were on the clock. Ultimately, we traded the Big East name for greater financial security. We also knew we needed to build football and the Big East was primarily a basketball brand. We decided that a fresh start made sense. We worked out a settlement that benefitted the league financially and in other ways.

I think we chose a great new name, a durable name, a name which is recognizable and stands for many good qualities. And we developed a great logo, which our players enjoy having on their uniforms. The recognition has been a bit quicker than we might have anticipated, but there is still work to be done. Having a football championship game and two football divisions will help establish and reinforce our identity. We want people to know who is in our league.

In terms of accelerating the rebranding process, we simply did everything we could to promote the new name and mark. Fortunately, we have great television exposure, which helps our branding. We enlisted the networks to help us, and they did. The name and logo are enjoying significant exposure that helps us reinforce our identity.

I also think that starting in 2013-14 was critical in accelerating the rebranding process. We could have remained the Big East for 2013-14, but the conversation that year would have been about the breakup and teams leaving, and we would have delayed things a year. It was a challenge to rebrand and start the reinvented conference so quickly, and there were risks to do that, but it proved to be the right decision.


After many years as an independent, Navy is now a conference member.  What does their football success bring to The American?

It is hard to overstate how important Navy is. They have a wonderful tradition, including two Heisman Trophy winners. They are an extremely competitive program. (Athletic director) Chet Gladchuk has done a remarkable job. I think of where they were 15 years ago and where they are now. Chet has led the way. Paul Johnson and Ken Niumatalolo have provided outstanding coaching continuity. They have had strong leadership from Admiral Mike Miller, their retired superintendent who brought Navy into our league, and Admiral Ted Carter, the current superintendent, who has been incredibly supportive. Admiral Carter has had a distinguished naval career, is extremely supportive of Navy Football and has been terrific to work with.

Their football success adds a tremendous luster to our league. But the kind of institution they are and the kind of student-athletes they have are what really matter. As I have said many times, the Midshipmen are the best of the best. We appreciate their commitment to serve our country and we love having them in our conference.