Commissioner Mike Aresco's remarks from the 2022 American Athletic Conference Football Media Day.

Football Media Day - Welcome
On behalf of the American Athletic Conference, I’d like to welcome you to our 2022 Football Media Day. I want to thank Kris Budden and Rene Ingoglia for again hosting our Media Day this year. We appreciate the wonderful job they do. I want to recognize and thank Mike Fitts, president of Tulane University, and Gerald Turner, president of SMU, our Board chair, and vice chair respectively, for their outstanding contributions to our conference. Their steady hand has helped guide us through some challenging times. I also want to recognize and thank Michael Kelly, our past AD chair, and Rick Hart, our current AD chair, for their important efforts in keeping our conference on a strong upward trajectory and at the top rung of college sports. Scott Draper, our VP of Football, has handled our day-to-day and strategic football operations with a firm, talented and experienced hand. Thank you to Chuck Sullivan and LeslieAnne Wade for organizing our Football Media Day. LeslieAnne does a great job overseeing our communication efforts. Chuck does a great job overseeing our day-to-day operations. A shout-out to Troy Dannen, Tulane’s AD, for his outstanding work on the NCAA Transformation Committee and the Football Oversight Committee. I also want to welcome two new head coaches, Rhett Lashlee at SMU and Stan Drayton at Temple. We know they will be great additions to our strong roster of coaches. I also want to recognize Chet Gladchuk, who will be joining the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. He is the first AD from our conference to be on the committee and I know he will do a great job.

Today is a day to celebrate our football and to focus on our conference’s 2022 football outlook, which, as usual is very bright. You will hear from our coaches and players, of whom I am extremely proud. I myself, in my remarks today, must address some of the key issues facing college sports.

Never have so many critical issues swirled around college athletics at the same time. Realignment, NIL, pay-to-play, employee status, unionization, the transfer portal, FBS potentially splitting off from the NCAA, the NCAA enforcement function possibly being overhauled, the deliberations of the NCAA Transformation Committee and the future of Division I, the very future of the NCAA, and the future of the College Football Playoff, these and many others confront us. I will focus on a few of these today, as our conference will be affected just like the other conferences.

As we all know, realignment has again been in the news, has sent shock waves across the college sports landscape, has roiled the waters of college sports and continues to do so. It affected us last year and may again, we don’t know. Three of our members - UCF, Cincinnati and Houston, will depart the conference in July 2023. We appreciate their important contributions to our conference’s legacy over the past decade, and will enjoy having them compete in the American this season. Congratulations to Cincinnati, our AAC Champion, on becoming the first G5 team to make the College Football Playoff, a singular and historic achievement. Our conference has had great teams over the years who were not selected, and we always face long odds, but Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats overcame them and wrote a special chapter in our conference’s history. Congratulations to Luke also on being named Coach of the Year by numerous media outlets.
Congratulations also to Houston for playing in our championship game and enjoying a great season, including a bowl win over Auburn, under Coach Dana Holgorsen.

We will be welcoming six new schools to the conference in July 2023. We are proud to add UAB, FAU, North Texas, Charlotte, Rice and UTSA to our conference, bringing us to 14 football teams with Wichita State also playing basketball and Olympic Sports in the conference. These six new schools bring energy, commitment and achievement to The American, they will hold our banner high and their competitiveness will assure the vitality of our conference in the years to come. UAB will be without the coach who has restored their program in remarkable fashion, Bill Clark. I want to wish Bill well and I hope he is back coaching sooner than later. Finally, a shoutout to Ken Niumatalolo for a thrilling Navy victory over Army at the Meadowlands in December.

Our conference is strong competitively and financially and we provide a memorable and outstanding experience for our student-athletes. As I have said, we all know this is a new and challenging era in college sports, unlike any we have ever experienced. These are unsettling times. We arrived at this place gradually over the years and now we find ourselves suddenly at a truly pivotal moment. NIL, Pay to Play, the transfer portal, realignment- all have conspired to create a perfect storm.

I have no doubt that our conference will successfully navigate the shoals, but what will college sports look like in the future, what do we want it to look like? The amateur model we have embraced for decades is gone; we can’t pretend that it still exists. But at the other end of the spectrum is pure NFL-style professionalism, and is that what we want? Is there a reasonable middle ground that retains the student-athlete experience and does not make our student-athletes employees, or union members?

I believe there is. I think we can work together nationally to stabilize the currently unsettled situation. We may need help from Congress in this, and while that may seem like an oxymoron, I believe it is possible. But first, we must have a coordinated approach among the conferences. More on that later.

An FBS Breakaway?
A key issue facing us is whether the FBS Conferences, all the FBS conferences, should break from the current NCAA governance model and govern themselves. This does not necessarily mean abandoning all functions that the NCAA undertakes, but it does include rule-making, operating the post-season, control of officiating etc. I think we have to look seriously at this.

What about the enforcement function, you might ask, which is still fundamental to the collegiate mission? Can the NCAA or a separate entity handle that even if FBS governs itself in other areas?
It is reasonable to believe that FBS Football should be governed by committees compromised solely of FBS representatives. The FBS commissioners should have a major role in how FBS football should be run. Football is clearly a separate and distinct entity within the NCAA and could benefit from its own governance structure. With the interconnection between the regular season and the CFP, it may make sense to streamline the governance process through FBS self-governance. This will be an on-going debate in which our conference will participate, but there is another aspect to this worth mentioning.

We must be inclusive with respect to FBS.  Autonomy is now becoming an archaic concept and has been for a while. In view of the NCAA Transformation Committee’s work and with power likely devolving to conferences, the autonomy designation and governance model is no longer needed. Disappearing along with it should be the Group of Five moniker. That label is destructive. It should be all FBS. The recent realignment of the past two years makes the autonomy concept and the accompanying Power 5 media branding even less meaningful. If all ten FBS conferences are viewed equally in terms of branding, as they should be, then upward mobility, a feature of our American heritage, would be a more realistic possibility.  Yes, some FBS conferences will of course be more equal than others in terms of revenue, competitiveness, etc. That is perfectly normal and acceptable. But actually having to earn a particular status or reputation would be a healthy development.
 
The College Football Playoff
It is a shame that we did not adopt the 12-team 6-6 playoff expansion model last year. It was short-sighted not to do so. It deprived hundreds of players of the opportunity to participate in an expanded playoff in 2024 and 2025. We will soon be back at the drawing board. We have heard that all options are now in play, that perhaps conference championships should not matter and that all spots should be at-large. I believe such a model would be a serious mistake. Virtually all playoffs in all sports reward teams for winning their leagues or their divisions, for being champions.

The best playoff model features a balanced mix of automatic bids and at-large bids, which was the model recommended by the CFP Working Group. I understand that conference composition has since changed, that marques brands will now be more concentrated in two potentially dominant conferences. However, while that consolidation may make sense in terms of money and TV deals, it does not justify adopting a playoff system that caters to such consolidation. With the 12-team 6-6 plan, we accomplish key goals – we affirm the importance of conference championships, that winning a championship should matter, and we create an FBS-centered model which will give access to so-called G5 teams. We have an opportunity to create relevance for 130 FBS teams and multiple conferences. It would be a mistake to adopt a system that could largely exclude three-quarters of FBS teams.

My open letter to College Football described the rationale and merits of the 12-team 6-6 model, and events that have happened since have actually strengthened the need for that or a similar model. A 16-team model is being floated and discussed in an effort to provide more at-large spots, and that is something we should consider. I will be discussing a 16-team model with my conference and my fellow commissioners. With significant changes to the composition of the Big 12 and PAC 12, and perhaps more to come involving those and other conferences, the 5+1 model makes even less sense than it did before, which was no sense. We could just as easily argue now for a 2 + whatever model based on the recent realignment, but of course, that would also defeat the purpose of a true merit-based playoff.

So-called G5 conferences are now more similar to several of the so-call P5 conferences, and it is important that the G5 conferences have playoff access. An ultimate goal would also be relegating the G5 label to the dustbin of history – we are all FBS.

A case in point regarding conference affiliation is the fact that Houston and UCF were clearly playoff contenders during many of their years in our conference, as was Cincinnati, which actually made it last year. Those teams were not given the respect they deserved, but now that they have signed a piece of paper, they are suddenly P5 and worthy of serious playoff consideration. Transformed by signing a piece of paper. It makes no sense.

A 6-6 model or 8-8 model, as opposed to all at-large selections, will also help prevent any perception that the CFP Selection Committee will simply overload on P2 teams because of brand considerations. Our conference will continue to be a force in the CFP room and a force for the good of the game as discussions continue. 
 
NIL and Pay to Play
NIL is here to stay and would not be an issue if, in fact, it was really NIL. It is not at the current time. We will have to see how the collectives play out and perhaps we can put some restrictions on them down the road to ensure that NIL is rooted in a rational fair market value system. Otherwise, NIL is simply paying to entice recruits and paying to retain current roster players regardless of their true NIL value.

As for paying players, I see that as a more existential challenge. Whether one thinks it is a good idea or not, that is where we seem to be headed. College athletics has never been about paid athletes, although benefits have been plentiful, but forces now beyond our control are gathering strength. Whatever we do in the future, we need to avoid employee status and unionization. If payments to athletes are inevitable, perhaps a graduate-student-type system can be set up. What we may envision and perhaps can shape is a national or regional collective bargaining system that does not include employee status or unionization. While supporting true NIL, I am not campaigning to pay players. However, if it comes to that, what we should avoid is a state-by-state patchwork of pay-to-play or revenue-sharing mandates. California unfortunately may again lead the way in that. The increasing professionalization of our enterprise is obvious and we have to shape a reasonable structure. Any approach to a national plan or to gain assistance from Congress should be coordinated among all FBS conferences and not done on an ad hoc basis by individual conferences. And however prevalent the financial aspects of the player-school relationship become, the non-negotiable part of this is that the games must continue to be played by full-time students of our universities who meet admission requirements and who make progress toward a degree.

What is the point of college football if it becomes minor league pro football, if it is no longer tethered to academic pursuits, if the institutions simply lend their name and brands to a form town of minor league club football, if rivalries are lost, if loyalty to team wavers, and if fans no longer care as much? Will the sport be consumed by player negotiations over money? I have always been a firm advocate of the collegiate model, not an amateur model in its strict meaning, but a collegiate model that has players as students, where they are not pros, where they still enjoy college competition, where agents and professional football are at bay for a few years. But we are entering a new world and it is up to us not only to adapt to that world, but to shape that world, and not let it be shaped for us. To shape it so that college football and college sports still remain college football and college sports. I don’t know if we can keep what has made college football and college sports special, but we have to try.

Realignment
Realignment has been a constant for thirty years, perhaps even longer. Consolidation has been the more recent trend. Conferences are voluntary organizations, and if you observe the exit bylaws, you can leave. We can lament realignment all we want, but we have to deal with it. It is admittedly a hard, unforgiving business, trust is shattered routinely, feelings are hurt, relationships can end, friendships dissolve, and schools are often blindsided and left scrambling. Although one cannot take it personally, it is not fun. The realignment we have seen is of course driven by money and competitive positioning, which are two sides of the same coin.  Looking out for the collective good, and not everyone would define that in the same way, has not been a hallmark in the recent history of conference motives or actions, and the realignment musical chairs, if you will, is evidence of that. That will not change, and we simply have to deal with the reality of it.
Realignment has shifted our conversation dramatically. You don’t hear as much about student-athlete well-being, loyalty to school, or goals that do not include conferences seeking the last dollar. The student-athlete is getting lost in this. The educational enterprise, while never in perfect alignment with big-time sports competition and commercial values, had and has value. We should not be cavalier about its loss.

The conversations at media days this year have shifted almost entirely to marketing, branding and further realignment. Student-athlete well-being is rarely mentioned.

The quality and strength of conferences are now tied almost entirely to their marquee schools and their brands and to the last dollar they are earning. That now seems the only way that we evaluate them, maybe it always was.

Nevertheless, the health of our enterprise lies in the diversity of competition. We are not the NFL, we are not consolidated in a few leagues, regardless of that trend.

Our conference, for example, has focused on our performance on the field, and any marketing we have done – the P6 campaign, for example, – was based on our achievements. It would all be fluff without the on-field success. We made our reputation by virtue of our performance.

What can we do in the face of the recent conference upheavals and consolidation?  We can fight for a healthier, more equitable system on the various fronts that are still in play, among them the CFP, NCAA governance, and important protocols such as scholarship limits. Complete concentration in a few top conferences at the expense of historic associations and rivalries does not strike me as a good thing but the caveat is that we don’t know how that will play out with fan interest or competitiveness on the field. Nevertheless, the dismantling of storied and ancient conferences and the abandoning of ancient and historic rivalries hardly seems a positive. Something important is being lost, let us not pretend otherwise. Money has always driven things, although maybe not as completely as currently. We cannot cry over spilled milk, a new world has been gradually dawning and is now suddenly upon us, and if we still care about college sports, we have to make the best of it. The foundation of the NFL’s success, the equality concept, has for the most part escaped college sports in the realignment era, so at this point, we should do whatever we still can do to enhance overall competitiveness. We want schools and people around the country to care, not just a handful of schools and their fan bases. That is going to get harder, but we must re-intensify our efforts in the areas still open to us. Difficulty cannot be an excuse.

The Way Forward
We can all see that college sports are being professionalized in many different ways. Recent events demonstrate starkly that collegiate conferences shared geography, history, tradition, culture, and rivalries are now approaching irrelevance as they take a clear backseat to money, to the pursuit of the last dollar. The consolidation of the best marquee programs in just a few conferences is mainly a function of money, but along with the money there is the related desire to be nationally relevant, to compete for championships, to succeed in recruiting - the lifeblood of competitiveness- and these things are also driving top programs to the two dominant conferences. Money trumps all, and as has been said, money is undefeated. With the challenges facing athletic departments, with paying players a possibility down the road, it is understandable that schools will look to conferences with much larger annual payouts. Maintaining relevancy nationally is also critical and conferences with the strongest financial position can better provide that. As I have said, we can lament this consolidation, but we also can understand it. This is a new world that has been dawning for a while now, the process simply has accelerated. How will this affect college football in the future? How will it affect fans, interest in the game? How will it affect the schools not in the two dominant conferences? Time will tell, but the decades-long charm of regional conferences and regional rivalries is disappearing. College football is entertaining and fun, and its popularity is clear, but will something irreplaceable be lost in this new world of super conferences and professionalized players? Again, time will tell. But creating a large group of second-class citizens would not appear to be a healthy development. Consolidation of the elite brands may well diminish everyone else. Competitiveness nationally could be lost. Media attention will be increasingly focused on two conferences, if in fact these mega-leagues can even be called conferences anymore.

Nevertheless, all is not necessarily doom and gloom, and our conference is a shining example of that. The American has, against all odds, been nationally relevant for the entire decade of its existence, despite a noticeable lack of attention from the media compared to the so-called P5, and with far less revenue. Our conference has been incredibly successful, has thrived and achieved a great deal, including a CFP appearance no one thought realistic or even possible and a national championship in men’s basketball and multiple national championships in women’s basketball. Our league created annual College Football Playoff controversy that was fun and which energized college football. Our goal, despite the revenue disparities and other advantages enjoyed by the now Power 2 conferences, is to remain competitive at the highest level, to continue to achieve a level of success no one expects. All credit goes to our student-athletes and coaches and to the administrators and alumni and fans who support them. Perhaps the future road will be harder, and far more uncertain in the new world of NIL and loosened transfer rules and increasing revenue disparities, but if we redouble our efforts, recruit intelligently, use our resources intelligently, hire the caliber of coaches we have hired over our history, and enjoy the commitment and support of our administrators, alumni and fans, we can far exceed expectations. I echo a quote by Edward R. Murrow, “Difficulty is an excuse history has never accepted.”  If we are going to compete at the highest level, we have no choice but to meet and overcome whatever difficulties and challenges we will face. A reduced or diminished commitment goes against everything our conference stands for.

It has been suggested over the past several years that we should set our sights lower. We have been told that we should know our place and accept second-class status and enjoy whatever achievements we can muster at a lower level of competition and commitment. The unfortunate G5 designation has fueled that attitude and has fueled damaging perceptions and media inattention to our considerable achievements on the field and court and to our considerable influence in CFP and NCAA councils. Cincinnati would never have made the college football playoff, a historic and seminal achievement, if we had taken that advice. We would not have appeared in seven new year’s bowls over nine years had we taken that advice. We would not have won a national championship in men’s basketball, multiple national championships in women’s basketball, appearances in a men’s basketball final four and elite eight and multiple sweet sixteens, among many other accomplishments, if we had taken that advice.

I know I speak for my schools and their leadership, their student-athletes and their coaches, and their committed fans, when I defiantly say that we will never accept a reduced status. We may not always achieve our goals, we know the odds we face, but we will continue striving to be the best. We will not achieve perfection, no one does, but we will give ourselves the opportunity to achieve excellence. A quote from Michelangelo describes the code by which this conference lives.  “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
 
Summary
We will have another strong season. Our success has been phenomenal and it will continue. We had our first playoff team this past year, a remarkable accomplishment. We have appeared in seven of nine new year’s bowls, and have been extremely competitive. We have 59 P5 wins over a decade. Our P6 campaign has been vibrant, but I am not sure that the P6 designation will mean much going forward. It will be better for us to frame our goals going forward as striving to be one of the elite conferences in FBS. It may now be P2 and everyone else for media branding purposes but we want to be known for our achievements.

We have challenged and surpassed some P5 conferences, even with their marquee teams who will be departing. Now the field is leveled even more.

As we approach our 10^th year, we are established and stronger than ever. What will happen after this year, when Cincinnati, Houston and UCF depart? We will pick up where we left off. We have quality incumbent teams, and several are now regaining their former strength. Ten of our eleven schools return their starting quarterbacks and Cincinnati has two veterans engaged in a healthy competition. We are adding six excellent programs next year, all of which will thrive in our conference. They have already made their mark in their current conference.

Looking ahead, we are well-positioned. We are in four of the top ten media markets. Our markets compare very favorably to those of the Big 12 and PAC 12. We will continue to be an elite conference with elite athletes who relish competing at the highest level. We will continue to attract talented, gifted, dedicated, chip-on-the-shoulder players. We will do this by continuing to hire good coaches, by competing effectively on the biggest stages, by continuing to take advantage of our outstanding ESPN TV exposure, by scheduling intelligently, by offering a quality education to our student-athletes, and by offering thoughtful NIL opportunities, among other things.

I look forward to this season, I thank you all for joining us and I wish all of our teams great success. Thank you.