Obviously financial arrangements are a big part of realignment, but the short-sightedness of the Memphis administration's decision demonstrates why they've been stuck behind the likes of former peers Louisville & Cincinnati for 20+ years. When you aren't in a position of power you have to be forward thinking and this decision was the opposite.

There is no way Memphis should've based its decision on what Tulane or USF wanted. USF being in Florida made it a total geographic outlier and Tulane is a small private school with a tiny fan base. Memphis doesn't have either of those problems. Memphis was the lynchpin in this entire discussion and instead of asserting itself like a major program they acted like a mid major afraid to get ahead of its skis. Instead of being a key piece in creating the best G5 conference far and away, playing the likes of Boise, Fresno, SDSU, Wazzu & Oregon State every week, the highlights of their conference slate are USF & Tulane with a bunch of programs like Charlotte, FAU & Rice dominating their schedule. Oh and reportedly they would've been in the same basketball conference as Gonzaga, which for a basketball school like Memphis is a huge deal.

Apparently the estimated media deal from the PAC was between $10-15M/yr per school. Even if this new redistribution from the AAC gets Memphis to that amount they made a mistake. Bettering your program happens in stages. And instead of facing better competition they chose less travel and an easier road to a conference title. This is the exact opposite route from what TCU did. Every time TCU had a chance to take a step up, even if it was a modest step up, they jumped at the opportunity to improve their position in the sport. The problem Memphis now faces is that the AAC is barely the 2nd best G5 conference. It is still well behind the new PAC and just ahead of the Sun Belt in the G5 pecking order. So even a great season and an AAC Championship is far from a guarantee of a CFP bid. Had they joined the PAC, a title with 2 or fewer losses would've meant a playoff bid. The Memphis administration really blew a huge opportunity today.

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