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AAC Stepping Into National Spotlight With Others Sitting Out Fall F-Ball

Memphis is one of the AAC member schools that will open their seasons this weekendGETTY IMAGES

The American Athletic Conference opens with nonconference games this weekend, and with the Pac-12 and Big Ten "sitting out the fall season, along with several other Group of Five leagues, it’s likely that the AAC’s decision to play will elevate it into the national consciousness," according to Sam Blum of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. With all things being equal, that "could mean more television exposure and a shot to make the CFP." AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco, on the potential of players contracting the virus, said, "The level of concern is high, as it should be. We have to be vigilant. ... We’re trying to play safely, we think we can, but we also know that there could be disruptions. This is going to be a fluid situation. But we’ve got our protocols in place. We’re very confident in the stringency of those protocols.” Blum notes the AAC moved all of its fall sports, outside of football, to the spring, "largely in conjunction with the NCAA’s decision to postpone the fall sports championships to the spring." Aresco said, "We were prepared to play our Olympic sports in the fall. So we had safety protocols in place that we were confident in. ... We wanted our student-athletes in Olympic sports to compete for championships, so it made sense to move those sports to a spring season" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/1).

POWER PLAYER? Aresco, who is known for his assertion that the AAC should be considered in kind with the rest of the Power Five, said, "We think that we’ve had some influence. With our conference now being essentially the fourth power conference this season, with the ACC, SEC and Big 12, we’ve gotten more attention. But as I said all along, I would like to have been in the room with the Autonomy Five because I think we could have made a real contribution. We have had dialogue with them and our doctors have had dialogue with theirs. We’ve gone out of our way to try to have that dialogue, but you know, we’re not in the room. And I think if we’re in the room, we can share a lot of the insights that our people have" (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/31 issue).

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