Karl Benson talks BYU Football and Conference Realignment

Former commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, Mid-American Conference and the Western Athletic Conference, Karl Benson, chatted with ESPN 960 host Ben Criddle about conference realignment and Brigham Young University’s options of joining the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

This post is brought to you by Norton Performance. Learn more about their philosophy where they train athletes intelligently so their hard work doesn’t go to waste, and actually transfers to their respective sport while also minimizing injury risks at NortonPerformance.com.

The AAC currently has 11 members in its conference and there has been talks of adding a 12th team to the mix.

Karl Benson - “The one team that could bring tremendous value to the American (AAC) is BYU. I have been a big fan and have endorsed and promoted BYU for 25 years now….it’s my opinion that BYU has value, significant value….they have history, they have a national fan following.”

“The thing that the American (AAC) might be persuaded, and again this is one man’s opinion, that if ESPN were to say to the American, ‘we are going to reduce your rights by one-eleventh, instead of one-twelfth because of UConn’s (Connecticut) departure, which is six or seven million dollars a year, if BYU would be added to the American, would they be able to maintain that legacy?”

Benson goes on to comment about how realignment only comes when there is a need for it. Currently, the only conference potentially looking to expand would be the AAC. “I don’t think there is anything imminent with expansion within the five leagues,” Benson said.

In terms of one of the power-5 conferences expanding, “The only schools that provide value would be BYU, Boise State, UCF (Univ. of Central Florida), and you can probably argue that Houston is in that picture as well.”

To listen to the complete interview with Karl Benson, click on the link below.