Air Force to the Big East will have its perks, such as more revenue for the school and more exposure by being on the ESPN family of networks. However there is a downside that comes with playing conference games thousands of miles away and that is fans will find it difficult to go to conference games.
Frank Schwab for the Colorado Springs Gazette put together a list of fans who showed their disinterest in having Air Force go to the Big East for football-only and the overwhelming amount of fans do not like the idea:
... in comments on blog posts, and in Twitter and Facebook discussions - the reaction to the potential move has been almost unanimously negative. Those fans have issues with travel and its cost, the health of the Big East especially after TCU left for the Big 12 before arriving, Air Force's ability to compete and losing regional rivalries. Air Force has said the travel change won't be too dramatic, it wouldn't join an unstable Big East, the Falcons rank favorably with other Big East football programs in budgets and stadium size, and regional rivalries could be part of non-conference scheduling.
- MKL: "I live in Big East country, and the sentiment here is that the Big East is a sinking ship. Makes no sense geographically, makes no sense for recruiting, and it makes no sense if what AF wants is to get their football team into a higher-profile conference."
- @b_sanch_76: don't like it. Would ad a lot of travel and would not really be a step up in competition
- @IReilly1912: I think bad move. Split conferences and unequal revenue structures aren't going to survive.
- @rscalli: Not too crazy about it. BE will be a hodgepodge of teams. Rather stick it out in MWC for now.
- @PeterCBigelow: It'd be a short-term fix, a garbage move and one beneath Air Force.
Out of all of the comments from fans there is only one positive one:
- @1310ticketless: i'm all for the BE now... MWC has lost so much the past 15 months or so...
Also, some of the fans are more open to the idea if Army and Navy both join Air Force in going to the Big East, but there is recent news is that Army is not interested in the Big East. This large negative fan response unfortunately will probably not make a difference in deciding if Air Force does go to the Big East.