What new AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti said about Memphis' goal of leaving the conference

Tim Pernetti has a lot on his mind.

The new American Athletic Conference commissioner has been on the job for one month. He took over for Mike Aresco, who had been the AAC commissioner since the conference's inception in 2013.

But Aresco retired earlier this year. Pernetti said his main priority is "alignment" and making sure everyone in the conference is on the same page. He said he plans to visit AAC campuses throughout the summer and into the start of football season.

"Getting everybody on the same page is 50 percent of the battle in collegiate athletics," he said. "If you get everybody on the same page, there's no saying what you can do."

Pernetti spoke with The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday to discuss Memphis, the AAC and college athletics as a whole.

Answers have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Commercial Appeal: How is the conference bracing for the impact to college athletics expected by the settlement in House v. NCAA (paying players)?

Pernetti: We've got unanimity across the conference on this. Everybody's aligned. We all feel strongly that the settlement is important, that it happens. And it also gives us the ability to then spend our time focused on how we're going to build the future, versus just playing defense.

I think everybody in collegiate athletics, with a lot of these challenges, has been playing defense on a lot of these things. In our conference, everybody's accepted that the House settlement, while challenging, it's important that it gets accomplished now so we can move forward.

CA: New Memphis athletic director Ed Scott said the Tigers' athletic department would opt-in to revenue sharing with athletes. Is that something that's been discussed conference-wide?

Pernetti: Everybody has their own point of view. I think some institutions in our conference are resourced in different ways than others. What we want to try to avoid is creating competition and gaps in our own league. For instance, and I'm just throwing it out there, the idea of us discussing as a membership, which I think we will, the prospect of revenue sharing within our conference. And should we have an agreed-upon conference cap for revenue sharing to try to create as much of a level playing field as we possible can. Nothing's off the table on that front.

CA: Where do you view Memphis in the broader landscape of the AAC?

Pernetti: It's unique in the fact that it does have a variety of different projects going on right now and support coming in different directions that really give them the opportunity to be a leader in our conference. The transfer of ownership of the stadium, and the commitment of hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations is huge for them. I think what FedEx stepped up to do for their NIL program ($25 million over five years). (Football coach) Ryan (Silverfield) is doing an incredible job there, and they're expected to be very competitive.

Ed is going to be a great addition to the room. He's got ideas. He's got business acumen and he's got just tremendous experience in the industry.

CA: Scott discussed conference realignment in his introductory press conference, even specifically mentioning the ACC and Big 12 as potential destinations. How have you viewed Memphis and its public push to move out of the AAC?

Pernetti: I told (Scott) that on the phone. I said, 'I expect that'll be the first question you get.' I think he handled it really well. The thing about conference expansion is it doesn't need to be a dirty word. People can talk about it more openly and more freely. Like, let's not pretend like it's not out there hanging over our heads all the time. I think every conference in America is dealing with this, sort of wondering what's going on in the heads of their existing membership, what's going on in the heads of people who have an interest in being part of their membership. Or, just generally, how will the dominoes fall, and what opportunities will it create?

The reality is this. Memphis has been a tremendous member in the American Athletic Conference. The conference has been a platform that has really given them the opportunity for growth and success. But as far as what else is out there, all I can tell you is we're going to focus on what we can control.

CA: Is it frustrating to have a school in the conference that's publicly expressed interest in leaving?

Pernetti: I, for one, encourage people being open about it. I think that it's healthier for everyone to be open about it and discuss it in the way that even Ed did in his first press conference. It doesn't need to be something that everybody knows is going on in the background but nobody's discussing or pretending it doesn't exist.

But for us, we can't get distracted by anything we don't control. We have to focus on the things that we do control.

CA: The idea of a Group of Five football playoff separate from the College Football Playoff has been floated in the past few months. Is that something you'd be interested in?

Pernetti: No. I don't think it's interesting. The Group of Five agrees, unilaterally, without debate, that access to the CFP is hugely important to us. Our coaches are out there recruiting and explaining that, 'We have an opportunity to compete for a national championship.' So we intend to prioritze that above anything. The idea of something like this would be that it is additive. Not in replacement of. That's lunacy. Nobody would want to lose the access that we fought so hard to get.

However, if there are four Group of Five champions that are not able to play in the expanded CFP, then they'll go off and play whatever bowl game their conference is aligned with. Who's to say we couldn't put those bowl games together with the conferences that participate and create a three-game property, where those four teams compete for something else?

There's not a conference commissioner, or AD, or football coach in the Group of Five that thinks creating something to compete with the CFP is a good idea. It's a terrible idea. The CFP is hugely important to our conference and the entire Group of Five.

CA: The AAC recently added Army as a football-only member after SMU left for the ACC. Are there any discussions about adding another non-football member to replace SMU's other sports?

Pernetti: There are many active discussions going on right now about membership. And I think we will be proactive and aggressive related to what we think are good opportunities in the space for the conference. And I've been really encouraged by the inbound outreach that I've gotten from some institutions in the industry wanting to learn more about what we're doing, where we're headed and explaining to us why it's interesting.

We're looking at a variety of different things. That's as far as I can go.

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What new AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti said about Memphis' goal of leaving the conference