If both conferences get picked over by higher profile conferences, then the MWC becomes second rate and the AAC becomes third rate. The AAC has the better TV money deal because of bigger markets. That would be the only incentive.
In the AAC, we'd be playing some of the same schools we've been playing, that the fans have been yawning over. The AAC has become Conference USA 3.0. Conference USA is now the layover stop on the way to something better. It has more former members than any three other conferences put together.
I have lost interest in the MWC. We have a geographical footprint with the MWC, but that's all. The old rivalries aren't there anymore. We got our asses handed to us in football every season. We were the big dog in basketball then, but that ended back in the 1990's.
In football, UTEP is enjoyable to watch two seasons out of every ten, no matter what conference we are in. In basketball, we were all rabid UTEP fans no matter what conference we were in. We won a national championship without being in a conference. But I haven't gotten really excited over UTEP basketball since the last season where we played Memphis.
The gist of my rambling is that UTEP needs to pull itself up into something the fans want to cheer for. Any particular conference affiliation is secondary to that. There isn't any conference out there that is going to wave the magic wand and make it all better. We have to become better ourselves. Go Miners.