I have a graduation cake coming up and I was thinking that maybe it would make more sense to start with a red base fondant for my Americolor Maroon than a white base. Any one have any tips?

If your maroon is more of a red base than purple, by all means, start with a red base color. You will use less of your maroon coloring then.

I do something similar when doing a nice red- I use a pink base, then use my precious Super Chinese Red to bring it to the red. Saves using so much gel coloring.

I recently made a maroon color by adding violet and a little bit of rose to my red mmf, and it worked great! You can check it out on my Nike Air Jordan cake. To get a darker maroon you just add more violet. HTH

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2015515/2015534

I have made a few maroon colored cakes, our school colors are maroon and gold. I always put in alittle brown, violet and red to make the color I like. Sometimes even black. And it will darken as it ages, so maybe make it a day or 2 early so it will have time to do this. By the way, it does color the teeth quite a bit.
Okay, sorry just read this is fondant. But this is my method for buttercream icing, so not sure how will transfer to fondant as I am unexperienced there due to fear !
Good Luck!