BYU Leaving the Mountain West?

[GoMuskies]

This would be a surprise. MHettel has to like their idea of going independent in football. What should have been a great offseason for MWC football (Boise State in) could turn into a total disaster (Utah and BYU out).

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5473151

[chico]

Why don't they just join multiple conferences?

[GuyFawkes38]

I was thinking to myself a couple days ago that it must really, really piss off BYU that Utah is joining a superior conference.

would the move just be made out of envy? Is it really smart to be a football independent? who knows. I guess the WAC is giving them a pretty awesome deal.

[smileyy]

Why don't they just join multiple conferences?

I wouldn't be surprised to see different alignments for D-I football, and then all other sports. Football is a very different beast that most other collegiate sports.

[waggy]

The Mountain West has reportedly invited Nevada and Fresno State to join. Can't imagine either not accepting. And with Boise State's recent departure, the WAC, is well...

[XU 87]

BYU ain't Notre Dame. So I'm not sure I understand this potential move.

[waggy]

Link to the ESPN report: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5474774

Looks like the conference (MW) got wind of BYU talking with the WAC, and decided to destroy it.

[waggy]

News conferences within the hour. They're gone.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/18/2045731/fresno-state-to-join-mwc.html

[GoMuskies]

Feel bad for Boise. They tried to get out of the WAC and the damned thing followed them!

[MHettel]

What! Going Independent?

What nonsense!

[GuyFawkes38]

wow, crazniness. That makes the jump to the WAC a much less attractive option from a basketball perspective. BYU has a good bball program which would be hurt.

[MuskieCinci]

2 or 3 years ago the MWC should have been more proactive in trying to gain BCS membership and added Boise State and Houston then. At that point the current MWC would be able to have a championship game and I guarantee the winner of that would be good enough to play in a BCS game every year.

That would be a conference of :

TCU
BYU
Utah
Air Force
Wyoming
UNLV
San Diego State
New Mexico
Colorado State
Boise State
Houston

I truly think if the MWC tried to make that happen it would have a much better chance of becoming an ACC level conference as opposed to a C-USA level conference with a championship. That is a conference that is clearly better than the Big East, and probably on the same level as the ACC and Pac-10 on a yearly basis.

[GoMuskies]

That is a conference that is clearly better than the Big East, and probably on the same level as the ACC and Pac-10 on a yearly basis.

For this to make sense, the ACC would have to surpass the Big East at some point.

[chico]

For this to make sense, the ACC would have to surpass the Big East at some point.

Are you trying to tell me that NC State couldn't win the Big East?

[waggy]

Interesting, and logical conjecture from San Jose PAC 12 blogger Jon Wilner.



If you’re a fan of the Western Athletic Conference, or any of its member schools … or if you know anybody who might be … or is considering such an emotional investment in the future … then root for BYU to stick to its plans to become a football independent.

Things don’t look promising for the WAC right now. (How’s that for understatement?) It’s down to six schools. Hawaii’s rumbling about going independent. Utah State’s supposedly trying to get into the MWC. Louisiana Tech’s always a threat to bolt for Conference USA.

But the picture could get a lot dimmer if BYU decides to stay put in the Mountain West.

That would likely set off a chain reaction ending with the WAC losing yet another member. (Even given the massive challenge facing the conference right now, the difference between having six schools and five schools — between needing to add two and add three — feels gigantic.)

Now, I’m no conference commissioner, but work with me here: If the Cougars stay put, then the Mountain West would have 11 teams and be on the hunt for a 12th, in order to split into two divisions and host a football championship game.

Sure, it could invite Utah State, I suppose, which reportedly turned down an offer to join the MWC earlier this week. (The Aggies thought they were doing the right thing by sticking to the binding agreement they made to the WAC, not knowing that Fresno State and Nevada had daggers at the ready … Et tu, Welty?)

But for the MWC, adding Utah State would make far less sense than inviting SMU or, even better, Houston, which only has the 10th biggest TV market in the country. If Houston leaves the 12-team C-USA, then it starts looking for a replacement. And why wouldn’t it take aim at Louisiana Tech?

Since LaTech has been a geographic misfit in the WAC and has longed to get into C-USA, you’d have to figure the Bulldogs would jump at the chance.

That would leave the WAC with five schools and no eastern anchor to help lure, or justify inviting, an upstart Texas school or two.

Now, it’s entirely possible that the WAC will lose another school even if BYU goes independent. Everything is on such shaky ground and will be for months. (Because Fresno State and Nevada are legally obligated to stay through the 2011 football season, the league office feels like it has time to remake itself.) But from this bleacher seat in the expansion world, it sure seems like the league is guaranteed to lose another school if BYU stays in the MWC.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2010/08/21/the-chain-reaction-what-byus-next-move-means-for-the-wac-and-san-jose-state/

[waggy]

Frank the Tank offers some good info relative to BYU's TV network, and also some wild political imaginations.


While the realignment action at the BCS conference level has come to a standstill, BYU is aiming to be a next-tier combination of Notre Dame and Texas and possibly causing a massive upheaval at the non-AQ level with its reported proposal to become a football independent and become a member of the WAC for all other sports. (The Salt Lake Tribune is calling this a “done deal”.) If BYU pulls the trigger on going independent, I believe that it would be a brilliant move for the school and, interestingly enough, a great opportunity for the BCS conferences.

BYU has long been one of the most interesting potential players in the college conference realignment story. From a pure financial and fan base perspective, BYU should’ve been invited to a BCS conference many years ago. The Cougars sell out every home game, travel en masse to bowl games, and garner a national TV audience with LDS members. Political factors, though, have killed BYU’s chances of getting into the Pac-10 (as the California-based schools have a myriad of issues where it has clashed with LDS positions) and its no-playing-on-Sunday rule has been a nagging problem for other conferences. With its in-state rival of Utah heading down the yellow brick road to BCS AQ status in 2011 and the Big IIX unlikely to expand for several years, BYU has been at risk of getting left behind.

Count me in as someone that believes that BCS AQ status is far from a sure thing for the Mountain West Conference. If there is a way for the other BCS conferences to avoid inviting in the MWC, it will absolutely exploit it – they have ZERO desire to give up $18 million per year and an at-large BCS bowl slot. If BYU’s leadership has been evaluating everything realistically, they have realized that this is the case and came to the conclusion that if it wants any reasonable chance of becoming one of the insiders to the BCS, it would need to become independent.

Is BYU on the level of Notre Dame in terms of casual fan popularity? Of course not. However, BYU has an asset that no other school in the entire country has (and what Texas has banked its entire future upon creating): its own television network. This isn’t some type of fly-by-night operation. BYU-TV has a state-of-art studio, the most advanced HD live event production truck in the entire Western half of the United States, 60 million U.S. subscribers (including every single DirecTV household) and 40 million subscribers outside of the U.S. While I have never actually watched BYU-TV and presume that its programming lineup currently consists of telecasts of church services, stories of mission trips, a reality TV show featuring Jim McMahon visiting and reviewing every single bar in Chicago, and the Steve Young edition of “The Bachelor”, the key point is that BYU already has a ready-made and widely distributed cable TV platform to take its sports properties in-house. My understanding is that BYU makes approximately $1.5 million per year from the current MWC TV deals. That is a fairly low threshold to cross if the school turns BYU-TV into a revenue generator for sports events (currently, the network relies on donations and subscriptions similar to PBS) since it has 100 million international households already in the fold. This isn’t even counting the fact that ESPN or another network would likely be willing to pay a premium for BYU’s top games. If Army and Navy can strike deals on their own with national networks, there’s no reason that BYU wouldn’t be able to do it even better.

That’s all fluff compared to the big picture, though. Maybe it’s because I have spent my entire life (other than my college years in Champaign) living and/or working in Cook County, but when Slant reader loki_the_bubba posted the initial rumors about this BYU story last night, my immediate thought was this: “Political payoff.” As we all know, this is perfectly legal under Federal law.

There seems to be this growing assumption that an independent BYU won’t be able to receive the same type of preferential treatment from the BCS system as Notre Dame does today. However, I vehemently disagree with this notion, and it has little to do with college football games themselves and everything to do with Capitol Hill. Which politician has spent more time bashing the BCS system, calling for hearings on the issue and demanding regulation more than any other? Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). What school did Sen. Hatch attend? Brigham Young University. Let’s list out the potential scenarios:

SCENARIO A: BYU stays in the MWC. In 2 years, the MWC meets the BCS AQ numerical criteria and the BCS conferences decide to let the conference into the party. This means that the BCS conferences have to give up at least $18 million per year and an at-large bowl slot.

SCENARIO B: BYU stays in the MWC. In 2 years, the MWC meets the BCS AQ numerical criteria, but the BCS conferences decide to keep the MWC on the outside because it makes zero financial sense to invite them in. Sen. Hatch raises a political and legal shitstorm unlike anything seen before and puts the entire BCS system in jeopardy.

SCENARIO C: BYU becomes a football independent, but the BCS conferences don’t give the school a Notre Dame-type deal. Sen. Hatch raises a political and legal shitstorm unlike anything seen before and puts the entire BCS system in jeopardy.

SCENARIO D: BYU becomes a football independent and the BCS conferences extend the school a Notre Dame-type deal. With both Utah and BYU now within the BCS system, Sen. Hatch suddenly has a new-found love for the BCS bowls and Washington leaves college football alone entirely. Meanwhile, it cuts the legs out from under the MWC and any other viable non-AQ upgrade possibility.

I don’t know about you, but it looks like paying BYU a couple of million bucks per year as an independent under Scenario D in order to preserve a cartel of hundreds of millions of dollars, extinguish its most prominent opponent in Washington AND destroy the MWC’s chances of ever moving up to AQ status makes a whole lot of business and political sense if you’re running the BCS. Plus, it’s going to be fairly rare that BYU will garner a top 8 final BCS ranking (which is where Notre Dame needs to rank in order to receive an automatic BCS bid), so it virtually preserves an at-large BCS slot for the current AQ conferences. It’s a win-win-win for BYU, Sen. Hatch and the BCS system overall. Unfortunately, the MWC will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as it is slowly digested over a thousand years in the Sarlacc pit of the non-AQ world.

In summary, BYU has an international TV network, a widespread built-in following with the LDS, and political clout of the highest order that can be leveraged into BCS access on par with Notre Dame. From where I’m standing, it almost makes too much sense for BYU to declare its independence.

http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/byu-independence-day-and-how-it-helps-the-bcs-conferences/

[GuyFawkes38]

That's interesting waggy.

I sometimes listen to the Petros and Money show on fox sports radio (really good, IMHO). Petros announces for Fox Sports . According to him, it's awful to broadcast BYU's games, because they are so secretive. They don't market themselves, recruit, or even fund raise because they already have all the connections they need through the Church.

That can be seen as a strength. But it's also a major weakness. Petros has lots of connections in the PAC 10 and noted that BYU's smug independence pissed off the PAC10. From a meritocratic stand point, they deserved a PAC10 spot more than Utah. But there was too much mistrust.

It's great that BYU has their own awesome TV network. But it's also easy to understanding why the PAC10 see that as a threat.

I'm a little skeptical about how great independence would be for BYU. In the past 10 years, it's already looking a little worse for ND.

And I really, really doubt that Orin Hatch could get BYU an ND type BCS deal.

[xubrew]

the moratorium is up after this athletic year. it may be extended, but if not look for the wac to raid the big sky and add schools like montana, montana state and possibly weber or northern arizona. not bad editions to football and basketball. obviously those teams aren't as strong as boise, fresno and nevada, but at least the league will be able to stay together.

appalachian state really wants into the sun belt from what i understand.

i do see the logic in byu leaving the mwc for football. they have their own tv network, and over the last ten years have scheduled home and homes with several major programs, so it isn't as if they have a hard time putting a quality schedule together. i really don't think they'll find a better conference for their other sports than the remaining mwc, though. it would still be a strong basketball conference, even without utah.

there are also rumors that boise may opt to stay in the wac. the main motivation for going to the mwc was the hopes that doing so would make it a bcs aq. that was unlikely in the first place, but with byu and utah leaving it is now damn near impossible. if the wac ends up with just six or seven teams, it actually suits boise better. they play in a conference they will not just win, but dominate most of the time, and they have six or seven ooc games where they can schedule stronger opponents. as it stands now, they only have three or four opportunities to do that. again, that's just a rumor though.

if the moratorium is not extended, it could really result in some conference shuffling.

[waggy]

From Salt Lake Tribune


BYU originally said no to WAC's plan

A report in today's Honolulu Star-Advertiser sheds more light on "The Project," the Western Athletic Conference's stealth plan to add BYU's non-football sports and ease BYU's path to independence in football. The Tribune published articles on Friday and Saturday about the plan, after obtaining e-mails exchanged between WAC commissioner Karl Benson, Utah State president Stan Albrecht, Fresno State president John Welty and Nevada president Milt Glick via an open records request through Utah State.
The Star-Advertiser also obtained some e-mails and documents and uncovered several more interesting twists and turns.
For instance:
* When the WAC's Benson originally contacted BYU about the plan -- having received authorization from the WAC's Board of Directors to proceed with the plan -- the Cougars were initially not interested in discussing a return to the WAC (the conference they left in 1999 to form the MWC).
* Benson and Albrecht waited for the shock of Utah bolting for the Pac-10 to wear off at BYU, then approached the Cougars a second time and learned that "the school was already exploring the possibility of going independent in football and looking for somewhere to park its other 18 teams." This time, BYU listened and apparently liked what it heard.
* The WAC not only discussed getting BYU, it also talked about luring San Diego State, UNLV and UTEP to form a 12-team league in football.
* A memo obtained by the Star-Advertiser showed that the WAC's TV rights fees could increase by as much as 300 percent from ESPN if the plan had worked. Each school in the WAC reportedly receives nearly $500,000 annually under the current contract.
* There was at least some discussion about approaching Gonzaga and possibly one other non-football playing school to form a 14-team basketball league.
* WAC insiders believe that officials at Conference USA tipped off MWC commissioner Craig Thompson that The Project was unfolding, tips that sent Thompson scurrying to Philadelphia to meet with television executives and that eventually led to the commissioner hastily inviting Nevada and Fresno State to the MWC to scuttle the plan.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogs/byusports/50184258-65/wac-byu-plan-football.html.csp

[waggy]

Per Katz at ESPN, independent in football, and joining the WCC for other sports.


Brigham Young University will leave the Mountain West Conference for the 2011-12 season, go independent in football and join the West Coast Conference in all other sports, notably men's basketball, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told ESPN.com.

BYU and the WCC will make a combined announcement later Tuesday.

BYU had originally agreed to go to the Western Athletic Conference in all sports and go independent in football before the MWC squelched the move by inviting WAC members Fresno State and Nevada two weeks ago.

BYU had until Wednesday to notify the MWC if it was going to leave for the 2011-12 season.

The WCC held a conference call Monday with all eight presidents to approve the move. WCC presidents wanted only private institutions in the league and weren't interested in any other WAC member. The WCC wasn't limiting its search to only faith-based schools, but BYU does fit the profile since the other eight members are all faith-based universities and colleges. When WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich first got to the WCC in April 2008 he had looked into adding Big West members Pacific (private) and UC Santa Barbara but the moves were rejected, notably for adding a public school.

BYU has worked out a football schedule for the 2011 season that will likely include at least two WAC members -- traditional rival Utah State and a previously scheduled series against Hawaii, which used to be in the WAC with BYU for decades.

BYU had worked out a scheduling agreement with the WAC for football prior to the initial deal blowing up two weeks ago. That schedule had BYU playing six WAC teams -- Utah State, Hawaii, Nevada, Fresno State, New Mexico State and San Jose State. On Monday, WAC commissioner Karl Benson demanded that Fresno State and Nevada remain in the WAC for the 2011-12 season since both schools failed to notify the league of an intention to leave prior to a July 1 deadline, meaning the Cougars may still play some of these schools on an independent football schedule.

BYU will receive assistance from ESPN in televising its games and helping its football schedule. BYU had already scheduled non-conference games with Oregon State and Texas in the coming years and had a series with Boise State, which is joining the MWC after this season in the WAC. And since BYU is leaving the MWC, the Boise State game becomes a non-conference game.

BYU is going independent in football with the full knowledge that it won't be guaranteed a seat at the BCS table. BYU will be an independent like Army and Navy, not like Notre Dame, which is guaranteed a BCS bid if it's in the top eight in the final BCS standings.

Adding BYU is a major coup for the WCC, which is expanding to nine teams and adding a new member for the first time in 30 years when it added San Diego and Gonzaga. The WCC will increase its 14-game schedule to a true round-robin 16-game schedule for the 2011-12 season. The WCC will have to move the dates of its conference tournament, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, since it is a Sunday semifinal and Monday final tournament. BYU is not allowed to play on Sundays.

The WCC now has a major presence in Spokane, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

"This transforms the league with one move," said one source with knowledge of the situation.

BYU enters the league in men's basketball as a major player and joins perennial NCAA team Gonzaga as well as recent NCAA-bid challenger Saint Mary's, fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance, atop the conference. The three-team top of Gonzaga, BYU and Saint Mary's should challenge a number of conferences like the MWC, the A-10 and C-USA that are outside the power six for top-three elite teams.

BYU has been to 25 NCAA tournaments, including four straight under Dave Rose. The Cougars knocked off Florida in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.

If Benson gets his wish and Nevada and Fresno State have to stay in the WAC for the 2011-12 season, then the MWC will have just eight members: New arrival Boise State to join, as well as Colorado State, San Diego State, TCU, UNLV, New Mexico, Wyoming and Air Force. Utah is leaving the MWC after this season for the Pac-10 to join Colorado to form the Pac-12.

The MWC will then add Nevada and Boise State in 2012-13 to become a 10-team league -- but with a gaping hole in the region since there would be no member in the state of Utah, a sizeable market.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5517305

[MHettel]

Redemption! Mother****ers!

[The_Mack_Pack]

Moving to the WCC from the MWC is a lateral move, I don't really understand the reasoning behind it.

[GoMuskies]

Football is where all the money is, and they're betting they can make a load of cash on their own without having to share it with the Wyomings and San Diego States of the world who add nothing.

Should be interesting.

[xubrew]

Football is where all the money is, and they're betting they can make a load of cash on their own without having to share it with the Wyomings and San Diego States of the world who add nothing.

Should be interesting.

i'd say they're off to an outstanding start...

http://www.seattlepi.com/scorecard/cfootballnews.asp?articleID=286598

[xubrew]

Redemption! Mother****ers!

exactly who has been redeemed??

[Muskie]

exactly who has been redeemed??

Think it has to do with the Morman religion?

[XU 87]

i'd say they're off to an outstanding start...

http://www.seattlepi.com/scorecard/cfootballnews.asp?articleID=286598

I saw that on ESPN this morning. But is there really that much national interest in BYU football? Apparently ESPN thinks so. But this is why BYU left the MWC. As someone else wrote, why share this money with the other schools?

[chico]

I saw that on ESPN this morning. But is there really that much national interest in BYU football? Apparently ESPN thinks so. But this is why BYU left the MWC. As someone else wrote, why share this money with the other schools?

I guess wives aren't the only things Mormons like to hoard.

[GuyFawkes38]

OSU is paid the same as northwestern by the BTN.

It wouldn't shock me if OSU and Michigan threatened to go independent to rework the BTN payments. It worked for Texas.

[MuskieCinci]

OSU is paid the same as northwestern by the BTN.

It wouldn't shock me if OSU and Michigan threatened to go independent to rework the BTN payments. It worked for Texas.

That wouldn't surprise you? One day OSU and Michigan say they are going to leave the Big Ten, and you would just be mildly surprised? The Big Ten Is OSU and Michigan and OSU and Michigan are the Big Ten. That would make every single headline in every single paper around the country if they decided to leave.