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Big News Out of BYU??

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Been busy the past couple of days, but just wanted to say DARN YOU Cali, I was right in my first thought that the MWC would take a few of the WAC teams to make a bigger MWC conference.

As a U fan as much fun as it is thinking the MWC one upped the Y, I also think it is possible that the Y had 2 plans the obvious going independent and join the WAC for other sports is the obvious one but the other plan was to force the MWC hand in hopes they could get the TV deal renegotiated and by adding these other teams (and if the Y stays) I believe that kicks a stipulation that the MWC could renegotiate the TV deal.

Now reading this thread has been enlightening in that I didn't know the MWC made an announcement it wouldn't make any special arrangements with the Y but I think that may mean only going independent and letting the rest of their teams stay in the MWC. I think if the TV deal did get re-worked that would prolly keep the Y happy and a chance they get to do their own network as they had been hoping for (a la Texas).
 
//r00t 4 Jazz said:
Now reading this thread has been enlightening in that I didn't know the MWC made an announcement it wouldn't make any special arrangements with the Y but I think that may mean only going independent and letting the rest of their teams stay in the MWC.
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MWC would never allow that. If the MWC was willing to have all the cougs sports besides football then the whole WAC fiasco would have never happened.

The way I see it, byu's choices now are...

a) Go independent in football and go to the WCC in other sports. This would mean filling their schedule with the likes of, "South Eastern Montana State University College School of Performing Arts" in the latter parts of the football season. Oh, and it would likely kill every other sports program too.

b) Crawl back to the MWC and make no demands. (best option imo)

c) Purchase a time machine, go back to the early 80's and just tear **** up again.
 
U Gotta Love It Baby said:
b) Crawl back to the MWC and make no demands. (best option imo)
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The no demands part won't happen. The MWC commish was in Philadelphia meeting at the Comcast offices on Wed. for the specific purpose of trying to get them to make some concessions to keep BYU. I have no idea what that entails, but I've read speculation that they are seeking their home broadcast rights, which would raise their revenue significantly.

I just this whole thing to be over. The games are only a couple of weeks away now - that's what I'm excited about.
 
U Gotta Love It Baby said:
//r00t 4 Jazz said:
Now reading this thread has been enlightening in that I didn't know the MWC made an announcement it wouldn't make any special arrangements with the Y but I think that may mean only going independent and letting the rest of their teams stay in the MWC.
Click to expand...
MWC would never allow that. If the MWC was willing to have all the cougs sports besides football then the whole WAC fiasco would have never happened.
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I think he meant that the MWC's comment was specifically addressing that, and not necessarily TV deals and such.

c) Purchase a time machine, go back to the early 80's and just tear **** up again.
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+1.
 
Duck Rodgers said:
The no demands part won't happen. The MWC commish was in Philadelphia meeting at the Comcast offices on Wed. for the specific purpose of trying to get them to make some concessions to keep BYU. I have no idea what that entails, but I've read speculation that they are seeking their home broadcast rights, which would raise their revenue significantly.

I just this whole thing to be over. The games are only a couple of weeks away now - that's what I'm excited about.
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I dont like byu at all and I think they are delusional about their place in the college football world. However, any reasonable person can see that byu should be given more revenue opportunities in the mwc than a team like wyoming or new mexico. If The Utes were staying in the mwc I would expect the same thing.

Obviously with Utah going to The Pac byu had to do something. If I was a fan I would at least appreciate their boldness. Problem is, they overestimated their position in the food chain and it blew up in their face. Now they just need to humble themselves, take whatever they can get, and move on.
 
Official Predictions:

-BYU will stay in the MWC. They will stay because they will be allowed to get a side deal going with ESPN allowing them to broadcast 4-to-5 home games per year. Reportedly, ESPN is willing to pay BYU over $1million per game. That's a great revenue boost for BYU while allowing them to stay in a stable conference.

-TCU and Boise St. will be soon to follow with deals similar to what BYU will have with ESPN. This keeps the 3 big dogs of the MWC content. As for the rest of the schools? They'll just have to settle for the current TV money because I just don't see a network knocking down their doors.

-With the big 3 in place, stable, and happy, the MWC will add a 12th member next summer, play a conference championship game and hope that it's all enough to get AQ status in 2012.

If all of the above scenarios play out, it's really not a bad deal for BYU. However, it has to hurt the ego that BYU thought they were big enough for some type of major power play and the MWC was able to pull a couple of strings and basically tell BYU: "No soup for you!"
 
Duck Rodgers said:
The no demands part won't happen. The MWC commish was in Philadelphia meeting at the Comcast offices on Wed. for the specific purpose of trying to get them to make some concessions to keep BYU. I have no idea what that entails, but I've read speculation that they are seeking their home broadcast rights, which would raise their revenue significantly.

I just this whole thing to be over. The games are only a couple of weeks away now - that's what I'm excited about.
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If that's the case, the MWC would be doing the right thing. Keep BYU happy or this is a situation that's going to come up again (if they stay, which is looking more likely). The WAC comissioner yesterday didn't seem too optimistic about their chances to get BYU into the WAC anymore. Instead, they're talking about Texas State and Montana (among others). Talk about a drop off.
 
U Gotta Love It Baby said:
MWC would never allow that. If the MWC was willing to have all the cougs sports besides football then the whole WAC fiasco would have never happened.

The way I see it, byu's choices now are...

a) Go independent in football and go to the WCC in other sports. This would mean filling their schedule with the likes of, "South Eastern Montana State University College School of Performing Arts" in the latter parts of the football season. Oh, and it would likely kill every other sports program too.

b) Crawl back to the MWC and make no demands. (best option imo)

c) Purchase a time machine, go back to the early 80's and just tear **** up again.
Click to expand...
Sorry I may have not made clear what I meant, I was agree'ing in that the MWC WOULDN"T let them go independent and keep their other sports. I meant the MWC may make a smaller concession in reworking the TV deal to keep the Y if indeed the kicker has been met .

*Edit yes Bronco you're correct I thought I had sent this post awhile ago but guess I didn't click post reply button*
 
Also interesting to note in this, is that Utah State supposedly turned down an invitation to join the MWC. They claim they were the first ones invited, out of three:

"When the possibility of BYU leaving became known, MWC leadership contacted three WAC members inquiring about their interest in joining the MWC. Utah State was the first of these three contacts," Barnes, who did not return numerous phone calls and text messages Wednesday and Thursday, said in an open letter. "At the point in time when Utah State was contacted by the MWC we had a binding agreement with the WAC and were well positioned with nine members, which included BYU. We were simply committed to uphold our agreement with fellow WAC members. We respectfully declined MWC interest and believed all WAC members would remain committed to our agreement."
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https://www.deseretnews.com/article/700058552/Report-Utah-State-turned-down-MWC-membership.html

Some part of me believes that if Utah St. had a bigger budget, they would be in the MWC. If this all true, that is.

As a Fresno, I'll admit the way they left the WAC slightly bothers me. But they did what they had to do to advance their program.
 
BYU AD Tom Holmoe:

Asked how the move of Fresno State and Nevada from the WAC to the MWC affects BYU's strategy, Holmoe said, "Does what Fresno State does affect us? It does."
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"I don't think that's a secret of our strategy," he said. "We have a great relationship with ESPN ... It's very difficult for us to get teams to come play us at the Marriott Center and LaVell Edwards Stadium. They don't want to come. They'll come if they're on ESPN. So that's the thing. We have a great relationship with ESPN and it will continue, regardless of how things go."
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https://www.deseretnews.com/article/700058532/BYU-football-Holmoe-Things-are-playing-out.html?pg=1

Also, contrary to what was previously reported, BYU did NOT participate at all in the vote to bring in Fresno and Nevada.

Boise State president Bob Kustra said Thursday that he learned of BYU’s interest in becoming a football independent Tuesday morning during a Mountain West conference call.

“I think the entire Mountain West membership was caught off-guard by the first teleconference,” Kustra said. “… (BYU president Cecil Samuelson) explained his frustrations over the (TV) access issue and asked for some redress of grievances.”

BYU’s desire to leave the Mountain West stems from unhappiness with the league’s TV contract with Comcast and CBS, Kustra said.

BYU, of course, helped create the unique deal when the Mountain West decided to split with ESPN. Mountain West games air on Versus, CBS College Sports and The Mtn. The Mtn. is co-owned by CBS and Comcast.

“It all has to do with the media contract,” Kustra said. “They’d like to have more visibility.”

The Mountain West presidents spoke again Wednesday to discuss what the TV partners said could be done to accommodate BYU, Kustra said.

Samuelson didn’t participate in the decision to invite Fresno State and Nevada, Kustra said.

“Dr. Samuelson still seemed to be concerned about the commitment that he was getting from the media companies and still was feeling that he wanted to explore other options,” Kustra said, “so he left the conference call and at that point there was discussion of what other options were viable — that it appeared BYU was leaving the conference.”

Read more: https://voices.idahostatesman.com/2..._mountain_west_caught_offguard_#ixzz0xAkzEpXc
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This thing has more twists and turns than a frickin' soap opera.
 
Some of these rumors are downright scary, such as the Conference USA/MWC cluster ****. Oh well, hopefully they sort this stuff out this weekend and have the finished product ready to go for a Monday press conference. I'm going to try to avoid the Internet as much as I can this weekend.
 
//r00t 4 Jazz said:
Sorry I may have not made clear what I meant, I was agree'ing in that the MWC WOULDN"T let them go independent and keep their other sports. I meant the MWC may make a smaller concession in reworking the TV deal to keep the Y if indeed the kicker has been met .

*Edit yes Bronco you're correct I thought I had sent this post awhile ago but guess I didn't click post reply button*
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Ok I read it again and I see what u were saying. I agree. I think byu stays in the mwc and gets better tv options.
 
reading this thread and trying to make sense of it all is giving me a headache. i'm just gonna wait till all this stuff get's cleared up.
 
U Gotta Love It Baby said:
Ok I read it again and I see what u were saying. I agree. I think byu stays in the mwc and gets better tv options.
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I agree. I just hate the fact that BYU is going to be known as the school that destroyed the WAC. Poor Karl Benson - one minute he's basking in the sun, the next he's thrust down to the depths of irrelevancy. And poor Utah State - doomed to be the ugly, shunned stepchild again.

But I suspect in the next 4-5 years, the currrent landscape will be almost unrecognizable. There will be 16-team Super Conferences. The Pac-12, Big 12 and Big 10 will all gobble up some schools and force a merger between what's left of the ACC and SEC to form the 4th conference. Both the MWC and WAC will be left begging for the dregs. I really believe BYU, TCU and perhaps Boise State will be headed to the Big 12 in a few years. With Colorado and Nebraska defecting, they need a couple more big-name programs. Or maybe TCU goes to the Big 10 to avoid loading up the Big 12 with too many Texas schools.

And to think Utah was one of the driving forces for all these changes. Nebraska, Colrado and Utah switching conferences - and the power play by Texas - were the driving forces that put all these wheels in motion. The BCS system had to be changed. Looks like it's finally gonna happen.
 
GlassEater said:
I agree. I just hate the fact that BYU is going to be known as the school that destroyed the WAC. Poor Karl Benson - one minute he's basking in the sun, the next he's thrust down to the depths of irrelevancy. And poor Utah State - doomed to be the ugly, shunned stepchild again.
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Well, I don't think you're going to have to worry about BYU being known for destroying the WAC. Fresno and Nevada are going to take the heat for that with the way they just left. Benson roasted both of them the other day, saying their actions were "selfish" and the WAC went from being "prosperous" with BYU to "not knowing what they future holds". I don't blame him for being bitter, but I don't think anyone can really truly blame Fresno or Nevada for being "selfish". Schools are supposed to look out for their own best interests...or this whole conference re-alignment wouldn't have happened to begin with.

Also, if you believe the Utah St. AD, they weren't spurned by the MWC, they turned them down in order to lure BYU to the WAC. Who the hell knows if that's actually true.
 
Quick question on Utah ST: If they were indeed called first by the MWC, I wonder if they would still be considered an option if the WAC were to fold because of all this?

Even if the MWC retains BYU, it's probably just for the short term until the Big 12 comes calling. While Utah St isn't that big of a deal in football, it would still give the Mountain West a presence in the state of Utah if they end up losing both Utah and BYU.
 
jazzman12 said:
Quick question on Utah ST: If they were indeed called first by the MWC, I wonder if they would still be considered an option if the WAC were to fold because of all this?

Even if the MWC retains BYU, it's probably just for the short term until the Big 12 comes calling. While Utah St isn't that big of a deal in football, it would still give the Mountain West a presence in the state of Utah if they end up losing both Utah and BYU.
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There's still a ton of speculation that Utah St. could still join. Them and Houston. I've also heard Hawaii rumors, but that seems a lot less likely to happen with the travel involved once every other year. I think going independent is far more likely for them. It would be better for them than sticking in the "new" WAC, that's for sure.
 
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