Interesting BYU talk

Today's edition of the Salt Lake City daily newspaper (Thursday the 19th) has assorted articles on BYU's possible defection from the Mountain West Conference. One of the smaller articles talks about BYU and how it might be a fit with the West Coast Conference. It's an extreme longshot, but something fun to consider.

I just dont really see this happening... and do we really want BYU? Granted, it would instantly significantly raise the profile of the conference, but BYU has over 32,000 students and is a major research institution. In comparison, the largest WCC schools have 8,000-9,000 students, and the smallest, UP, has 3,200... so that is between 4x-10x larger than all the current members.

I am sure the information is out there, but what is the annual athletics budget at BYU, compared to WCC schools? (obviously, to compare apples to apples, you need to take out football and the other non-WCC sports...)

Today BYU is scratching their heads, wondering how their masterplan of lobbying for a WAC exit fee months ago didn't save them when they tried to leave MWC.

I wonder what their thoughts on Bingo and casinos are?

I hadnt thought about what a wrench it would throw into the WCC tournament in Vegas... Not to mention scheduling in general...

I guess the only way it would make sense with the "pod" system we use currently is if they re-opened talks with Denver... Geographically it makes sense. But again the disparity between athletic budgets/enrollment size seems like a pretty prohibitive gap... but stranger things have happened I guess...

But as for the BBall tourneys, I don't think that's too much of an issue, I mean I think BYU has pretty regularly gone to the Vegas Bowl (or whatever it's called) over the last stretch of time. Which has always kind of made me chuckle a bit...

In my mind, you've got to do it if BYU is interested.

They raise the profile of the conference significantly in pretty much every sport and would give the conference another NCAA tournament basketball team, which is where the real money for the conference comes from. They have a national following and would immediately be the best-known school in the conference. Not only that, but they would deliver the Salt Lake market for ESPN and (assuming Denver would join with them) the Denver market too boot.

Is it a huge school that is super competitive in a lot of sports? Yes. But that's something we should embrace, not shy away from. (I mean the competition, not the size of the school.) Sure, they'll have more resources, but the benefits of having a team that can raise the conference profile to such a degree, provide high-quality home and road games for all sports, and bolster the WCC's fortunes in terms of NCAA money?

It's a no brainer, in my mind. With all the conferences shifting around, the WCC has to jump on any opportunity that will make it a better basketball conference while not jeopordizing the core missions of the member institutions, which I don't think adding a religions-affliated private school like BYU would do.

This will be very, very interesting because at this point, with the WAC only having six members now it is looking like if BYU does go independent in football the WCC is their best option. Amazing.

Rev chimes in on Twitter:

As college rivalries and allegiance mean less, it seems next step is have FB and basketball compete in different leagues to maximze value.

Our men's XC conference championship streak might be in jeopardy!

Geezaldinho wrote:I wonder what their thoughts on Bingo and casinos are?

If the recent actions of BYU are any indication, they're just fine with a little gambling now and then.

pilotram wrote:Our men's XC conference championship streak might be in jeopardy!

Yeah... I guess we wouldn't be able to run an all Freshman squad at the WCC Championships anymore....

The Salt Lake City Tribune's main sports columnist, Kurt Kragthorpe, posted a column today suggesting that the WCC is BYU's best option for non-football sports. Again, the chance of this happening is extremely remote, but the silence coming out of BYU seems to indicate that they are in a pickle and don't know what exactly to do.

DaTruRochin wrote:

pilotram wrote:Our men's XC conference championship streak might be in jeopardy!

Yeah... I guess we wouldn't be able to run an all Freshman squad at the WCC Championships anymore....

Good one!!! , how ridiculously true.

dONT WORRY , BE HAPPY FOLKS--"Competition breeds excellence"-Vince Lombardi or Mesa ...take your pick.


MesaPilot1

DaTruRochin wrote:I guess the only way it would make sense with the "pod" system we use currently is if they re-opened talks with Denver... Geographically it makes sense. But again the disparity between athletic budgets/enrollment size seems like a pretty prohibitive gap... but stranger things have happened I guess...

But as for the BBall tourneys, I don't think that's too much of an issue, I mean I think BYU has pretty regularly gone to the Vegasi Bowl (or whatever it's called) over the last stretch of time. Which has always kind of made me chuckle a bit...

Maybe the "chosen one" Tebow could adopt Denver University and become a large honorary donor. I don't know if I could become acustomed to the "Friar Tuck" hairstyle he would implore the coach for all scholarship BB players to "style". Oh , now here comes the ol "Should we take Denver, Seattle or Pacific into the WCC and why...".


They sure like to send their kids back to the fatherland Utah and the premiere LDS school (BYU) from my town. Then celebrate with a little triip to Rocky Point , (Puerta Piensca) Mexico for a Margarita ---because its not considered drinking if you imbibe in a foreign country,lol. (Not a made up deal, happens 50% of time). Consequently, I think they could handle a little tripipoo to Vegas to follow the 23- 28 yr old young men,sic.... win the conference title.