Big 12 and BYU

[MikeWaters]

I've pretty much lost hope that it will happen.

But like a moth to the flame, I start to let my guard down and hope beyond hope that it will happen now.

It's going to be crushing when (if) the Big 12 expands without BYU.

However if it did happen, games in:

Austin
Norman
Lubbock
Waco
Fort Worth
Stillwater

All of these within driving distance for me.

and then WVU, Kansas, KSU, and Iowa State (who cares)

[MikeWaters]

I'm having trouble coming up with the economic model where the Big 12 actually wants to expand.

If you're sitting on 2 to 3 billion over the next 10 years....how can any two teams make up for a loss of potentially 400 million dollars?

that's 10 x 20 million x 2 teams. Let's say that the new teams take a pay cut. only 10 million per year average over 10 years. that's still 200 million dollars to come up with.

If BYU continues with a contract similar to its current one, we can guess that they will make 70 million dollars over 10 years in TV money. That still doesn't close the gap, if all of that is rolled in.

[MikeWaters]

I don't think we'll see expansion before April.

When April comes, the Big 12 will either be allowed to have a CCG with 10 teams or not.

If yes, then no expansion.

If no, then I think they still hold off on expansion.

I think they can convince themselves that there are plenty of scenarios where there conference will benefit from not having a conference championship game. See this article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/col...-is-big-12.ece

But beyond that, conference championship games are not necessarily an enhancement. In fact, they are more likely to be the opposite.

While there's no question that the Big Ten title game helped the Buckeyes, look around at the other championship games. In the most powerful conference, the SEC stood only to lose on Saturday afternoon. A Missouri upset would have meant no SEC representation in the playoff. Alabama had nothing to gain by playing that game.

In the ACC, a Florida State loss would have left that league in the dark. Georgia Tech, a two-point loser, certainly wasn't going to pick up an invitation. And the same goes for the Pac-12 where Oregon could have played its way out but Arizona had little to no chance of playing its way in.

However, Bowlsby believes the lack of a title game is the issue and has said he hopes in the next six months the efforts to “deregulate” the rule that prohibits 10-team conferences from having title games will be voted upon.

But mostly what you get with title games is unfairness or imbalance. Let's say Baylor had gone 9-0 and TCU was the next best team at 8-1. What's the point of a championship game if a team has gone undefeated and played everyone — something that doesn't happen in the SEC, Big Ten, etc... — other than to give the Frogs a second chance to pull off the upset?

Mostly what it does is run the risk of having your best playoff contender knocked off.

Now if there is in fact Big 12 expansion, I think there's at least a 75% chance that BYU is not included. And that's probably generous.

I think it is likely we will remain independent for the foreseeable future.

I can't see us going back to the MWC for a couple reasons:

1. The TV money paycut
2. The frighteningly bad schedule that would be playing other MWC teams
3. The blow to our ego

Was that 3 reasons?

And so it is. We remain as we are. But up side is that the schedules in upcoming years should be a lot better. So that's good.

And who knows, maybe the Pac-12 will break our way someday, when the money is right and they can swallow their distaste.

[MikeWaters]

BYU needs to send a note and a gift to each President in the Big 12. The gift is a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon.

Send the message of "We want it, we get it, we are more flexible than you think, we don't impose our values on you."

We are the bothersome square weirdos. We need to counter that. We need to show we can be good partners. Part of the club.

[ChinoCoug]

BYU football is my #1 diversion, but we're first-world spoiled brats if we're willing to give up a religious principle for football.

How hard is it to let us in Football only so we won't have to inconvenience them? Geez.

There must be something different about the Big 12's incentive structure, because all other P5 conferences want to expand.

[MikeWaters]

None of them want BYU.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by ChinoCoug

BYU football is my #1 diversion, but we're first-world spoiled brats if we're willing to give up a religious principle for football.

How hard is it to let us in Football only so we won't have to inconvenience them? Geez.

There must be something different about the Big 12's incentive structure, because all other P5 conferences want to expand.

To give up a concept which wasn't always a Christian concept, no work on Sabbath. It wasn't until Christians copied the Judaic concept that lack of work or play came into being.

The world is changing and to invest so substantially into big time sports and then to stop at the finish line without crossing it seems foolhardy.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

None of them want BYU.

We are not committed enough.

[ChinoCoug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

To give up a concept which wasn't always a Christian concept, no work on Sabbath. It wasn't until Christians copied the Judaic concept that lack of work or play came into being.

Link? (or better yet, source?) Since the first Christians were all Jewish, it seems incredulous that there would be no continuity in the practice. But in any case, it's been part of Christianity for so long that point is moot.

The world is changing and to invest so substantially into big time sports and then to stop at the finish line without crossing it seems foolhardy.

We've reaped the gains over the years. If we stop now, we walk away having accomplished much.

[MikeWaters]

The only thing that distinguishes Mormons from Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Witnesses is BYU football.

PERIOD.