BYU Surveys the Domain
Is BYU just hanging out, checking out the landscape?
For all the talk of independence, is this thing just a temporary fix? I figure it’s a test balloon. With its ESPN-TV deal shaping up, the question isn’t whether BYU will make more money as an independent. That should work out OK, at least for the first few of years. After that, BYU will need to win a lot in order to draw big TV audiences and it will need to keep scheduling high profile opponents.
Meanwhile, it can check out its options. Waiting around for things to develop while brokering your own deals isn’t a bad idea. It’s not exactly the same thing, but Utah State hung out for awhile as an independent until it found itself in the WAC. It played in the PCAA/Big West from 1978-2000, then remained independent for two years before joining the Sun Belt Conference for two years, then moving on to the WAC.
Conference jumping just isn’t that hard. Just ask Boise State. In the last 20 years, it has been in the Big Sky, the Big West, the WAC and soon the Mountain West. Now BSU’s president is already talking about the Pac-10.
Change happens.
Getting back to BYU, at least one writer at the Daily Oklahoman believes BYU might pair nicely with Arkansas in an expanded Big 12. The idea is that the conference could expand its geographical footprint by adding a couple of non-Texas teams.
Couldn’t BYU have drawn the Big 12′s attention by staying in the MWC? Yes, but it would have made less money than by being independent — and probably had less flexibility. You have to believe in light of what happened this summer, the MWC will at some point tag some exit fees to the contracts.
To this point, there haven’t been any.
I suspect the Cougars are in exploratory mode. If this independent situation takes off, they can stay that way. If it proves too difficult to schedule teams, they can shoot for the Big 12. No fuss, no muss, no more messy conference breakups.
And as time goes on, the Big 12 is sure to want to expand. BYU can be there waiting in the wings.