The Big Announcement finally came and I've been prepping for our trip to the BYU game, er, vacation to Utah!
Crazy. I really figured it would come next year. Here it is: BYU is leaving the MWC effective June 30, 2011. Its football team will be indepedent. ESPN will help fill out its schedule (probably help BYU get 2-4 games that ESPN wants to broadcast). I doubt any MWC school will schedule with BYU anytime soon, with the exception of maybe Air Force. BYU already has future series scheduled with Texas, Oregon State, Boise State, Utah State, and Hawaii. BYU will probably not receive any special BCS treatment, deservedly so: BYU hasn't exactly earned it yet.
All other sports (with the exceptions of softball, swimming and diving, and track and field) will reside in the West Coast Conference (WCC). The WCC does not play those aforementioned sports. Gonzaga and St. Mary's are the most notable basketball schools in the conference, though San Francisco probably has the most storied history of the group. The conference will play a 16-game conference schedule, i.e. you play each other school twice. Interesting side note: the conference tournament is played in BYU's favorite location, Las Vegas...
The West Coast Conference consists of Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Mary's, Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount (CA), and Pepperdine. And now BYU. The WCC does have good women's soccer and volleyball, that much I know for sure...
The TV terms were not set out but I would guess that BYU will get to broadcast all of its sporting events on BYU-TV that are not on ESPN, including the WCC basketball tournament, minus the championship game which is always on ESPN.
I do NOT believe this is a step TOWARDS where BYU wants to go. I believe this IS the step BYU wants to take.
The gravy train has left the station! Or as my lovely wife says, "Dogs don't go back to masters who beat them." I hope the MWC has fun in the next meeting with comcast. Wyoming only brings in how much revenue?
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge risk for sure. I think it will work out only because ESPN is in the mix. Finally BYU will not be shafted in every conference decision as it has been for the last fifty years. I am interested in how many 1-AA schools we will have to play in football. The BCS thing is not an issue because I have never seen as a 12-0 school with our restrictions.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Bruce, with the 1-AA comment. That will probably be disappointing to see. Other than that, we are in a similar situation to Notre Dame. Notre Dame aligned it's non-football sports with small private religous schools in the Big East. I like that the WCC schools aren't interested in moving around. They know who they are and are happy about it. Anyway, I am happy for BYU.
ReplyDeleteI believe the first year or two we will have to play 1-2 I-AA schools, almost certainly. Starting in 2013 we should be able to shift away from that more or less. It is somewhat risky, but the biggest issue is the football scheduling, the money and exposure speak for themselves...
ReplyDeleteI am getting sick of all the people making fun of BYU because we are trying to be "Notre Dame of the west". People have no idea what went down in the MWC and so they now say we will be irrelevant! These would be the same people saying who cares about the MWC before this all went down....I need to stop reading ESPN conversations....people are so dumb!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing to me about the Notre Dame argument is that the only quote from an actual person at BYU about being compared to Notre Dame is: we know we aren't Notre Dame. Some ignorant fans may feel BYU is like Notre Dame, but most people recognize that the similarities are few and far between, except that they are both Independent Football programs in 2011.
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