Big12 Media Day musings: Mexico stuff

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

Like a lot of Cougar Nation, I am thoroughly enjoying the interviews and new collaborations coming with Big12 media days. I freakin love BYU, and this part of the off-season is especially enjoyable with the newness of the league. The conversations involving a Mexico expansion have me over the top giddy. Here are some thoughts to ponder from TVRC:

1. Let's say the Big12 expands to include a team from Mexico. The university who is the cream of the crop across the border would be UNAM. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico is THE pride of Mexican higher education. Their enrollment numbers are bonkers. It's pretty much an entire city dedicated to a university. Their Olympic sports alone would be an instant boost as is, and I think that if you have 200k-300k undergrads, it is safe to say you could field a football (not futbol) team that would compete decently. Let's include UNAM in the Big12 and enjoy every minute of it.

Brett Yormark is wise to look south and not to the west (or Pac12) for expansion. I would go so far as to say UNAM would be a bigger acquisition than most of the Pac12. I would love to see some numbers around how or why some Pac12 schools would be better or worse for our new league. The stadium at UNAM is bigger than LES, and therefore bigger than many P5 stadiums in the US. I just wish they were Mountain and not Central time but oh well.

2. Let's say we have a game in Mexico. Maybe it's a bowl game, or 2 of the current Big12 members go for a neutral site game down south. If that game includes BYU, it would be a sell-out and a huge boost to everyone participating. I would love to see a Spanish broadcast of the game, which BYU could do quite easily anyway.

3. There is something here about softening tribalism which would be great for the world. There is too much news about immigrant v citizen, or White v Brown, and if BYU and the Big12 can play a part in improving international collaborations, then let's do it. Let's agree that we are all citizens of planet Earth and each of us has an interest in improving the status of our fellow man. If BYU and the Big12 bring this within 2-4 years, this is a huge win for the church, the university, and everyone. Let's do it.

4. One more personal note. When I told the administration at Tulane that I wanted to suspend my student status to serve a full time mission, and they helped coordinate my pause in studies, I was thrilled. I served in the Tucson, AZ mission from 2003-2005 and learned Spanish without leaving the states. I learned a lot and it set me up for success later in life. I turn 40 this year and still keep in touch with several dear friends near El Paso. The very idea that we are now in a league with an emphasis on expanding south of the border brings a joy to my heart. I'm loving every minute of it.

Happy off-season, and as always, Go Cougs
-TVRC

[scott715]

Is it doable with another nation? There are no Canadian schools in NCAA. That university would have to get other schools to play them. Might be hard to do unless they were paid to play. Their recruits would all be Mexican. I don't think they play football in high school so another challenge. If they recruit high school kids they would have to speak Spanish and want a foreign degree. They could do well in most of the other sports. The networks would love the tv ratings though.

[scott715]

We could start by having teams take a summer trip to Mexico and play some games in Olympic sports.

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

Good comments Mr. Scott. I like the idea of expanding with Olympic sports first. That part would be easy. BYU women's soccer, or men's volleyball, baseball, and basketball would all be good with a UNAM scenario.

I did some "research" aka Google searching, and it turns out that American style football does have a decent presence in Mexico. Here is a link to info about their college level play: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organiz ... _Americano

There is also a Mexican pro league that reminds me a lot of the Canadian football league. Maybe there is enough infrastructure there to make it happen? I had no idea before getting into some details here, but after learning a bit more I see this as a 2-4 year plan that would totally work.

The business plan would be to first start with a few Olympic sport BYU teams to play UNAM in Mexico. Then, announce an American football game a year or two in advance. UNAM would have enough infrastructure and resources to prepare for it and make it work. The Big12 and BYU partnership would make the game highly promoted and successful.

Within 2-4 years is doable. We're not talking adding UNAM as a team to the Big12 yet, but they would AT LEAST field a team on par with or perhaps better than group of 5 conference quality. I would say that a UNAM football team would be at worst something like Wagner or Utah Tech, and at best maybe like UTEP or UMass, at least for their first big game. Given the right business strategy, it would be totally worth it for the Big12 to have a few games down south in a few years.

Best part would be BYU's international fan base on full display and selling out a 70k+ stadium. As a business analyst myself, this one is a no-brainer.

[scott715]

Very outside of the box thinking. At the very least these efforts could improve the tv ratings.