Baylor fan here..... hope you can come join us in the Big 12

Well, the good news is that the Big 12 is going to survive for at least a while longer.



The Big 12 has taken several concrete steps to guarantee that it stays alive(this will still be true even if Missouri does leave). The Big 12 has already hammered out some agreements on TV rights and other things which will keep the conference alive.



I am hoping that we can get up to 12 members. As best I can tell, most of the Big 12 schools seem to want this too. However, Texas seems to be against it, and they pretty much get to run roughshod over everyone else. So we may be capped at 10 members.



My goal would be to bring in BYU, Louisville, and then if Missouri leaves go ahead and add West Virginia or South Florida.



I don't know why we did not get BYU in already. We get so many conflicting reports about things it is hard to know what to believe. I do not think that the BYU rule about playing on Sundays is a problem for the Big 12. The only thing that I have heard about BYU which kind of makes sense, and maybe you can clear this up for me, is that BYU supposedly wants to keep the media rights for everything and replay them on BYUtv. Is that true?



The main Big 12 TV contract is with ESPN and the secondary TV contract is with Fox. I could see them possibly having a problem with BYU wanting to take their broadcasts and re-air them on your channel.



Anyway, I hope that things do get ironed out eventually and that you can come join us. If it were up to me then I would take BYU in a second.



TC

nobody knows nuthin.



we're all in the dark listening to the blind detail their insider sources.



but at least it's better than nothing.

I don't think ESPN has an issue with us re-airing the games on BYUtv. Sounds like Fox is the one with the problem as they don't want to allow the games to be re-aired until 72 hours after the game. Traditionally we will re-air the games the same night they are played.

Same night vs 72 hours? If that is true then it seems like a very small concession on your part. If somebody really wanted to watch a game on the same night then they can simply use their DVR, correct?



I just saw your poll on this board about how you ask for control over sponsors and things of that nature. I do not understand what the BYU stance is on this issue, but on the surface it sounds like it could be a problem. If you do come to the Big 12 are you going to attempt to block us from having beer commercials during TV games, or things of that nature?



TC

True Colors wrote:
Same night vs 72 hours? If that is true then it seems like a very small concession on your part. If somebody really wanted to watch a game on the same night then they can simply use their DVR, correct?



I just saw your poll on this board about how you ask for control over sponsors and things of that nature. I do not understand what the BYU stance is on this issue, but on the surface it sounds like it could be a problem. If you do come to the Big 12 are you going to attempt to block us from having beer commercials during TV games, or things of that nature?



TC

I have no idea where the idea about restricting sponsors came from in that poll. If BYU is demanding that then they really do not want to join a conference. There haven't ever been restrictions on what the other members of the MWC could advertise in their arenas. Obviously BYU would not allow beer adds, or caffinated drink ads, at their home games. I don't think that the conference controls each school's in stadium advertising.

True Colors wrote:
Same night vs 72 hours? If that is true then it seems like a very small concession on your part. If somebody really wanted to watch a game on the same night then they can simply use their DVR, correct?



I just saw your poll on this board about how you ask for control over sponsors and things of that nature. I do not understand what the BYU stance is on this issue, but on the surface it sounds like it could be a problem. If you do come to the Big 12 are you going to attempt to block us from having beer commercials during TV games, or things of that nature?



TC

No...beer commercials are common with the ESPN contract. I think a more likely scenario of hesitation has to do with the use of BYUtv. Personally, I would rather sacrifice the same day rebroadcast if we could broadcast things that typically get no airtime, like volleyball.



Part of the issue has to be that BYU really has a sweetheart deal with ESPN for these goals. BYUtv will broadcast a lot of mens basketball. They can do whatever they want with games after they are complete.



However, a lot of this is speculation and hard to define. The fan base is awaiting something because we are growing ulcers trying to figure this thing out.

You have no idea how badly most BYU fans want to be in your conference. I just hope that the BYU admin wants it as bad and works this thing out.

The issue with sponsorships is not preventing ESPN/Fox or other teams to not allow Beer ads, but to say there will be no such ads inside of LaVell Edwards Stadium, or the Marriott Center, etc. This could come into play if BYU were hosting some kind of championship event and Budweiser had advertising rights for it or something.



Beer ads are already common during BYU games on ESPN and it's no big deal. In fact, in some of the Bud Light commercials there's a Mormon actor!

hawkwing wrote:
The issue with sponsorships is not preventing ESPN/Fox or other teams to not allow Beer ads, but to say there will be no such ads inside of LaVell Edwards Stadium, or the Marriott Center, etc. This could come into play if BYU were hosting some kind of championship event and Budweiser had advertising rights for it or something.



Beer ads are already common during BYU games on ESPN and it's no big deal. In fact, in some of the Bud Light commercials there's a Mormon actor!

I can't [sob] do this! [sob, sob, sob]

frdbtr wrote:
You have no idea how badly most BYU fans want to be in your conference. I just hope that the BYU admin wants it as bad and works this thing out.

I don't think this is necessarily true. It might be true for the outspoken part of the fanbase, but nearly all the fans I talk to don't care that much. Most are happy with independence in football---they get to see their team play on ESPN nearly every week---and win a decent bit. Going to the Big 12 (Occasionally the strongest conference in college football, and close to the SEC the rest of the time) will make it difficult to be dominant. If you had to pick 2 conferences you don't want to be a part of just because they are so difficult, it would be the Big 12 and SEC. BYU could consistently be in the hunt for the Conference Championship in any other league---but it will be very difficult in the Big 12.



From my experience, it seems the majority of fans would rather have winning seasons against ok competition than mediocre seasons against incredible competition.