Thoughts about potential Independence League

Latest rumor from MWC indicates that BSU and Air Force may not be joining Big East but seeking contract with ESPN. Would make sense to me for them to go route of BYU and establish their games with ESPN who would help them set up schedule and potential bowl games. Hawaii has also groused about considering independence before they accepted MWC invite and that conference appears to be losing it's major drawing cards. What if the existing independents (Army, Navy, ND and BYU forged a Football only relationship with potential new independents BSU, AF and HI. Could have a west east feel to it and would make for good competition as they played each other and then filled in remaining games with opponents of choice. Could even result in some alliances with better bowls and potential consideration for BCS appearance as it would definitely equal quality of Big East teams.



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would help our scheduling but surely limit our games on espn.

Hmm...Sounds an awful lot like a conference. Only in this "league" of independents you get whatever you earn from whatever bowl you go to and whatever you earn with TV contracts. The only conferencish part is having five other teams on your schedule--hopefully for late October and November and perhaps a league trophy for the best record against the other league members. Army, Navy, Air Force, ND, Boise State, and Hawaii would be solid games every year. I could definitely get behind that. The problem is I'm not sure if ND would be OK with that. I'm not sure they want to tie down five games every year to these teams--especially considering their penchant for wanting two for ones with us. In theory I like the idea, though.

ND won't go for that. They can schedule pretty much whoever they want without a league. And I don't like 3 games against chop-blocking teams. One maybe and I don't even like that.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
Hmm...Sounds an awful lot like a conference.

A loose confederation of independent schools...

This would be fantastic for BYU! I wouldn't make it any kind of formal arrangement, however. They wouldn't even need to play EVERY year. At least ALL schools. It would just be a nice relationship to ease November scheduling.



I would love to see BYU end every year against either Boise State or Hawaii, but generally playing both in November, and then playing 1 or 2 of Air Force, Navy, and Army each year.



You throw in Notre Dame and you have a pretty decent November schedule each year. Then, keep Utah State at conference weekend and look to schedule one decent opponent in October each year (a la TCU in Arlington, Georgia Tech, Houston). Then, September could be September and I think the Cougar fan base could really get behind something like this.



Here's some sample schedules to show how awesome this could be (taking into account current commitments)!



2014

8/30-Utah

9/6-at Texas

9/13-Southern Miss

9/20-at UCF

9/27-Houston

10/3-Utah State

10/11-at Georgia Tech

10/18-Weber State

10/25-BYE

11/1-Notre Dame

11/8-at Air Force

11/15-Hawaii

11/22-BYE

11/29-at Boise State



2015

9/5-at Utah

9/12- Arizona State

9/19- at Purdue

9/26- Kansas State

10/2-Utah State

10/10-at Southern Miss

10/17-TCU

10/24-BYE

10/31-at Army

11/7-at Hawaii

11/14-Air Force

11/21-at Notre Dame

11/28-Boise State

This rumor sounds like one of those off-the-wall rumors that never really goes anywhere (i.e. the "ESPN conference") but I'm still intrigued. Do you have a link?



Additionally, is there anyone here that follows AFA or lives in the Colorado region that can provide a feel for how the Falcons feel about the BE move? I know they were less than 100% on board when BYU was in the equation, and it's really remarkable how much less attractive that conference is if BYU is swapped out for any of the other possible alternatives.

Pipe dream. This rumor is as credible as the rest, which I have given up on completely.

Lawboy wrote:
Pipe dream. This rumor is as credible as the rest, which I have given up on completely.

A wise man once said, 'believe nothing.'

I will say that I do love the idea. Imagine if Texas decided that what the LOI (League of Independents) has going on is pretty cool--own TV deals, own Bowl Game, money, and just a loose affiliation of scheduling with plenty of vacancies to make your schedule as difficult or easy as you want it. There are a couple of other schools, such as Texas, that would be uniquely suited for this new slant on independence.



Anyway, it is all a pipedream.

Not saying it will happen, but it sounds more plausible than the dream scenario where elite teams like Texas, Michigan, USC & Florida State would defect from conferences to follow BYU & Notre Dame. It’s more a peculiar oddball club than a cool-kid club, so it would have a place for BYU.



The most stable conferences favor large state schools to a ridiculous degree. It’s so easy to attach them to a TV market & translate that into TV dollars. So their value is inflated. See Utah, Missouri & Colorado. Even aTm was mostly about expanding the SEC footprint into the Texas markets.



Most of the oddball schools have varying degrees of a national following. A diffuse following isn’t that attractive to a traditional conference with a regional TV network. ESPN doesn’t care about markets, they’re a national network. It would be nice if they worked with the oddballs, even if it was just a "loose confederation".



Doubt Notre Dame would agree to regular H&H deals with other indy teams. Big East tried something like that but it never really stuck.

The problem with this idea is that these teams still need a place to put their non-football teams. BYU is fine, but what of the rest? Is the Big West good enough? Or the WAC? OR perhaps these teams form their own league for all non-football sports? I do not see that at all.



ND has no interest in playing all of these teams annually. They have tradition annual games with Michigan, Mich State, Purdue, BC, USC, Stanford, Army, and Navy. Currently, they also play 2 BE teams per as well. That leaves 2 games, 4 if they drop the BE. So not likely.

Lawboy wrote:
The problem with this idea is that these teams still need a place to put their non-football teams. BYU is fine, but what of the rest? Is the Big West good enough? Or the WAC? OR perhaps these teams form their own league for all non-football sports? I do not see that at all.



ND has no interest in playing all of these teams annually. They have tradition annual games with Michigan, Mich State, Purdue, BC, USC, Stanford, Army, and Navy. Currently, they also play 2 BE teams per as well. That leaves 2 games, 4 if they drop the BE. So not likely.

I think that BSU would prostitute its non-fball teams anywhere to benefit the fball team. It's all about fball. They'd sell their souls to the :utard: if it meant a shot at the MNC game.