Education Week With Tom Holmoe

Just attended a BYU education week class hosted by TH.



Here are some notes and observations, mostly from the Q&A (which was the majority of the session):



TH mentioned some schools have contacted him about going independent. He wouldn't mention who they were, but he warned them to "be careful" and felt that they were not exploring it for the right reasons.



He confirmed that Juice transferred because of playing time and depth chart competition.



He inferred the Nebraska game is one-and-done. Also, stated that Wisconsin is currently just a one game series, with talks going on for future games.



Gave some great background and explanation about the events of going independent. He explained that he had to contractually agree to games for 2011-2012 BEFORE BYU left the MWC!! He said that was an immense task and stressful. Told us not to worry about future schedules. Also, mentioned that the Notre Dame series with USC and Stanford have created late season BYE games in the PAC 12 schedules and he sees opportunities there. Could also be opportunities with SEC and ACC schedules.



Regarding Big 12 (or Big East, PAC 12, or Big Sky), right now, nothing is going on. Everything in media is pure speculation and conjecture.



Who is the former Army AD? Tom said we had a series scheduled with Army, but Army's AD (who TH is good friends with from Stanford, Cal and 49ers) had to back out because Army's schedule was too demanding. TH says that former AD owes Tom one!!



Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!



Also had 3 people in Prague, Czech Republic tell him they were able to watch ALL BYU football games on BYUTV. This was a signal of success for BYU.

A better home schedule will get the UC fans into teh stadum. Hard to want to pay to see SJSU, NMSU, Weber State, IDaho, etc. 2013 will see ticket sales skyrocket. Home scheduling is crucial for ticket sales.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/592916-army-names-boo-corrigan-new-athletic-director" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



I don't know if this is accurate (it is BR afterall) but if I read it right, it sounds like Kevin Anderson was the old AD who is at Maryland now. Interesting.

Nice catch on that one. Fits in perfectly with an ACC team series I was mentioning....

Lawboy wrote:
A better home schedule will get the UC fans into teh stadum. Hard to want to pay to see SJSU, NMSU, Weber State, IDaho, etc. 2013 will see ticket sales skyrocket. Home scheduling is crucial for ticket sales.

Not for schools with an elite fan base. Season tickets are passed down to future generations in wills because they are so hard to get. Not many fan bases are like that. Hence - that is why they are elite. It comes with pros and cons. BYU Football tickets are a bargain. Fans are spoiled. Even Air Wolf whined about hot dog prices.



BYU is unique. The Church wants exposure - locally and nationally. Otherwise. these broadcasts would be blocked out anywhere within 3 hours drive from Provo. Then tickets would sell.



Go look who Florida fans pay to see. They buy the season tickets - because some of the games are interesting and If you want a decent seat - those do not come one game at a time in contiguous seats - except at a price that would make you wish you bought the season tickets.



And individual game seats are priced depending on the opponent.



BYU has to weigh those economics Vs the desire for exposure.



That is why selling our souls to get a road game at Wisconson, Nebraska, ND, TX. Okie, and TCU is unwise. Schedule decent teams that will come to Provo every other game.



Fans will pay to see BYU beat UCLA, AZ, ASU, WSU, UW, Colo, OSU, and other teams like that if we are competitive. They will weary of paying to see us lose if we play USC every week.



It is all about scheduling.



BTW - in 2013 fans will be optimistic and BYU will be a very hard ticket to get. I already plan to double my order now that I do not live half way around the world. Going back up to the 4 seats I had when I lived in So. Cal.



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YNot wrote:
Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!

I was there too and it was the usual session with not much meat, but I will, this year, fall into that group that is staying home to watch it on a big screen. I tell you what. I sat in the new chairs that they put in the MC to replace the student benches and if they got comfortable, more roomier seats like that in the stadium, then I'm back. I honestly don't like the games like with Puktah where you are butt-to-butt with your neighbor and no room to breath, especially when you've paid a bundle to be there. There are things that BYU needs to do to show appreciation to us fans in my book. Not saying that I won't be at a game, but I'm sorry, but those late night November games against poor competition left a lasting taste in my mouth.

EM_Puma wrote:

Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!

I was there too and it was the usual session with not much meat, but I will, this year, fall into that group that is staying home to watch it on a big screen. I tell you what. I sat in the new chairs that they put in the MC to replace the student benches and if they got comfortable, more roomier seats like that in the stadium, then I'm back. I honestly don't like the games like with Puktah where you are butt-to-butt with your neighbor and no room to breath, especially when you've paid a bundle to be there. There are things that BYU needs to do to show appreciation to us fans in my book. Not saying that I won't be at a game, but I'm sorry, but those late night November games against poor competition left a lasting taste in my mouth.

boooooooo........



I'd literally kill to be close enough to go to games at LES. Come on utah fans. I'm driving 3 hours to go to an away game vs nmsu... IN NOVEMBER!!! Absolutely pumped about it.

BroncoBot wrote:

YNot wrote:
Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!

I was there too and it was the usual session with not much meat, but I will, this year, fall into that group that is staying home to watch it on a big screen. I tell you what. I sat in the new chairs that they put in the MC to replace the student benches and if they got comfortable, more roomier seats like that in the stadium, then I'm back. I honestly don't like the games like with Puktah where you are butt-to-butt with your neighbor and no room to breath, especially when you've paid a bundle to be there. There are things that BYU needs to do to show appreciation to us fans in my book. Not saying that I won't be at a game, but I'm sorry, but those late night November games against poor competition left a lasting taste in my mouth.

boooooooo........



I'd literally kill to be close enough to go to games at LES. Come on utah fans. I'm driving 3 hours to go to an away game vs nmsu... IN NOVEMBER!!! Absolutely pumped about it.

I hope that you'd only figuratively kill to be that close.... ;) But I'm in the same boat. 3 hour drive to go see BYU @ San Jose State in November, and absolutly PUMPED!!!!

ABYUFAN wrote:

EM_Puma wrote:

Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!

I was there too and it was the usual session with not much meat, but I will, this year, fall into that group that is staying home to watch it on a big screen. I tell you what. I sat in the new chairs that they put in the MC to replace the student benches and if they got comfortable, more roomier seats like that in the stadium, then I'm back. I honestly don't like the games like with Puktah where you are butt-to-butt with your neighbor and no room to breath, especially when you've paid a bundle to be there. There are things that BYU needs to do to show appreciation to us fans in my book. Not saying that I won't be at a game, but I'm sorry, but those late night November games against poor competition left a lasting taste in my mouth.

boooooooo........



I'd literally kill to be close enough to go to games at LES. Come on utah fans. I'm driving 3 hours to go to an away game vs nmsu... IN NOVEMBER!!! Absolutely pumped about it.

I hope that you'd only figuratively kill to be that close.... ;) But I'm in the same boat. 3 hour drive to go see BYU @ San Jose State in November, and absolutly PUMPED!!!!

I'll be making a horrendous 35 min drive to see BYU play SJSU in the middle of a California November. I did drop $200 on tickets, though. Did you guys get the alumni tickets with the tailgate party included?



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I'll be making a TERRIBLE 10 mile drive to watch it at my dads house in Eagle Mountain!!



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Can I for one say I'm shocked that the Wisconsin "series" is only one game.



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stuckinbig10country wrote:
Can I for one say I'm shocked that the Wisconsin "series" is only one game.



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Me too. I NEVER saw this coming.

I'm glad they have more supportive fans then myself. Seriously. I felt bad the way TM said that ticket sales were down. I'd call myself a less than stallwart fan because I'm going to watch most of the home games at home this year, but that's where I'm at. I simply get too rapped up in the games and last season's first half was a killer. When you have to come back to beat USU at home, then...

SpiffCoug wrote:

Can I for one say I'm shocked that the Wisconsin "series" is only one game.



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Me too. I NEVER saw this coming.

He was VERY quick to answer that question that it was a one game series and that there are talks about future games. He knew that question was coming.

EM_Puma wrote:

stuckinbig10country wrote:
Can I for one say I'm shocked that the Wisconsin "series" is only one game.



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Me too. I NEVER saw this coming.

He was VERY quick to answer that question that it was a one game series and that there are talks about future games. He knew that question was coming.

So this is just a fancy way of selling the fan base on a 2-for-1.

The question was brought up too about BYUtv's coverage of the BYU Rugby team. TH said he had no control over what games BYUtv covered and he has no authority over the club teams that are not officially part of BYU sports. He said he'd love for BYUtv to cover them, but that's an issue with BYUtv.

BroncoBot wrote:

YNot wrote:
Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!

I was there too and it was the usual session with not much meat, but I will, this year, fall into that group that is staying home to watch it on a big screen. I tell you what. I sat in the new chairs that they put in the MC to replace the student benches and if they got comfortable, more roomier seats like that in the stadium, then I'm back. I honestly don't like the games like with Puktah where you are butt-to-butt with your neighbor and no room to breath, especially when you've paid a bundle to be there. There are things that BYU needs to do to show appreciation to us fans in my book. Not saying that I won't be at a game, but I'm sorry, but those late night November games against poor competition left a lasting taste in my mouth.

boooooooo........



I'd literally kill to be close enough to go to games at LES. Come on utah fans. I'm driving 3 hours to go to an away game vs nmsu... IN NOVEMBER!!! Absolutely pumped about it.

This



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ABYUFAN wrote:

EM_Puma wrote:

Also mentioned that a tough task is balancing demands and requests of local fans versus national fans. Said ticket sales are down a little bit because games available on TV/ESPN. He said Utah county fans have told him that they are so glad they can stay home and watch HOME games on HD TV. Geez!

I was there too and it was the usual session with not much meat, but I will, this year, fall into that group that is staying home to watch it on a big screen. I tell you what. I sat in the new chairs that they put in the MC to replace the student benches and if they got comfortable, more roomier seats like that in the stadium, then I'm back. I honestly don't like the games like with Puktah where you are butt-to-butt with your neighbor and no room to breath, especially when you've paid a bundle to be there. There are things that BYU needs to do to show appreciation to us fans in my book. Not saying that I won't be at a game, but I'm sorry, but those late night November games against poor competition left a lasting taste in my mouth.

boooooooo........



I'd literally kill to be close enough to go to games at LES. Come on utah fans. I'm driving 3 hours to go to an away game vs nmsu... IN NOVEMBER!!! Absolutely pumped about it.

I hope that you'd only figuratively kill to be that close.... ;) But I'm in the same boat. 3 hour drive to go see BYU @ San Jose State in November, and absolutly PUMPED!!!!

And This



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JamieVallen wrote:
I'll be making a TERRIBLE 10 mile drive to watch it at my dads house in Eagle Mountain!!



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BYU needs to black out these games for delayed broadcast in Utah or go Pay For View like many other teams do. BYU probably did not anticipate this fan backlash - may have to react to it.



But Hey - keep KSL Radio for those who really cannot be at the game.



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EM_Puma wrote:

stuckinbig10country wrote:
Can I for one say I'm shocked that the Wisconsin "series" is only one game.



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Me too. I NEVER saw this coming.

He was VERY quick to answer that question that it was a one game series and that there are talks about future games. He knew that question was coming.

Talks - like with Texas. 2 for 1. Face saving announcement.



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