Who is in the position of power now?

Right now, the player with the most power is Boise State, whether they know it or not.



Boise State can choose between the MWC and the WAC with no penalty. If Boise State chooses to go back to the WAC, then the WAC could easily expand and remain viable (Fresno State and Nevada would possibly reconsider), and ESPN would have BYU and BSU in the fold. If they choose the MWC, WAC either unravels or expands but remains inferior to the MWC.



BYU should be on the phone with BSU guaranteeing a long-term home-home series outside of any conference obligations to get them to move to the WAC.

Mingjai wrote:
Right now, the player with the most power is Boise State, whether they know it or not.



Boise State can choose between the MWC and the WAC with no penalty. If Boise State chooses to go back to the WAC, then the WAC could easily expand and remain viable (Fresno State and Nevada would possibly reconsider), and ESPN would have BYU and BSU in the fold. If they choose the MWC, WAC either unravels or expands but remains inferior to the MWC.



BYU should be on the phone with BSU guaranteeing a long-term home-home series outside of any conference obligations to get them to move to the WAC.

ESPN is in the biggest position of power and has been all along. If ESPN really wanted this to go down, they would have been on the phone with the WAC schools to make sure they held their end of the deal promising the TV time and more money for the games against BYU then they currently have with thier contract.

Of course--ESPN is in the position of power in any situation. That goes without saying.

Why would BSU go back to the WAC? They want AQ status. They will not get that by going back. BYU football would be independent and they are in the very same boat as before.

BYU is worth considerations but probably not of such high worth that ESPN is going to go out o a limb. Although, i would not underestimate their power.

dmcougar wrote:
Why would BSU go back to the WAC? They want AQ status. They will not get that by going back. BYU football would be independent and they are in the very same boat as before.

Boise State has to decide if their changes of getting AQ status go up if they are in the MWC minus BYU or in the WAC with BYU on the schedule every year. It's pretty close either way.



Neither the BYU-less MWC nor the WAC have much chance to get an automatic bid for their champion.

dmcougar wrote:
Why would BSU go back to the WAC? They want AQ status. They will not get that by going back. BYU football would be independent and they are in the very same boat as before.

BSU had AQ status in the WAC, all they had to do is go undefeated against that cupcake sched and they are in.

dmcougar wrote:
BYU is worth considerations but probably not of such high worth that ESPN is going to go out o a limb. Although, i would not underestimate their power.

I thought that the general consensus of the posters on this site that wanted BYU to go independant is that ESPN wanted BYU really bad and would have no problem paying to broadcast them if BYU went inde. So if this is true, why wouldn't they try to save the deal?

frdbtr wrote:

BYU is worth considerations but probably not of such high worth that ESPN is going to go out o a limb. Although, i would not underestimate their power.

I thought that the general consensus of the posters on this site that wanted BYU to go independant is that ESPN wanted BYU really bad and would have no problem paying to broadcast them if BYU went inde. So if this is true, why wouldn't they try to save the deal?

You have to remember that ESPN is trying to keep a toehold in the west. They lost Boise State, they lost FSU and Reno and The PAC is with Fox. All ESPN has is the 6 team WAC now and you can bet that they are not just going to lay down and take this all lightly. My bet is that ESPN is going to be very involved in getting 2 new teams in the WAC so that the BYU independence deal can still happen.

CannonCougar85 wrote:

dmcougar wrote:
BYU is worth considerations but probably not of such high worth that ESPN is going to go out o a limb. Although, i would not underestimate their power.

I thought that the general consensus of the posters on this site that wanted BYU to go independant is that ESPN wanted BYU really bad and would have no problem paying to broadcast them if BYU went inde. So if this is true, why wouldn't they try to save the deal?

You have to remember that ESPN is trying to keep a toehold in the west. They lost Boise State, they lost FSU and Reno and The PAC is with Fox. All ESPN has is the 6 team WAC now and you can bet that they are not just going to lay down and take this all lightly. My bet is that ESPN is going to be very involved in getting 2 new teams in the WAC so that the BYU independence deal can still happen.

Exactly! ESPN will not sit back and watch all this happen. They'll get what they want. Just like how they got BUY-OU game together.



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CannonCougar85 wrote:

dmcougar wrote:
BYU is worth considerations but probably not of such high worth that ESPN is going to go out o a limb. Although, i would not underestimate their power.

I thought that the general consensus of the posters on this site that wanted BYU to go independant is that ESPN wanted BYU really bad and would have no problem paying to broadcast them if BYU went inde. So if this is true, why wouldn't they try to save the deal?

You have to remember that ESPN is trying to keep a toehold in the west. They lost Boise State, they lost FSU and Reno and The PAC is with Fox. All ESPN has is the 6 team WAC now and you can bet that they are not just going to lay down and take this all lightly. My bet is that ESPN is going to be very involved in getting 2 new teams in the WAC so that the BYU independence deal can still happen.

Exactly, that is why I posted that ESPN has the most power right now. If they really want this deal, they will help BYU find a way to make it work.

OK, let's say ESPN is orchestrating this as much as BYU. Then they will want a better WAC, not FCS+, right? Which means they will offer $$$ to get C-USA/MWC schools to go back. Besides BYU, which schools are most upset with the MWC? I would say SDSU and TCU (no local mtn, right?), but the FSU move locks SDSU in and Patterson's comments certainly don't show any collusion with BYU.



Somehow, I don't see ESPN willing to fork over enough money to make anything this major happen.



I have a feeling that when this all works out, we are all going to be very surprised (just like June).

ESPN has a deal in place for hoops with the WCC already, and if BYU goes WCC for all sports but football, ESPN now has a first right of refusal for all BYU home football games, the rights to broadcast any hoops games they want, along with all other sports that the WCC plays. Only thing the WAC brought that the WCC does not is 4 football games a year on the schedule. By the way, USU, NMSU, Hawaii, LTech and co are all looking for games now, so that is basically 4 games a year, if really needed. And don;t think that schools like AFA, SDSU etc won;t jump at scheduling BYU in all sports because we will MWC venues.



BYU still goes indy. Makes too much sense financially not to. Only issue is where other sports land, and the WCC looks like the best option today.

Lawboy wrote:
ESPN has a deal in place for hoops with the WCC already, and if BYU goes WCC for all sports but football, ESPN now has a first right of refusal for all BYU home football games, the rights to broadcast any hoops games they want, along with all other sports that the WCC plays. Only thing the WAC brought that the WCC does not is 4 football games a year on the schedule. By the way, USU, NMSU, Hawaii, LTech and co are all looking for games now, so that is basically 4 games a year, if really needed. And don;t think that schools like AFA, SDSU etc won;t jump at scheduling BYU in all sports because we will MWC venues.



BYU still goes indy. Makes too much sense financially not to. Only issue is where other sports land, and the WCC looks like the best option today.

I think you are right. That is probably what happens here. MCC is a 'good' fit despite it being a large step down. Hate to see our bball team playing in basically high school gyms but st .marys and gonazaga get TONS of play each year from espn and it may not be as bad for basketball as we think. bunch of private schools as well, just like byu.

ESPN is the biggest player here period but BYU is still holding all their cards and a couple of new ones. If BYU leaves, MWC now has to renegotiate their TV contract which would put ESPN in the drivers seat to pick the MWC back up. It also gives them some power to get BYU's "other" sports back into the MWC or land somewhere else soft.

Karl Benson said that once FSU and Nevada accepted the MWC invite, the talks with BYU completely ended. So the WAC option is over.

frdbtr wrote:
Karl Benson said that once FSU and Nevada accepted the MWC invite, the talks with BYU completely ended. So the WAC option is over.

He said the negotiations between BYU and the WAC are ongoing.

Benson said the remaining WAC schools had a conference call Thursday morning to discuss staying together and all were committed to do so. He said he has reached out to BYU since Fresno State and Nevada left and will continue to have ongoing negotiations to see if it’s still viable for the Cougars to join the remaining WAC schools.



“We hope that there is still an opportunity to structure an arrangement to allow BYU to be a part of the WAC in some shape or form and we’re open to any of those discussions,’’ Benson said.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/14499/wac-commish-karl-benson-comes-out-firing

Here is what I still have not been able to figure out... If BYU was negotiation with the WAC and orchestrating these poison pill contracts, why would they vote to approve FSU and Nevada coming in to the conference? I feeling like we just do not have all those facts. I am itching to see what really is happening here.



Also, my conspiracy theory is that the person that hacked the CSUFootball twitter wanted to bring down the BYU independence bid. The timing of that just was too convenient for the two team invitation to occur just in time, etc. Just speculating....

RobertMRogers wrote:
Here is what I still have not been able to figure out... If BYU was negotiation with the WAC and orchestrating these poison pill contracts, why would they vote to approve FSU and Nevada coming in to the conference? I feeling like we just do not have all those facts. I am itching to see what really is happening here.



Also, my conspiracy theory is that the person that hacked the CSUFootball twitter wanted to bring down the BYU independence bid. The timing of that just was too convenient for the two team invitation to occur just in time, etc. Just speculating....

Truly machiavellian view: BYU arranges $5 million poison pill, gets FSU and UNR to join, and then goes indie, leaving remaining MWC members to come up with $10 million OR pay BYU a lot more money--say $9.5 million to stay just sayin"