BYU turns down Big East Football only invite?

by BoiseState78 on May 17, 2011 2:28 PM PDT

Bumped to the front page.

In recent days a rumor has also surfaced regarding BYU potentially joining the Big East Conference. Deep Shades of Blue has learned that the conference did indeed contact BYU about becoming a football-only member, but that the proposal was turned down by the BYU administration.

Big East programs have been among the many schools that have been talking to BYU about future games

BYU seems very focused on making football independence work in a big way, and despite the lack of news coming out of Provo, it appears the Cougars are making significant headway in putting together the kind of schedule that was envisioned when the decision was made to embark on a path to independence.

Here s a link to the full article.

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I read this

Very interesting, that site is full of former BYU players, so they may have some insight within the program that even reporters may not have.

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by Jeremy Mauss on May 17, 2011 2:59 PM PDT reply actions

Interesting they would turn it down

they’re a little far outside of the BE footprint, maybe that was a factor.

by pack_fan on May 17, 2011 3:40 PM PDT reply actions

they were scared to play tcu again

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by wolfmanshowlforever on May 17, 2011 4:38 PM PDT up reply actions

maybe

But it would be four trips a year.

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by Jeremy Mauss on May 17, 2011 5:04 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

No way that would be the deciding factor, obviously

I dont even know why I mentioned it. Maybe the money isnt a big step up from independence?

by pack_fan on May 17, 2011 8:22 PM PDT up reply actions

probably

BYUtv would be the sticking point.

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by Jeremy Mauss on May 17, 2011 8:58 PM PDT up reply actions

I think this coule be legit

Big East would love to get to 12 football teams without getting past 18 basketball teams. If they could get BYU to play football, move Villanova up, and add just UCF or Houston or maybe someone like Temple, that would be the ideal scenario for the Big East brass. 12 football/18 basketball.

by Mengus22 on May 17, 2011 5:12 PM PDT reply actions

This would make more sense

If BYU was even remotely close to the Big East schools. It’s one thing for TCU to join the Big East, we went over the numbers to find out that the average travel distance in the Big East for the Horned Frogs would only be about 100 miles, but BYU is in Salt Lake City. Closest school (other than TCU) has to be at least 1800 miles away.

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by rebelfan1 on May 17, 2011 5:28 PM PDT reply actions

Not that I think this is anything beyond a crazy rumor...

… but it doesn’t matter as much for a football-only member. Storrs, CT is a good 800 miles closer to Provo than Honolulu to Boise, for example; heck, every Big East school is closer to BYU than any MWC school is to Hawaii. Though except for Hawaii, the MWC is rather compact for a western conference; Seattle-Tuscon is nearly half again as long as the longest non-Hawaii road trip in the post-2011 MWC.

Also, FYI – Louisville, Cinci, Pitt, and WVU are under 1800 miles from Provo as the crow flies; UConn is the only that’s over 2000 miles, though just barely (SU, Rutgers, and hypothetically ’Nova are just under).

by drothgery on May 17, 2011 7:09 PM PDT up reply actions

true

But only four road trips and a boat load of more money then they are getting now. Plus, BCS bowl would be in reach.

I bet BYUtv played a factor in saying no.

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by Jeremy Mauss on May 17, 2011 7:09 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

I don't think there was a real offer

There’s no way they would have declined, BYUtv or no.

by drothgery on May 17, 2011 11:01 PM PDT up reply actions

I don't think they said it was a formal offer

More informal.

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by sabbi on May 18, 2011 10:16 AM PDT up reply actions

that is what I am thinking as well

Maybe conversations about the idea.

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by Jeremy Mauss on May 18, 2011 10:18 AM PDT up reply actions

that would make sense

by pack_fan on May 18, 2011 1:00 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm sure there was no serious proposal of any kind

There’s no way any school in FBS and not in an AQ conference other than Notre Dame and the service academies would decline a football-only invite to an AQ conference, even if it were a complete geographic mismatch. It’s just leaving too much money on the table (even with the Big East’s current terrible for an AQ conference TV deal, and BYU’s current quite good for an indy TV deal).

by drothgery on May 18, 2011 1:00 PM PDT up reply actions

And if BYU were to join the BE I think they'd want to be full members.

I think this had something to do with the decision to turn them down. What’s the point in being in one of the best basketball conferences and not playing basketball in it? Also the travel distance is an issue. Not as much of an issue in football as in sports that play twice a week but still an issue.

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by sabbi on May 18, 2011 10:18 AM PDT reply actions

That kind of travel would kill the other sports.

I don’t think it would make sense for all sports.

by holly96 on May 18, 2011 12:43 PM PDT up reply actions

agreed

Football only would be a low cost situation since they make money. Sending the tennis and swimming teams is very expensive.

Football only would makes sense

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by Jeremy Mauss on May 18, 2011 3:04 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Here's a comment from the author of that article.

Let me clarify — BYU did not turn down an official invite from the Big East. As I understand it, they were approached by the BE with the idea, but that BYU isn’t interested in being the Hawaii of the BE. Now if they came back with something that included full membership then that might be a different story. My primary source on this has been right on everything they have told me in the past, including informing me that BYU was going to go independent and move their other sports to the WAC three weeks before it became public. We made a decision at that point not to break the story for fear that it would be harmful to BYU if the info got out. The BE idea may well of been hatched out of the fact that Big East teams have had significant interest in scheduling BYU as an independent.

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by sabbi on May 18, 2011 10:23 AM PDT reply actions