The Denver Posts Natalie Meisler is reporting that tomorrow BYU will stay with the Mountain West but there are little details surrounding their report:
I'm hearing from a number of sources that the Mountain West/BYU impasse could be resolved as soon as Thursday with all indications that the Cougars will remain in the MWC.
That does not say much about any concessions -- if any for BYU -- but Natalie Meisler makes a good point about a quick resolution between BYU and the Mountain West:
And here's one more practical reason for a quick resolution. The football season opens next week.
There are little details in this so not sure how much she really knows about the situation, but concessions must have been made for BYU to stay in the league. Some options are too allow BYU to simulcast some games on BYU-TV and perhaps show non-televised championship events which is what they had in the WAC agreement.
Or, Craig Thompson could have played hardball and tell BYU to go to the WCC or the beaten down WAC, but I doubt he would have what it takes to place an ultimatum to the team he needs the most.
If this is the case a twelfth member is a must because an eleven conference football league and basketball league is tough to pull off. Utah State was a backup plan, but on the site here Houston and UTEP have had heated suggested on who to bring in. The WAC is pretty much done and do not be surprised if La. Tech leaves to join either the Sun Belt -- where they would be an instant top three team -- or C-USA which would leave them with thirteen teams and a good chance for Houston to join the Mountain West.
Jay Drew from the Salt Lake Tribune contacted Meisler and had this to say:
Reached by telephone Wednesday night, Meisler stressed that "it is not 100 percent" certain that the issue has been resolved, but that "I feel good about it."
She said her sources are schools "in and out of the league" and that there are at least three sources telling her the deal is headed in this direction.
When all is in doubt go with Dick Harmon who will not believe anything until he sees it.
I think BYU's priority is to go indy and if the MWC wants to deal, it would have to do backflips for Y. Believe it when I see it -BYU/MWC
There is still the option of BYU joining the West Coast Conference since there are reports about BYU contacting them.
The news first came from an excellent reporter from the San Jose Mercury News' Jon Wilner who said BYU has plans to contact the WCC:
I've been told that BYU has reached out to the West Coast Conference about the possibility of placing its 18 teams that don't play football into the WCC.
In the interest of full disclosure, let's be clear: I'm not sure whether the Cougars will talk to WCC officials or meet in person with WCC officials. But according to a source, communication in some form will take place this week.
(I tried getting a comment/confirmation from WCC commish Jamie Zaninovich, who acknowledged last week that he had reached out to BYU. But Zaninovich did not respond to text or voice messages or to an email request for an interview.)
One minor problem with the WCC is that they do not carry all the sports that BYU has and they are not about to cut sports, specifically women's to be in the WCC. The WCC does not have swimming, cross country, softball, or track and trying to find another league for those sports is a ton of work for BYU's AD Tom Holmoe.
Going back to the Mountain West was the only option once Fresno State and Nevada left the WAC.
Follow Mountain West Connection via Twitter and Facebook for News Quick Hits and Random Nonsense.