Looks like the demands that the BYU Cougars were implementing were unreasonable, so the Big East is not going to waste their time anymore and are moving on to the San Diego St. Aztecs to be a football-only member. My assumption is that San Diego State will ask where to sign once the invitation is extended.
Brett McMurphy is reporting that the Big East has passed on BYU and is moving on to San Diego State (emphasis mine):
The Cougars had been in discussions with the Big East for weeks about joining the league. In the earlier negotiations between BYU and the Big East, BYU did not have an issue with relinquishing its home television rights. That changed, however.
"They (BYU) are being extremely unreasonable all of a sudden," a source said Tuesday morning. "This is one reason why they did not get into the Big 12. Their general counsel (lawyers) is a piece of work."
With BYU out of the picture, the Big East will target San Diego State as a football-only member, a source said. The reason the Big East would seek out the Aztecs is because Boise State wants a Western partner before joining the league.
There is more proof that people dislike BYU, so add that to the list of Utah, Colorado State, Wyoming, UNLV, San Diego State and any other former conference member regarding BYU. BYU could have been playing hard ball to get a better offer, but the Big East is not dumb because they know that without being able to sell BYU to advertisers the conference television deal would be less money.
BYU wants to join a conference, but not really join a conference. So, they can toil in independence and pretend to be Notre Dame, and some will say I am being harsh since I am a Utah fan. But I can guarantee anyone here on this site would agree that BYU thinks they are bigger then they really are. BYU also did not like that Comcast/NBC would be involved in contract talks as a possible television partner. BYU is mad at Comcast because Comcast was a 50 percent partner in the Mtn, and there was supposedly a verbal agreement to reair games on BYUtv, but since it was not written down Comcast said no to rebroadcasts.
So, San Diego State get ready for those 9 a.m. local kickoffs for road games.
Really, is this a good move for San Diego State, because if the BCS goes away then San Diego State is in a far-flung league that is extremely desperate to maintain something that may no longer be in place. The money will be at least five times better, probably more, and games will likely be on an ESPN outlet or maybe Comcast or Fox to add more football programing.
However, this means basketball is probably heading to the Big West or maybe the West Coast Conference. The Big West will have 10 basketball members in 2011 once the Hawaii Warriors come aboard and 11 is an odd number for basketball. However, the West Coast Conference has nine basketball members and 10 would be ok.
My assumption is that San Diego State would say yes mainly because they have been selling their program to try to get a Big 12 invite.
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