BYU strives to run its athletic programs like a P5 institution. – BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe
The Big 12 brought a herd of horses to water and didn’t let any of them drink.
Ten Big 12 presidents did what was widely expected Monday when they met outside Dallas for a summit meeting on expansion issues. The presidents punted. It will be known as the biggest tease in college football history.
The vote: Don’t invite anybody. There is no consensus on who to invite, so, do nothing.
What does this mean for BYU, often mentioned as the most qualified brand to join the Big 12?
"BYU strives to run its athletic programs like a P5 institution," said athletic director Tom Holmoe.
This decision ends a summer and fall filled with a mountain of speculation, vetting of at least 11 schools that the Big 12 asked to jump hurdles and dive through hoops to present their case for inclusion. All for naught.
Big 12 expansion committee chairman David Boren (Oklahoma president) did not say this was a permanent decision by the Big 12, but it was “for the present,” and “for this point in time.” He said vetting the dozen schools was beneficial and educational and not a waste of time. “It just wasn’t the right time.”
Both BYU and Boise State, whose football programs face one another in a nationally broadcast game on Thursday in Boise, were part of that process, an exercise that now appears was a dog and pony show.
Following a July 19 decision by Big 12 presidents to explore expansion, league Commissioner Bob Bowlsby used two consulting firms to study possible candidates. The league then invited 11 schools to make presentations in August.
As tough as it is for BYU fans to not see their school invited to the Big 12, this shouldn’t be seen as a personal rejection. It was an act of self-interest and appeasement of the league’s Big 12 TV partners.
This decision came down to two things. First, league politics involving Texas, Oklahoma and the remaining eight schools who frequently clashed. Second, if the Big 12 expanded, TV partners would be on the hook for $25 million per team because of a pro rata clause in the contract. TV entities didn’t want to ante up, and they let it be known more than a month ago.
BYU remains an independent football program with other sports tied to the West Coast Conference. The best part of that is the Cougar football program in 2016 is enjoying more national TV game exposure than most college programs outside Notre Dame and LSU, according to Sports Media Watch.
What hurts BYU is its scramble to schedule quality home games. What helps is playing name Power 5 programs on the road or in NFL venues.
What hurts the Cougars is recruiting with a non-Power 5 label. What helps Cougar football is flexibility in taking its program wherever and whenever it wants and sharing its ESPN and bowl revenue with no one.
What hurts BYU football is not competing for a league title and no contractual pathway to the College Playoff through a league title tie-in. What helps BYU is its ability to keep non-Sunday play intact and unchallenged by a league (which it had before in the MWC and WAC), and ability to stand on merits of its well-publicized Honor Code amongst a national culture that questions beliefs that traditionally have been accepted by the majority of world societies for thousands of years.
This decision means BYU remains an outlier, a bridesmaid waiting for a proposal.
The next portal for BYU inclusion in a Power 5 league is if the NCAA morphs into several super conferences or league mergers similar to division play like the NFL.
"Never say never," said Boren of Big 12 future plans.
Another possibility is for BYU to return to the MWC or hook up with the American Athletic Conference. But I don’t think that is an option for Holmoe, who likes the freedom independence gives BYU football as a national brand.
For BYU to join any league, whether Power 5 or non-Power 5, it would mean fewer nationally televised games and a decreased TV inventory of its programs. Today, any game, match or contest of a BYU athletic event is a matter of pushing a button if costs are covered.
The Big 12 ran smack into a big expansion dilemma. It had BYU, which could pull its weight among TV folks, but nobody else appeared even remotely attractive. Texas wanted Houston and Oklahoma wanted Cincinnati. It was an impasse with these big two entities most of the summer. Then TV folks told the Big 12, please don’t expand at all and we could sugar your deal, according to Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated.
Fox Sports President Eric Shanks talked before Monday’s vote about something that loomed as the crux of what private talks with the Big 12 really amounted to in expansion.
Shanks told the Sports Business Journal, “We don’t think expansion in the Big 12 is a good idea for the conference. We think it will be dilutive to the product in the short term. In the long term, it’s probably harmful to the future of the conference. Who knows where expansion is going to go. Reading the smoke signals, (expansion talk has) cooled off. I don’t know why. We’re still in discussions with them. We still have a long way to go in the deal. We’ll work through it the best way that we can.”
The first step in the Big 12 addressing its challenges was Monday with a no-expansion vote.
It ends a summer and fall of cross-eyed presidents wading through politics and money worries and getting to the conclusion that the only thing they could agree on is that change scared them all.
EMAIL: dharmon@deseretnews.com.
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