How does Sunday play come into play?
If the Big 12 makes a move to expand, how big of an issue for that league is BYU’s practice of not scheduling competition on Sundays?
Not as big a hurdle as many have maintained the past five years.
In the realm of expansion talk, which has turned into a national media echo chamber this summer, it’s kind of a fake issue. Geography might be bigger than Sunday play. And even that is weak when that league added West Virginia in 2010.
The Sunday play discussion has been popular to bring up when pros and cons of inviting BYU have been discussed. But really, is it a factor?
Not really. Geography could be. The late Monday assault by LGBT groups for the Big 12 to discriminate against BYU for what they see as discrimination toward gay faculty and students might roll into a firewall. This is a time knives have come out to knock off the leading expansion candidate, declared by so many media voices.
Sunday play? Nah.
The Cougars have maneuvered through more than a century with this policy. They’ve played myriad formats and schedules in the Skyline Conference, Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West. If you line up the games played in major and minor sports, they’ve kept that concept in place.
Has it been easy? Yes and no.
The conferences BYU has competed in have accommodated schedules for the Cougars. It hasn’t been difficult. It didn’t shake things up. It took some planning with some minor sports and championships, but it wasn’t that big a pain.
But when BYU is considered for regional or national NCAA championship competition, yes, accommodating the school from Provo has been an issue. It has actually hurt BYU’s seeding in the NCAA Basketball Tournament when the Selection Committee gets to the point of choosing where to place the Cougars in brackets to ensure it isn’t a conflict.
Having said that, we saw very clearly how the NCAA enacted an accommodation process for BYU this spring for the NCAA Golf Championships. Cougar women played Sunday’s round on Thursday. It was workable.
But expansion talk?
Generally speaking, the Big 12 doesn’t play football games on Sunday. It isn’t a major issue in that sport. Minor sports like baseball, tennis, soccer, golf and others, yes.
But that can be worked out with a commissioner as smart as Bob Bowlsby.
You have to look no further than BYU’s current relationship with the West Coast Conference in which BYU’s non-football sports generally compete.
Over time, many WCC officials have told BYU administrators they’ve actually enjoyed working through travel and schedules that don’t involve Sunday play. It gave coaches and students the opportunity to return from weekend competition and meet the demands of school on a Monday morning.
I think the WCC basketball accommodation for BYU in splitting up a weekend tournament (Friday, Saturday, Sunday off, Monday then Tuesday final) is odd, strange to some. And yes it is inconvenient for some schools. But the greatest inconvenience is actually for BYU itself, which does not practice that day before resuming play on Monday.
At BYU’s football media days in June, this question came up for Holmoe during a media session on the school’s TV network.
Holmoe was very clear that BYU was immobile in its stand to compete without breaking its longstanding tradition of no Sunday play.
“I really would love to see our football play at that level, be playing in a P5 conference. I want our players … in all of our sports to be able to play at the highest level. I don’t know [if the policy is a deal breaker]. That’s up to the P5 conferences. But I do know that it’s something that we hold sacred. We have never played on a Sunday and we’re not going to play on Sunday.”
That stark stand is clear and unambiguous. Some like to have fun with the fact BYU has been involved in many late Saturday games that may bleed over into Sunday, joking that they might have to [or should] walk off the court or field at the stroke of midnight to be in line with its principles.
Dumb thought.
BYU does not schedule competition on Sundays as part of any plan or design. If a game spills over, the spirit of that rule remains valid.
In a month, or perhaps weeks, the Big 12 will decide if it will go ahead with plans to expand and add two or four teams. The Cougars are solidly in that mix, often mentioned as the leader if not a key player in the design, which is based on football and TV money.
College football has not been a regular Sunday event. That day has traditionally yielded itself to professional sports.
No Sunday play is a non-negotiable situation for the Cougars in any league. And if you look at history, tradition and the ever-bouncing tipoff and kickoff times of college sports, it isn’t a big deal to afford BYU that accommodation.
So, next time you see this issue crop up during discussions in print, a broadcast or online, it is indeed an interesting part of the debate among expansion candidates.
But it isn’t such a big deal that it would actually impede BYU as a legitimate expansion candidate. It never has been in any league they’ve been a part of. It shouldn’t be this time with this vote.
Time will prove this so after things shake out.
My expansion (odds) chances.
Big 12 will add two: 2:1.
BYU and Houston 3:1.
BYU and Cincy 5:1.
Cincy and Houston 8:1
Big 12 adds four: 6:1.
EMAIL: dharmon@deseretnews.com.
TWITTER: Harmonwrites