Hypothetical BYU scheduling as an independent

[Moliere]

I understand the value of ESPN having a truck in Utah when they need/want it. But why make a deal with BYU just to get access to it? Why not just set up a small office in Utah and buy their own truck?

Because setting up a small office and buying a truck is a whole heckuvalot more expensive than leasing one only when you need it. They are entering into a partnership with BYU and as long as schedules don't conflict it's a win-win for everyone.

This relationship reminds me of a boat that my family used when I was growing up. Instead of plopping $20K on a new boat, several families bought a boat and shared it among the families. Schedules were worked out each year so everyone knew who had the boat and when. It was a lot cheaper than buying a boat and we still got to use it almost as much as if we owned the boat outright. The only drawback was you couldn't always do a spur of the moment trip to the lake.

[statman]

I understand the value of ESPN having a truck in Utah when they need/want it. But why make a deal with BYU just to get access to it? Why not just set up a small office in Utah and buy their own truck?

Harmon says 'The Truck' costs at least $50 million...

[SoCalCoug]

If you want to see what BYU's schedule will look like as an independent, just take a look at Army and Navy's schedule and you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect. It really isn't an improvement from what they currently have.

I really don't understand the assumption that ESPN will help BYU schedule 4 games a year.

Army and Navy don't have state-of-the art HD facilities that would make their games more profitable to ESPN than any other games. This is the hook, and you have to admit that if ESPN has an incentive to broadcast BYU games, they have the influence to arrange for some pretty good matchups.

[Tim]

ESPN wants BYU's TV truck - especially in September and October before MLB finishes and HD resources are freed up. ESPN will make a lot of concessions to get the use of that truck, especially from a location as 'centrally' located as Provo. Centrally sounds funny, but they're within a days drive to any Big-10, Big-12 or PAC-12 school. If a game suddenly looks like it's the game-to-watch, but they hadn't planned on it being a big game, another western hdtv truck would be invaluable to them...

I understand the value of ESPN having a truck in Utah when they need/want it. But why make a deal with BYU just to get access to it? Why not just set up a small office in Utah and buy their own truck?

[statman]

Even if those ESPN games are the Iowa States and UCLAs of the BCS world, this is still an upgrade over our current schedule and it doesn't look that much different from what Utah will have year in and year out. I'd expect us to play WAC teams deeper in the season and for us to keep a couple good BCS games early in the year.

I'm still a bit worried about this direction but it has much more upside than the current situation. And the downside risk is that we become totally irrelevant and eliminate FB altogether. Looks like BYU is ignoring GBH's talk on gambling and is going all in.

The status quo GUARANTEES irrelevance.

Independence is better than MWC in 100% of the instances. And Independence (or more specifically, leaving the MWC now) inceases the likelihood of a Big12 invite within the next year or two. Heck, as some have posted before, we may NEVER play a game as an independent. There are still abotu 20 million and one reasons ($20 million dollars and a very pissed off Jerry Jones) why the Big12 has to expand by 2011. BYU would be one of the only teams out there that could drop everything immediately and go with the Big 12 with just a few months notice. Sure we'd have to drop our ooc scheduling quickly - but if the Big12 is a remote possibility, the contingencies around schedule are already being discussed.

My guess is that the WAC is acting like an investment bank in the whole transaction, basically selling BYU an option that if the Big-12 thing doesn't come to pass, they'll have some place to play all their other sports. The WAC's payment for the option - my guess is major consideration in OOC scheduling in the future, whether BYU is in an independent or in the Big12.

I'd expect that if BYU does get into the Big 12, our out of conference games will be 1) Utah, and all the rest with the WAC. All as pay-back for the role of fall-back conference that the WAC is playing right now.

[Moliere]

The radio guys are talking about a number of guaranteed football games with the WAC as part of our deal with them. I could handle four games. Utah State, plus three others. I might even agree to play Hawaii every year - even IN Hawaii - as long as it was always the last game of the year (in December, late game on after the SEC/ACC/Big12/PAC12/Big10 championship game on ESPN HD), and we got a boatload of cash for playing it. That would let us play a 13th game every year - 7 home, 6 away (maybe even 8 & 5?), and a sweet trip to Hawaii every year. And ESPN could sponsor that game with some $$$ tied to it that Hawaii could count on, maybe they could replace the green parking lot that they call a football field.

I know, everyone hates playing Hawaii, but if you always had a week off before it, and you always got paid handsomely for going and didn't need to worry about how ridiculously expensive it was, there's no reason to be afraid of them. It'd be great for recruiting, and the players would love it. It'd be a mini bowl each year right before bowl season.

So every year you play:

Utah (BCS Team 1)
Utah State (WAC 1)
Hawaii (WAC 2 - (& ESPN Game 5))
WAC team 3
WAC team 4
Navy
Army
Div 1AA patsy
ND (BCS Game 2)
ESPN Game 1 (BCS Team 3)
ESPN Game 2 (BCS Team 4)
ESPN Game 3 (BCS Team 5)
ESPN Game 4 (BCS Team 6)

That schedule makes a weak BYU team an auto bowl qualifier at 7-6. Depending on the difficulty of the ESPN games, a decent team goes somewhere around 9-4. A good BYU goes 11-2+ and gets a BCS invitation.


And for the BCS-league TV issues - you play the BCS teams early or late in the schedule, and fill in with the WAC teams and independents in the middle. BYU would likely push to try to be one of the first programs to play in late August, and one of the last to play in early December.

Even if those ESPN games are the Iowa States and UCLAs of the BCS world, this is still an upgrade over our current schedule and it doesn't look that much different from what Utah will have year in and year out. I'd expect us to play WAC teams deeper in the season and for us to keep a couple good BCS games early in the year.

I'm still a bit worried about this direction but it has much more upside than the current situation. And the downside risk is that we become totally irrelevant and eliminate FB altogether. Looks like BYU is ignoring GBH's talk on gambling and is going all in.

[statman]

The radio guys are talking about a number of guaranteed football games with the WAC as part of our deal with them. I could handle four games. Utah State, plus three others. I might even agree to play Hawaii every year - even IN Hawaii - as long as it was always the last game of the year (in December, late game on after the SEC/ACC/Big12/PAC12/Big10 championship game on ESPN HD), and we got a boatload of cash for playing it. That would let us play a 13th game every year - 7 home, 6 away (maybe even 8 & 5?), and a sweet trip to Hawaii every year. And ESPN could sponsor that game with some $$$ tied to it that Hawaii could count on, maybe they could replace the green parking lot that they call a football field.

I know, everyone hates playing Hawaii, but if you always had a week off before it, and you always got paid handsomely for going and didn't need to worry about how ridiculously expensive it was, there's no reason to be afraid of them. It'd be great for recruiting, and the players would love it. It'd be a mini bowl each year right before bowl season.

So every year you play:

Utah (BCS Team 1)
Utah State (WAC 1)
Hawaii (WAC 2 - (& ESPN Game 5))
WAC team 3
WAC team 4
Navy
Army
Div 1AA patsy
ND (BCS Game 2)
ESPN Game 1 (BCS Team 3)
ESPN Game 2 (BCS Team 4)
ESPN Game 3 (BCS Team 5)
ESPN Game 4 (BCS Team 6)

That schedule makes a weak BYU team an auto bowl qualifier at 7-6. Depending on the difficulty of the ESPN games, a decent team goes somewhere around 9-4. A good BYU goes 11-2+ and gets a BCS invitation.


And for the BCS-league TV issues - you play the BCS teams early or late in the schedule, and fill in with the WAC teams and independents in the middle. BYU would likely push to try to be one of the first programs to play in late August, and one of the last to play in early December.

[BoylenOver]

If you want to see what BYU's schedule will look like as an independent, just take a look at Army and Navy's schedule and you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect. It really isn't an improvement from what they currently have.

For those that are wondering:

Army football 2010
Sat, Sep 04 at Eastern Michigan at Ypsilanti, Mich. (Rynearson Stadium)
Sat, Sep 11 HAWAI'I West Point, N.Y. (Michie Stadium)
Sat, Sep 18 NORTH TEXAS West Point, N.Y. (Michie Stadium)
Sat, Sep 25 at Duke at Durham, N.C. (Wallace Wade Stadium)
Sat, Oct 02 TEMPLE West Point, N.Y. (Michie Stadium)
Sat, Oct 09 at Tulane at New Orleans, La. (Louisiana Superdome)
Sat, Oct 16 at Rutgers at East Rutherford, N.J. (New Meadowlands Stadium)
Sat, Oct 30 VMI West Point, N.Y. (Michie Stadium)
Sat, Nov 06 AIR FORCE West Point, N.Y. (Michie Stadium)
Sat, Nov 13 at Kent State at Kent, Ohio (Dix Stadium)
Sat, Nov 20 vs. Notre Dame at Bronx, N.Y. (Yankee Stadium)
Sat, Dec 11 vs. Navy at Philadelphia, Pa. (Lincoln Financial Field)

Navy football 2010
09/06/10 vs. Maryland M&T Bank Stadium 4:00 p.m.
09/11/10 vs. Georgia Southern Annapolis, Md. 3:30 p.m.
09/18/10 at Louisiana Tech Ruston, La. 7:00 p.m.
10/02/10 at Air Force Colorado Springs, Colo. 2:30 p.m.
10/09/10 at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA
10/16/10 vs. SMU Annapolis, Md. 3:30 p.m.
10/23/10 vs. Notre Dame East Rutherford, N.J. 12:00 p.m.
10/30/10 vs. Duke Annapolis, Md. 3:30 p.m.
11/06/10 at East Carolina Greenville, N.C. 3:30 p.m.
11/13/10 vs. Central Michigan Annapolis, Md. 3:30 p.m.
11/20/10 vs. Arkansas State Annapolis, Md. 3:30 p.m.
12/11/10 vs. Army Philadelphia, Pa. 2:30 p.m.

It's Notre Dame, Duke, another average BCS team, and a whole lot of nothing.

[SloanHater]

Yesh. you're right. ESPN doesn't show ANY teams from good football leagues. It's all WAC, SunBelt and ConfUSA games all the time - when they're not showing I-AA games that is.

Mark this one down - BYU will make AT LEAST 5X what they currently make from the MWC - $7.5 million+ a year. The more ESPN is involved, the more they'll make.

That's not what I was saying. I was pointing out that you just assume ESPN can pick a team with no regard to other current tv contracts.

Not to mention that an AD, coach, and fan base would have to sign off on a meaningless (relatively speaking) trip to Provo in the middle a conference schedule.

I'm guessing you didn't think that far ahead.

[statman]

That's my point. Unless ESPN is offering some pretty hefty cash to other programs/conferences, it isn't happening. Hence the Army/Navy schedule reference that HL made. BYU is not Notre Dame. They're not getting decent programs to come visit during conference season.

ESPN is going to be bartering our TV time with our TV truck. The more they can help us play good games, the more they can use the truck. Most important for them will be scheduling in September and October, since MLB HD capacilities fre-up after that (why the MTN was in HD late in the season - we got MLB's on-site and studio production crews once MLB was finished).

It'll probably involve a couple Thursday night games, but those bring great publicity. And since BYU will be independent, we can schedule around Thursday night games...

And on top of it all, when matched up against good competition, BYU draws well...

[statman]

Of course.

Minus the SEC who has a deal with CBS, and the Big 10 which has their own network, and the Big 12 and Pac 12 which are working on their own networks...

Yesh. you're right. ESPN doesn't show ANY teams from good football leagues. It's all WAC, SunBelt and ConfUSA games all the time - when they're not showing I-AA games that is.

Mark this one down - BYU will make AT LEAST 5X what they currently make from the MWC - $7.5 million+ a year. The more ESPN is involved, the more they'll make.

[SloanHater]

If ESPN is giving them $$$ and putting them in a good time-slot, ummm - yeah, of course they would...

Of course.

Minus the SEC who has a deal with CBS, and the Big 10 which has their own network, and the Big 12 and Pac 12 which are working on their own networks...

[CJF]

So BCS schools are going to take a break in the middle of their conference schedule to play BYU because the game will be aired on ESPN?

That's my point. Unless ESPN is offering some pretty hefty cash to other programs/conferences, it isn't happening. Hence the Army/Navy schedule reference that HL made. BYU is not Notre Dame. They're not getting decent programs to come visit during conference season.

[statman]

So BCS schools are going to take a break in the middle of their conference schedule to play BYU because the game will be aired on ESPN?

If ESPN is giving them $$$ and putting them in a good time-slot, ummm - yeah, of course they would...

[statman]

I will concede that if ESPN gets involved and creates some made for tv October and November games for BYU, things could be better. But I highly doubt that will happen. I just don't see ESPN getting highly involved with BYU and their schedule.

ESPN wants BYU's TV truck - especially in September and October before MLB finishes and HD resources are freed up. ESPN will make a lot of concessions to get the use of that truck, especially from a location as 'centrally' located as Provo. Centrally sounds funny, but they're within a days drive to any Big-10, Big-12 or PAC-12 school. If a game suddenly looks like it's the game-to-watch, but they hadn't planned on it being a big game, another western hdtv truck would be invaluable to them...