BYU Football Going Independent

Latest News Update About Byu Football: So, there’s that. Once again, the TV networks stuck their hands into expansion and made things happen. Greg Wrubell also states the reason ESPN has been ahead of everyone else in reporting the story stems from ESPN’s deal with BYU. They knew this would happen because they’d been orchestrating it. This is what happens when ESPN — for the 8 millionth time — becomes the story.

It frustrates me to no end that a news organization creates their own stories by inserting themselves into situations like these. It seems more than unethical that a network can broker a deal and break the news at the same time.

Additionally, it makes me more than uneasy that TV networks are controlling the landscape of college athletics. ESPN paid the SEC hush money — $2 billion dollars of it — to retain the rights to SEC football and stop the possibility of the SEC Network going to Fox. They followed that up by overpaying for the ACC. Finally, ESPN stepped in and saved the Big 12. This all seems like a terrible conflict of interest and a road the NCAA shouldn’t be heading down.

When we thought conference realignment was finally over, BYU stumbled into the room drunk at 3 AM and tried to restart the party. What will likely follow is another chain reaction of events, this time in the lower tier conferences.

Remember when Boise State joined the MWC a few months ago? They may want to call take-backs. The Broncos can move back to the WAC without penalty and it’s likely they’ll do so.

In the MWC, teams should be scrambling to find a landing area. Will TCU join Beebe’s brigade of idiots in the Big 12? How many teams will the WAC pick up? How much fun will Robb Akey have mercilessly making fun of Boise State? We’ll find out, and likely find out very soon.

Finally, BYU becoming an independent shows that any of the big schools could perhaps make the move. USC could threaten independence as a bargaining chip in the new Pac-12. Texas can take their ball and go home whenever they want in the near future should they so choose. Instead of Notre Dame being force to join a conference, other schools may very well choose to leave conferences and join the Irish in freedom.

One things for sure: this was not only surprising, but also a scary precedent. If TV networks like ESPN are allowing — and even encouraging — schools to opt out of their conferences by offering decent TV deals, there could be some big dominoes that fall. Stay tuned because the landscape of NCAA football resembles the San Andreas fault line right before an earthquake.

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