Did BYU sign an agreement last night?

[BlueK]

Greg Swaim interviewed on BYUSN today certainly sounded credible, at least to an unjaded listener. Whether it plays out like he thinks or not, who knows. But what he said made sense though.

[SpiffCoug]

I think the two/three main questions the Big XII can't decide on:
- Are we going to 12 or 14?
- If we're going to 12, since BYU is No. 11, who is No. 12?
- If we're going to 14, since BYU is No. 14, who are Nos. 12-14?

[BlueK]

I think the two/three main questions the Big XII can't decide on:
- Are we going to 12 or 14?
- If we're going to 12, since BYU is No. 11, who is No. 12?
- If we're going to 14, since BYU is No. 14, who are Nos. 12-14?

It was reported by a few media folks and not just the internet twitter "insider" crowd that ESPN and Fox pushed back hard on expanding to 14. That makes sense to me because why would they want to suddenly start paying $80M more per year for too many teams that don't seem to be worth it.

What Swaim is saying now is that BYU and UC have 7 and 6 votes right now. The 3 who haven't yet voted yes on BYU are TT, UT and WV, and TT and UT are probably just holding out for the moment to see if they can get the rest to vote for UH. It's not going to happen because there is no benefit to the others to allow UH to recruit against them. All of them recruit in Houston and don't want the local team to be promoted to P5. Swaim thinks TT and UT are only holding things up temporarily to appease some local politicians and are likely to flip their vote to give BYU enough votes at any moment. Then they can go back to the politicians and say they at least tried even though they don't really care and probably don't truly want UH anyway. He also said WV wouldn't be opposed to voting for BYU if they can get UC.

He also said that BYU and UC are the only teams that can get even half the B12 to agree upon them. No other candidate has much support.

[Isola]

I have to think that BYU gets in. I just don't see the Honor Code issue being bid enough to keep them from adding us. When we played at UT it wasn't like there were protesters. Same for when we played OU at Jerry's World. It may be a news story for a day or two and then it will go away and it will just be sports.

[BlueK]

I don't think it's an issue. Also, Holmoe and Worthen are also very likeable, professional people. I'm sure they are doing just fine discussing whatever concerns the B12 may have about it.

[BoiseBYU]

I think the two/three main questions the Big XII can't decide on:
- Are we going to 12 or 14?
- If we're going to 12, since BYU is No. 11, who is No. 12?
- If we're going to 14, since BYU is No. 14, who are Nos. 12-14?

It was reported by a few media folks and not just the internet twitter "insider" crowd that ESPN and Fox pushed back hard on expanding to 14. That makes sense to me because why would they want to suddenly start paying $80M more per year for too many teams that don't seem to be worth it.

What Swaim is saying now is that BYU and UC have 7 and 6 votes right now. The 3 who haven't yet voted yes on BYU are TT, UT and WV, and TT and UT are probably just holding out for the moment to see if they can get the rest to vote for UH. It's not going to happen because there is no benefit to the others to allow UH to recruit against them. All of them recruit in Houston and don't want the local team to be promoted to P5. Swaim thinks TT and UT are only holding things up temporarily to appease some local politicians and are likely to flip their vote to give BYU enough votes at any moment. Then they can go back to the politicians and say they at least tried even though they don't really care and probably don't truly want UH anyway. He also said WV wouldn't be opposed to voting for BYU if they can get UC.

He also said that BYU and UC are the only teams that can get even half the B12 to agree upon them. No other candidate has much support.

How many votes does there need to be? I thought 7 would do it?

[Schmoe]

We need eight of ten to vote for us.

[BOID]

Does Swaim mention sources? Just wondering, how does he know?

[BlueK]

Does Swaim mention sources? Just wondering, how does he know?

On BYUSN he said he had sources at different Big 12 schools and others in the media who also have some of the same and some different sources within the league have since talked with him and said they've been told the same things. At the very least he sounded to me like he believed what he was saying. He did say the B12 has a history of being very slow in deciding things and that they haven't always done the right thing, but from what he's been hearing this time he believes they'll do the right thing this time and invite BYU because they're the best candidate available.

As far as how our fans are reacting to this kind of talk, I think if you take 2011 out of the equation, there wouldn't be the sizeable group of cynical BYU fans on the internet who are very quick to disbelieve any positive information. The truth is that 2011 and 2016 are a completely different set of circumstances, not to mention that almost everyone making decisions at the B12 schools this time are different people. In 2011 the conference didn't pay in the millions of dollars to hire a consultant to gather tons of data. That is in our favor this time .

[BOID]

Thanks, BlueK. Swaim's reporting sounded believable, and I was thinking, yeah, I can imagine that being true. I hadn't caught his references to sources when I listened. Some comments from non-fans were very cynical, saying that Swaim has been wrong a lot of times, and that he says what he thinks folks at his present venue want to hear. So I was just wondering.

The main stream media seems to want BYU to crash and burn over the LGBT, and we weren't hearing much out of Bowlsby or Boren any more. Add to that the anti -expansion rumblings from Fox and ESPN, and it seemed like BYU would be a Major Independent for a while longer.

It's still nothing to depend on, or bank on, but I guess I'm starting to believe again.