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SALT LAKE CITY -- BYU's declaration of football independence has brought strong praise and excitement heard from around Cougar Nation. The new deal means many things for BYU not just in the football realm, but in other BYU and West Coast Conference sports.
With Wednesday's official announcement that BYU is going independent in football and joining the WCC in other sports, fans will be able to watch BYU play on ESPN and BYU Television. Starting in 2011, BYU will embark on an eight-year contract with ESPN to broadcast football and basketball games.
"The great thing about BYU is, the other big names in this sport love playing them just because everything BYU represents," said Dave Brown, vice president of ESPN programming. "Their ability as a national brand is going to be great."
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BYU stays mum on financial details of ESPN, WCC deals
BYU's decision to go independent in football and join the West Coast Conference in all other sports carries with it financial and business impacts. For now, school officials are keeping those details quiet."We have fans all over the country, we have fans all over the world," said BYU basketball coach Dave Rose. "The disappointment is that not enough people have been able to see us. Hopefully we can continue to be successful and we'll be able to increase our exposure on a national basis."
With such revered competitors as Gonzaga and St. Mary's, among others in the WCC, about to go head-to-head with BYU in the coming seasons, the addition of BYU basketball alone will boost both the school's and the conference's prominence.
"I really think it repositions us in the national landscape," said WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich.
In fact, all BYU athletics stand to gain much from this long-awaited alliance.
"It is so exciting to get the exposure that BYU can bring to the Church, to the university," said Jennifer Rockwell, the soccer coach at BYU. "Whatever is good for BYU football is good for the rest of us in athletics."
When it comes to recruiting, the new deal may have its own effects. Not being part of a conference may convince some elite players to go to schools other than BYU. But Rondo Fehlberg, former BYU Athletic Director, says that will be heavily outweighed by the national exposure the school will now have thanks to ESPN.
"You go to any high school kid and you ask him, ‘You want to play on The Mountain network, you want to play on FOX, or do you want to play on ESPN?' what are they going to say?" Fehlberg said.
Many college players want national exposure, he said, to help them go pro -- more so than a national championship.
Plus, Fehlberg says BYU's not completely out of the national championship picture. He says if BYU has a team good enough to win a championship, they'll play for it.
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Story compiled with contributions from Tom Kirkland and Paul Nelson.
