Denver post article with report that BYU will take non-FB programs to WCC.Denver officials reportedly declined comment regarding whether they will also be going to the WCC.Link at http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15954231

Official WCC release regarding adding BYU with news conference scheduled for tommorow at noon MT.Link at http://www.wccsports.com/genrel/083110aab.html

http://news.collegesportsinfo.com/2010/ ... e-wcc.html

Note that Denver is expected to be the 10th school added, despite the order they appear in the article.

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They actually have some safety:

If they add BYU and a 10th school, they would be back to 9 if/when BYU leaves for say, the Big 12. If/whenever that happens, they'll always be able to grab one of the other schools not taken to fill that spot. So if the WCC takes Seattle now, then loses BYU, they can replace BYU with Denver or Pacific.

I think the 1 advantage Seattle has is that BYU might now be a longterm addition sue to their Big 12/Pac-10 interest. So if the WCC added Denver too, then lost BYU, Denver loses the natural geographic bridge that BYU in Utah provides. Meanwhile, you have Seattle just hours away from Gonzaga and UPortland AND in a large (in size) WCC alum heavy city.

And Pacific is always an option too.

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I think Gonzaga would prefer Pacific to Seattle.

I thought about throwing Hawaii into this discussion, but I could only make that last 10 minutes before my other brain kicked it away.

It's a fair piece of logic to say that Denver might be a risk here. However, I'm looking at Utah State and I wonder if the Mountain West really needs to expand, thus USU might make serious concessions to join. That's stepping way out of the WCC comfort zone, but there will be much scratching and clawing to come.

How long do people think that BYU will last as an independent? If the revenue is there and they can find competitive games (don't see why the Pac-12 schools wouldn't consider BYU as a good non-conference game option, especially late in the season), I think BYU might be there for awhile. The WCC is a good home for the rest of their sports.

While the Big 12 might come calling later, there is also a good chance the Big 12 could fall apart down the line. Think of a school who is toying around with the possibilities of having their own cable network. Think of a school who has been bringing in a lion's share of their conference's revenue. Other than BYU, I think Texas fits that profile as well. Texas would likely do well as an independent, and the future of the Big 12 could easily be in doubt.

The point being, hopefully BYU enjoys life as a football independent. They might be there for a long time.

BYU's going to make money off the WAC/Independent move.

Because the WCC TV deal is up for renewal... the same time BYU joins for Men's Hoops. And BYU in the last 12 years (7 NCAA tourney bids) has basically matched everything that the rest of the WCC (7 bids) besides Gonzaga (12 bids) has done combined.

If they stay at nine teams, the WCC pretty much tripled the value of their TV deal, because instead of Gonzaga/SMC* as the two marquee games, they now have Gonzaga/BYU, SMC*/BYU as six marquee games.

And that contract is basically going to be about the same as what the Mountain Network was pulling in for MWC football.

So anything they make off of BYU TV will be an pure excess of their MWC deal.

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I think the WCC is done with expanding. They had no real desire or need to expand because they are not ever likely to lose any schools and with only 8 teams, a round robin can be played while still allowing for flexible non conference scheduling (Gonzaga likes this!!!). When BYU came into play, WCC took a shot and nailed it. BYU increases the conferences profile, increases their TV value, adds a like minded school, and adds a quality conference opponent in basketball (Gonzaga likes this!!!!) while still allowing a round robin. Denver, Seattle and Pacific do not meet all that criteria and therefore the WCC has no reason to add them. The WCC could add all 3, but why would the tv dollars add up? I don't think so and so I just don't see it.

No further expansion per WCC commish at the BYU press conference. Standard answer of "We will continue to monitor the landscape."

If Gonzaga prefers Pacific it is only so they do not have to share the Seattle market. Support for the Zags is still huge here in Seattle, despite the recent success of the UW under Romar, and the ascendancy of the SU program. As for the commish's statement, with no other discussions on the table currently that is not surprising. Is UoP unhappy in the BigWest, enough so that they would move and incur higher expenses? Seattle is still in a transition state. Denver gets bounced around as a name quite a bit, but only because they don't fit in the SunBelt, they are Jesuit, and in the West. Right now BYU participates in more sports than the WCC offers, Denver from what I can tell fewer, but they carry Swimming & Diving, Lax, Hockey, and Skiing.

Pacific isn't so much as "unhappy" as they do okay in the Big West across the board. It's merely a matter peer groups, missions, and of course... the WCC TV contract.

Enrollment - School - Classification
3,740 - Pacific - Private

WCC
7,229 - Gonzaga - Private
8,972 - Loyola Marymount - Private
6,053 - Pepperdine - Private
3,200 - Portland - Private
4,768 - Saint Mary's - Private
7,548 - San Diego - Private
8,722 - San Francisco - Private
8,377 - Santa Clara - Private

Big West
19,777 - Cal Poly - Public
36,996 - Cal State Fullerton - Public
36,207 - Cal State Northridge - Public
37,890 - Long Beach State - Public
31,426 - UC Davis - Public
27,631 - UC Irvine - Public
19,439 - UC Riverside - Public
20,559 - UC Santa Barbara - Public

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Article discussing possible candidates to perhaps join the WCC as it's future 10th member at http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... -1/NEWSMAP

The WCC adds Creighton for Women's Rowing:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome ... _ncaa_news

Travel would be awful, but if the Missouri Valley went a different direction (read: FBS), this would be one of the more logical spots for Creighton to land.

The Mountain West has added Hawaii as a football-only member. So I think they should add a non-football member to compensate.

My top candidate would be the WCC's own Gonzaga. This would change the WCC's long-term plans greatly. Gonzaga has already proven to be stronger than the rest of the WCC in men's basketball. So the Mountain West would be a good fit.

This would open the door for Seattle to join, provided they don't get picked up by the Big Sky (Gonzaga's previous home) first.

FSA and I were IMing after the Hawaii announcement. He mentioned BYU should return for that spot. And it makes a ton of sense in theory. But the WCC is now a 3 bid league with 9 members. That means after Gonzaga and BYU, schools like St. Marys and San diego have a 1/7 shot of making the tourney...with most years the league getting 3 bids. That is impressive. The MWC doesn't have the best TV deal either. And BYU will enhance the WCC tV deal. And Gonzaga is with like minded schools in the WCC. So really, for basketball, there is an argument that the wCC is now a much better basketball conference for it's members than if 1 member left for the MAC.\

I'm with you on having a 10th member for hoops though...makes scheduling easier with 18 conference games.

But the MWC has Denver as an option. They also have Seattle. Those are two helpful schools in terms of markets and Denver would give the conference 3 CO schools. But they could also just invite Utah St. for non-football sports since they actually would want their basketball program. It's the football they are less interested in at this time. It's not like the WAC wouldn't keep them for football...they're desperate.

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