Bronco Mendenhall on conference affiliation & expansion

[SDSU-Alum2003]

www.mwcconnection.com/2015/4/17/8446641/staying-in-mountain-west-was-not-an-option-for-byu

Greg Wrubell
Apr 17
Greg Wrubell ‏@gregwrubell
I asked Bronco if he has in mind a time-frame window, re: BYU's window of opportunity, as it relates to making the jump to P5 status...

Bronco: "I hate to be pinned down, but if someone were to force me, I'd say three years. It has to happen within three."

Bronco: "Could it go longer than (three years)? Yes, it could. Is it desirable to me, to go longer than that? The answer is no."

BYU P5 membership, with its attendant fiscal benefits.

As to any future conference-realignment shift, Bronco says "I still think there is one" coming.

Bronco says CFP-selection protocol/conf championship-game considerations, geographic/divisional additions could precipitate next shift.

Bronco: $$ increasingly becoming a driver in CFB; "unintentionally, I think we're kind of hurting the collective game of college football.

Bronco: "The intent was to promote the game (through additional revenue); I think it's going to backfire, is what I think."

"When two of the Big 3 (BYU, Utah, TCU) were taken to different conferences, to me it was not an option to stay. BYU had to move forward."

Bronco re: upgraded schedules: "Independence was already challenging; it is now becoming more challenging. I welcome that; I want progress."

Bronco says P5s are getting "somewhere from 20 to 27 million dollars" annually, in TV revenue. "That is not what our contract is with ESPN."

Bronco: "At some point, (P5) inclusion has to happen...best way I know to do it is play our way in, and that's what I have chosen to do.

Bronco, on BYU playing big names on big stages, says key Q becomes: "How long can you do that, without the same resources (as P5 programs)?


Interesting that there are some similarities with BYU and SDSU "Rise to 25" goals...

www.sdsualumni.org/s/997/index.aspx?sid=997&gid=1&pgid=3883&cid=9427&ecid=9427&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=6995

"He (Sterk) knows the only way for a Group of Five school to ensure its athletics’ survival is to make itself attractive enough to garner an invitation to one of the power conferences."

"For the next two years, at the top of the list for the entire department will be the football team’s Rise to 25."

[standiego]

The B12 is going to get what it preferred the ability to have a 10 team "conference champion " with out expanding to 12 teams . It has all the leverage . with 10 teams rather then 12 every school gets more .More likely then conference expansion will be the expansion of the number of teams in the college championship from 4 to 8. Do that a B12 team is more likely to get in every year. It could if it wanted to expand BUT on the B12 's criteria not a new member's . Unless a TV network comes and says it will up the TV money by more then 75 million a year , if it adds 2 teams, not likely to happen . Do not think the TV deal for B12 is up in three years . He is doing a lot of wishful thinking or dreaming .

[zollner]

The P-5 schools are all about greed,"keep your hands off of my stack". they don't want to share or divide up their share of the TV loot. Playing great to get in is not going to happen unless it means more $ for the P-5 schools. Maybe it will become like the pro game where a team has to pay some outrageous fee to move a team from one city to the next, like the Chargers will have to pay when they move. What is it something like 1/2 billion $ now. Of course payable in easy ten year installment plan.

Maybe one of the P-5 will offer bywho a chance with a large fee attached. All under the table of course. Lets not forget that the NCAA members are going to be forced to pay the athletes that bring in the revenue, thanks to Ed O's law suit. This means the P-5's will have to share with the players which means less money the schools and the ncaa will get to keep.