"Thanks to the success of our programs, we’ve had a difficult time finding teams willing to come to LaVell Edwards Stadium to play us. We believe the combined resources between BYU and ESPN are already paying off – we’re still working out the details, but we have agreed to a six-game deal through 2020 with Notre Dame football that will bring the Fighting Irish to Provo."

[BYU] which will begin competing as a football independent in the 2011 season, today announced a new 8-year deal with ESPN to televise Cougar football on the sports leader’s family of networks. ESPN has agreed that any BYU games it doesn’t select may be televised live on BYUtv."

Playing in Provo is never a picnic and this year there is some added fuel to throw on the fire. There will be 60,000 rabid fans in the seats of Edwards Stadium who seriously hate the Pac 10. The inclusion of Utah and the rejection of BYU by the Pac 10 is something that will not be taken lightly on Saturday. This may be the most hostile environment the Huskies will play in all season."

What will [BYU football] play for now? You won't be playing for conference championships, national championships, or even BCS berths. In my estimation your team now plays on for "televangelism" and nothing more. You will play a myriad schedule of complete jokes from the WAC for an easy "W" and just enough legitimate programs to get you to 3-4 losses each year thus remaining completely irrelevant on a national level. To quote the great TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson: 'If you are BYU, you have to be careful what you wish for.'"

Basketball coach Dave Rose got thrown under the bus and is leaving a league that had four NCAA bids to a league that on a good year gets two bids. The only decent teams are Gonzaga and Saint Mary's and that is it. Now compare that to good teams as San Diego State, UNLV, and New Mexico. BYU fans who will get all pumped for this just remember your rival Utah is also going to San Francisco but is playing Cal and Stanford while BYU is playing the San Francisco University. How about Los Angeles, well Utah is playing UCLA and USC while BYU is playing Pepperdine and LMU. The picture is clear, and BYU hoops should be aware of being a great team in a so-so league. Just look back at Utah State a few years back who had 25-28 wins and was in the top 25 but was left out of the NCAA tournament."

MWC release says it has consulted with it's TV partners on the future. In other words, Comcast wouldn't budge with concessions for BYU."

Speaking of the BCS, BYU knows it is not guaranteed to get the special status Notre Dame gets when it comes to those bowl berths. The BCS Board of Directors is set to meet next month to discuss what to do about BYU. This move does not seem to be one that will position the Cougars to make a consistent run as a football power. Non-AQ teams have a hard enough time as it is getting into the BCS. Wonder how hard it will be as an independent. Notre Dame can go out and schedule anybody it wants. It remains to be seen whether BYU can do the same, even with help."

But if we're speaking strictly about basketball, there's no reason why BYU can't become another Gonzaga in Gonzaga's own conference. Head coach Dave Rose has established the Cougars as one of the nation's better non-big-six teams over the past five years. With that (assumed) extra football revenue, BYU has no shortage of resources at its disposal."

ESPN has to be thrilled. It suddenly has a plethora of BYU football games to broker and broadcast — BYU vs. Miami … BYU vs. Notre Dame … BYU vs. Oklahoma — and its basketball partnership with the WCC is about to get more lucrative. So let’s call it ESPN over Comcast, by unanimous decision."

It’s all right by me. [BYU has] great tradition. Their RPI and power ratings are always high. That’s going to help us. It’s going to enhance our situation. It’ll be nice to have some help. If the way to go is to add people to your conference, which everyone seems to think it is, we certainly enhanced the value of our conference by adding them."