What BYU Brings to the Table

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:19:17 +0000

	2009 Football Attendance(capacity) #National Rank*	2010 Basketball Attendance (capacity) #National Rank	Academic Tier 1 Ranking	Enroll-ment (total)	Enroll- ment (Under- grad)	Endow- ment (millions)	Sear’s Directors Cup Rank (2007)	Media Market **
Texas	101,175 #4(100,119)	14,629 #14 (16,755)	47 (1)	49,984	37,389	$2,772	8	51
Oklahoma	84,778 #12(82,112)	10,650 #39(12,000)	102 (7)	30,071	20,736	$807	25	45
Texas A&M	76,800 #16(82,600)	9,889 #46(12,500)	61 (2)	48,039	38,430	$380	18	95
BYU	64,236 #27(64,000)	14,029 #17(22,700)	71 (3)	34,244	30,912	$868	26	35
Missouri	64,120 #28(71,004)	10,349 #40(15,061)	102 (7)	30,200	23,042	$550	53	21
Oklahoma St .	53,719 #38(60,218)	11,585 #35(13,611)	Tier 3 (9)	22,768	17,986	$313	41	45
Kansas	50,581 #41(50,071)	16,433 #9 (16,300)	96 (6)	29,365	21,332	$1,232	66	31
Texas Tech	50,249 #43(58,930)	9,290 #54 (15,098)	Tier 3 (9)	28,422	23,107	$393	47	148
Kansas St .	46,763 #45(52,200)	11,885 #31 (13,500)	Tier 3 (9)	23,520	18,491	$337	111	138
Iowa St.	46,242 #51(55,000)	12,491 #26 (14,092)	80 (4)	26,856	21,607	$99	73	71
Baylor	36,306 #66(50,000)	7,457 #69 (10,284)	80 (4)	14,541	12,162	$1,068	41	95
Current Big XII (10 team) average	61,073	10,395	n/a	30,376	23,428	$795	48	74
THE CANDIDATE SCHOOLS COMPARISON	2009 Football Attendance(capacity) #National Rank	2010 Basketball Attendance (capacity) #National Rank	Academic Tier 1 Ranking	Enroll ment (total)	Enroll- ment (Under- grad)	Endow-ment (millions)	Sear’s Directors Cup Rank (2007)	Media Market	Driving Miles from Norman , OK
BYU	64,236 (64,000) #27	14,029 (22,700) #17	71 (1)	34,244	30,912	$868	26	35	1054
Akansas	65,112 (76,000) #24	13,128 (19,368) #25	128	19,194	15,426	$858	31	57	235
Lousiville	32,450 (60,000) #71	19,397 (22,000) #3	Tier 3	20,834	15,352	$783	28	48	780
Air Force	35,656 (52,480) #66	2,522 (5,939)	N/A	4,537	4,537	n/a (your tax $ via deficit spending)	201	93	602
Memphis	25, 795 (62,380) #81	16,489 (18,400) #8	Tier 4	20,214	15,813	$213	126	47	478
TCU	38,187 (44,000) #63	3,686 (7,166)	110	8,696	7,471	$974	52	5	183
Houston	25,242(32,000) #82	3,202 (8,500)	Tier 4	36,104	28,800	$497	92	10	432
New Mexico	26,944 (38,634) #78	13,595 (16,290) #22	Tier 3	25,754	20,047	$279	65	44	564
Colorado State	23,643 (32,500) #87	3,329 (8,745)	128	27,800	21,783	$148	123		750
Boise State	32,782 (34,000) #70	3,061 (12,820)	Unranked (Not "National University")	19,667	17,574	$76	97	113	1,518
Cincinatti	33,957 (35,000) #68	8,076 (13,176) #64	Tier 3	29,617	20,914	$1,095	196	33	877
Nebraska	85,888 (81,067) #10	9,964 #45	96	23,573	18,526	$191	27	104
Colorado	50,088 (53,750) #42	6,267 #86	77	32,191	26,725	$354	37	18
Utah	45,155 (45,634) #52	9,202 (15,000) #56	126	28,211	21,526	$507	60	35

*The most recent NCAA report of Football attendance (2009) only ranked the top 30 teams . . . but for the others, I made an educated guestimation based on the 2008 rankings and 2009 attendance figures.
** Obviously, the Media Market of the school/area doesn't necessarily define the penetration. Even though TCU is in DFW and Houston is in Houston, more sets in those cities are tuned in to Big XII team by a LONG shot.

A National (potentially worldwide) Following for BYU
Total living Alumni (active satellite chapters):
BYU: 370,000 (105)

BYU can claim significant fan bases (whether BYU grads, or LDS-cheerers) in the following top-50 media markets: LA #2, Bay-area #6, Phoenix #12, Seattle #14, Denver #18, Sacramento #20, Portland #23, San Diego #27, and Las Vegas #43. Then, add high concentrations of BYU fans in niche markets (Idaho, Hawaii, smaller CA markets), and respectable clusters of fans/alumni/LDS in other top media markets (Dallas/FW #5 and D.C. #9) and you truly have a national following of which TV contracts negotiators will take note. In fact, during the '90s the Cougs frequently appeared on ESPN and, according to our associate athletic director, BYU had five of the top 10 highest-rated football telecasts in ESPN history (at least up until that point).

LDS population by State
Arizona: 381,235
California: 757,895
Colorado: 139,887
Florida: 133,805
Hawaii: 68,858
Idaho: 410,757
Iowa: 24,229
Kansas: 33,798
Missouri: 65,122
Nebraska: 22,372
Nevada: 174,639
New Mexico: 66187
Oklahoma: 42,515
Oregon: 146,429
Texas: 286,902
Utah: 1,884,377
Washington: 263,710
Wyoming: 61,430

Current demographic trends also favor the future for BYU, the state of Utah, and the LDS church in general. Currently, there are around 6 million "Mormons" in the USA. Due to higher than average fertility rates and new members joining, the current projections are that this figure will nearly double (to 11.2 million) by 2030. And the state of Utah has very encouraging population trends too as it and Idaho have both recently ranked in the top 5 states for population growth (by percentage).

Athletic Revenue (2007-8)
BYU's Athletic Department took in $36.7 million which ranked it only at 64th nationally. However, this was the #2 revenue figure for a non-AQ school (TCU was 57th) in the entire nation. If BYU can do this without the benefit that AQ conference teams have/earn from large bowl pay-outs and fat TV contracts, imagine what it could do WITH such additional funds!

ATHLETIC TRADITION:
1984 National Champions (in all major polls)
Bowl Apperances: 28
Hardware:
Heisman Trophies: Ty Detmer (1991)
Doak Walker Award: Luke Staley (2001)
Davey O'Brien Award: Four QBs (1981-91)
Sammy Baugh Trophy: Seven QBs (1974-1996)
Outland Trophy: Two (1985-9)
Wooden Award: Danny Ainge (1981) . . . oh yeah, and Jimmer Freddette will win it this year.
All-Americans (all-time and all sports): 1060

RECENT ATHLETIC STRENGTH:
How many school in the nation can say they've finished the last four years both ranked in football AND gone to the NCCA Basketball tourney? TWO: Texas and BYU.
How many teams have finished four consecutive years at 20th or better in the final BCS rankings (pre-bowl)? FOUR: BYU, Texas, Florida, and Ohio State.
How many teams have won 43 or more games in the last 4 years? Only 5, Texas, Ohio State, Boise State, BYU, and Florida.

ROAD TRIP!!
One commenter (Texas fan) on a previous thread stated the following: "(Big XII fans should know) how nice it would be to roadtrip up to Provo, Utah for a game. While living in Utah I attended a BYU/TCU game. I went there cheering for TCU but by the end of the game I was pulling for BYU. It was a fabulous experience. I had my son with me and he loved it also. If anyone has ever been to Aspen Colorado, they would love Park City, Utah." It's ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL there. Skiing is closer than in Boulder. National parks galore within a short days drive (Zion's, Bryce, Arches, and Yellowstone's reachable for an overnight/weekend trip). Someone summed up Provo as follows: "Think Boulder, except with nice people instead of all the elitist liberals"

Further Academic Credentials
Quick quiz . . . what college is ranked by US News & World Report as the most popular University in the nation? You guessed it . . . BYU. A full 78% of students accepted by BYU choose to enroll there. Harvard is second on the list at 76%. The average ACT score and GPA for BYU's most recently admitted students was 28.2 and 3.8, respectively. BYU is ranked #10 nationally for the number of students who go on to earn PhDs, #1 nationally for students who go on to dental school, #6 nationally for students who go on to law school, and #10 nationally for students who go on to medical school. University presidents love to add schools with high academic standing, and I see this as a big positive for BYU. Weez gotz Smartz!

Drawbacks
Distance and "Sunday Play" are the only two negatives BYU brings to the table for joining the Big XII. It remains to be seen how much of an issue the latter will be and I hope that it will not be a "deal breaker." Up until a few years ago no NCAA sports were played on Sunday. Our conference survives quite well without Sunday games . . . and we wouldn't care if other conference teams played on Sunday, as long as our team would have an alternate schedule allowing respect to this tenet of our faith.

BYU Sports Blog

What BYU Brings to the Table