Wednesday's Quick Slant: It's All About the "Y"

As I write this, BYU is holding the news conference to discuss the move to independence in football and to the WCC in some of their olympic sports.

Further proof that the mtn., a television network for the Mountain West Conference, was a big mistake.

Let me clarify that: It wasn't a mistake to create a television network for the conference, as the Big Ten has proved that a television network dedicated to one conference can be successful.

The debacle with regards to the mtn. is that it was poorly thought out and executed, and the inflexibility of either Comcast/CBS Sports or MWC commissioner Craig Thompson to renegotiate the deal or try to change parameters of coverage and exposure has led Utah to the Pac-10 (12) and BYU out the door as well.

Not that the people who actually broadcast game aren't good or don't work hard; this has nothing to do with on-camera or off-camera talent.

This is focused on the management, plain and simple.

It took well over a year for the mtn. to become available here in the Las Vegas Valley and in parts of San Diego (because the mtn. was not available on Cox). Hell, if you are in a place that carries Time Warner Cable (parts of San Diego County, for example), you still can't get the mtn.

TCU has emerged as a crown jewel of the conference in football, receiving a BCS bowl bid last season, but it's hard to find them in Dallas-Fort Worth on Versus and CBS College Sports. the mtn. also isn't available in Dallas-Forth Worth and it doesn't look like it will be anytime soon.

Heck, in 2007 BYU and Utah even went so far as to retain lawyers to look at the contract to see what could be done because they were not getting the exposure promised.

So is it any wonder that those two school and their rabid fan bases decided to leave for greener pastures?

Utah found a suitor in the Pac-10.

BYU is going it alone for football, although they found a partner in ESPN, who agreed to an eight year deal to broadcast BYU home games and also is allowing BYU-TV to rebroadcast the games on the same day as the initial airing.

That is a significant deal.

And while the WAC is crippled by the machinations of the Mountain West a couple of weeks ago when this story first started to evolve, WAC schools are giving BYU five games in 2011 and four games in 2012.

Is it a gamble? It sure is. Do I think it's going to fail? I don't think it will fail. But it's also too soon to call it a success for sure.

Pencil it in as a win, and let's reexamine it in four years.