BYU's "national presence"

[Fishy]

I think this is another asset that is being blown out of proportion.

(The other is the myth that UCF's 63,000 students scattered to the wind across 12 commuter campuses and one main campus will somehow coalesce into some fan horde.)

I don't think it is a stretch to say that if you are a BYU fan, you are a Mormon. There are six million Mormons in the country and, like the general population, most of them will not care about any particular college sports program - it'd be very generous to assume that one in five is actually a BYU football fan.

Here's how Mormon's are distributed throughout the country...

If you value the northern tip of Maine, I guess that is 'nationwide', but otherwise....really? If anything, it makes me wonder why the Pac12 took Utah instead.

 

[JMick]

Not to mention the "church" is in a ton of trouble and are losing members by the boatload.

 

[mavblues]

You know you just opened up the floodgates of BYU evangelicals coming here to educate us on how "great" they are, correct?

Right now, all over Utah, computers are coming to life, alerting their owners that B-Y-U was mentioned somewhere...

 

[Matrim55]

You know you just opened up the floodgates of BYU evangelicals coming here to educate us on how "great" they are, correct?

I'm not a religious person at all, but my two Mormon co-workers are seriously two of the nicest people I've ever met. And both assure me they desperately want BYU & UConn both in the Big 12, so I say let them evangelize away...

 

[JMick]

You know you just opened up the floodgates of BYU evangelicals coming here to educate us on how "great" they are, correct?

Right now, all over Utah, computers are coming to life, alerting their owners that B-Y-U was mentioned somewhere...

Then I'll post this here for them, and if anyone wants to see the roots behind Mormonism they can read the letters. I'm not religious but I do like to read and study religions as a hobby. The letters are the most damning thing I've ever read about a particular religion.

CES LETTER

 

[sdhusky]

I'm not a religious person at all, but my two Mormon co-workers are seriously two of the nicest people I've ever met. And both assure me they desperately want BYU & UConn both in the Big 12, so I say let them evangelize away...

I know many LDS people and everyone I've met is great.

 

[upstater]

The only thing I have against them is that BYU is a kooky academic school that often rewards people for not doing their work as it punishes people for doing it. I seriously question this school. And so does the Pac12.

 

[Fishy]

I know many LDS people and everyone I've met is great.

Agreed.

I'm not sure why this has to veer off in a debunking of their beliefs, but the mere mention of a religion tends to bring that out in people.

My only point is that attributing any national following to the BYU athletic department is extremely generous.

 

[JMick]

I know many LDS people and everyone I've met is great.

Well, they're all brainwashed so it makes sense.

 

[JMick]

Agreed.

I'm not sure why this has to veer off in a debunking of their beliefs, but the mere mention of a religion tends to bring that out in people.

My only point is that attributing any national following to the BYU athletic department is extremely generous.

My point was that they're losing members at the drop of a hat so the numbers could be even lower in 10 years

 

[don356]

It probably should be worded that Byu has a national football presence. Unfortunately, fball is clearly holding court in all this conference shuffling.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I am going to disagree with the premise of the thread, and say that if you are Mormon, there is a fairly high likelihood that you are at least casually interested in what goes on with BYU, and Mormons are spread all over the country.

 

[mavblues]

I had 3 live in nannies for my kids when they were toddlers, each stayed for a year. All were 18yo female LDS. 2 of the 3 were nice. One was a kook.

 

[IMind]

Exactly and while there are a fair number of Mormons across the US it's hard to monetize 10,000 people here and 5,000 people there.

 

[mavblues]

Exactly and while there are a fair number of Mormons across the US it's hard to monetize 10,000 people here and 5,000 people there.

Terrestrial network: correct

Digital network: very easy to monetize, as long as the audience is interested

 

[JMick]

I am going to disagree with the premise of the thread, and say that if you are Mormon, there is a fairly high likelihood that you are at least casually interested in what goes on with BYU, and Mormons are spread all over the country.

This isn't necessarily true. The six million number is based off of those baptized as Mormon and the LDS does not remove people who have requested to be removed from the church. The only way you can even get off their list if you've been baptized is if you threaten to sue them. So while the numbers may show they're spread all across the US, the fact is that many of them aren't even actively Mormon anymore and have turned non-religious or have chosen a different faith.

 

[shizzle787]

I had 3 live in nannies for my kids when they were toddlers, each stayed for a year. All were 18yo female LDS. 2 of the 3 were nice. One was a kook.

18 year old live-in nannies? Hmmmm.....

 

[Jae-VT]

I think this is another asset that is being blown out of proportion.

(The other is the myth that UCF's 63,000 students scattered to the wind across 12 commuter campuses and one main campus will somehow coalesce into some fan horde.)

I don't think it is a stretch to say that if you are a BYU fan, you are a Mormon. There are six million Mormons in the country and, like the general population, most of them will not care about any particular college sports program - it'd be very generous to assume that one in five is actually a BYU football fan.

Here's how Mormon's are distributed throughout the country...

If you value the northern tip of Maine, I guess that is 'nationwide', but otherwise....really? If anything, it makes me wonder why the Pac12 took Utah instead.

For lack of a better word/phrase, let's just say "Cultural Fit". Please bear with me. I grew up in San Jose, CA. and I can guarantee you that Stanford, UC Berkley, UCLA, USC, University of Washington and Oregon would have all said "No." They would have been polite, but quite emphatic. The unease that the West Coast associates with Religion and especially a school who only serves a single religion cannot be stated emphatically enough. I'm sure BYU is a fine academic institution, but it's role within the LDS Church is the Rubicon that will never be crossed. Culturaly, i believe BYU fits better with the Big 12.

 

[IMind]

Terrestrial network: correct

Digital network: very easy to monetize, as long as the audience is interested

You're right I was thinking more along the SNY/Regional advertising end of things where we clearly have a leg up.

 

[JMick]

18 year old live-in nannies? Hmmmm.....

they were probably married already

 

[Fishy]

they were probably married already

Move on to another thread.

 

[Fishy]

For lack of a better word/phrase, let's just say "Cultural Fit". Please bear with me. I grew up in San Jose, CA. and I can guarantee you that Stanford, UC Berkley, UCLA, USC, University of Washington and Oregon would have all said "No." They would have been polite, but quite emphatic. The unease that the West Coast associates with Religion and especially a school who only serves a single religion cannot be stated emphatically enough. I'm sure BYU is a fine academic institution, but it's role within the LDS Church is the Rubicon that will never be crossed. Culturaly, i believe BYU fits better with the Big 12.

I can't argue with that.

If nothing else, they can sit with Baylor at the conference picnic.

 

[MattMang23]

The pull toward BYU by Mormons all over the country is pretty strong. My cousins, originally from Bristol, went to BYU-Idaho and now both live out there with their mother. They cheer for UConn, too, but are primarily BYU fans.

Other east coast Mormons who went to BYU: Jimmer Fredette and Steve Young.

The pull is real.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

No good reasons exist to take shots at the religious practices nor lack of interest of others, especially as it relates to conference realignment, BYU, and The Boneyard's UConn focus. Fishy's subject heading was clear, "BYU's 'national presence'". LDS, practicing and otherwise, live around the $)@$& world, most I've met, including some rather enthusiastic missionaries, appear to be pretty good people, some perhaps less so, but documenting how much most Mormons in the U.S. specifically care about football is challenging at best. By extension yet remaining on conference realignment considerations, UConn's overall athletic success (championships), large media markets, extremely compelling fan support, and solid viewership appear to be very well documented.

 

[husky210]

I had 3 live in nannies for my kids when they were toddlers, each stayed for a year. All were 18yo female LDS. 2 of the 3 were nice. One was a kook.

You dirty dog you