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PROVO — In a shocking move, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced Tuesday during the conference’s media days that board members had unanimously voted to give him permission to reach out to schools who have expressed interest in joining the league.

That's just a preliminary step — for expansion, which is good news to one local school: BYU.

When asked about determining factors that he would look for from each college, Bowlsby listed academic reputation, overall athletic program strength, fan base and media market.

Let’s compare how BYU stacks up to other schools (Connecticut, Colorado State, Cincinnati, South Florida, Houston, Memphis and Central Florida) that have been cited as potential candidates for expansion on each of these measures.

Note: Much of the information I will use in this article is research compiled by a BYU enthusiast Jeff Fuller.

Academic reputation

BYU prides itself on being a very strong university in terms of academics. But is that feeling justified? According to the 2015 U.S. News & World Report rankings for 2015, BYU was 66th for overall best college in the country. Considering how many thousands of colleges there are in the United States, that is a pretty impressive rank. In terms of how it compares with other schools BYU is competing against for admission into the Big 12, only UConn is rated higher, coming in at 57th.

No other schools were even close, as Colorado State was the next in line at 127th. It’s interesting to note, however, that Forbes ranked the Y. as the 104th best college in 2015 while rating UConn as only the 162nd best. That could be because Forbes gave BYU high marks in terms of value and chose it as the best university to work for. Using either source, it’s obvious that BYU and UConn have the most to offer in terms of academic reputation.

Jhavon Williams (6) of the Connecticut Huskies pulls down Mitch Mathews (10) of Brigham Young during NCAA football in Provo, Friday, Oct. 2, 2015. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

Overall athletic program strength

Let’s admit an obvious truth: football is what drives conference expansion. No offense to the athletes and coaches of other sports, but they are simply an afterthought. In terms of football, BYU appears to be the strongest and by far most consistent program over a long period of time. Since 1975, only four schools have more wins than BYU’s 363. They also have been to 11-straight bowl games. Cincinnati is the next closest with five-straight bowl appearances.

In terms of recent success, though, Houston is the hot commodity coming off a 13-1 season and a Peach Bowl win over Florida State. It looks primed to be strong again, and just locked up its head coach with a hefty contract. Still, BYU is the most proven over time of all the football programs.

The only other collegiate sport that tends to make more money than it costs to run is men’s basketball. Here, the Cougars have some stiff competition. UConn is the best of the bunch as the Huskies have won four national championships since 1999. Cincinnati and Memphis are also no slouches in this department. Cincinnati has been to the NCAA Tournament in 20 of the last 25 years while Memphis was in the national title game in 2008 (unofficially, since that season was ruled invalid by NCAA violations).

BYU has a strong basketball pedigree as well. The program has found recent success under coach Dave Rose, who has led the team to eight NCAA bids in 11 seasons and won four games in March Madness. Still, BYU has struggled to get over the hump as it has the record for most tournament appearances without advancing to the Final Four.

In regards to the other sports, BYU stacks up very well in men’s athletics compared to the rest of the schools, at least according to Capital One Cup standings — a measure that seeks to reward the best overall collegiate athletic program in the nation. The Cougars are currently in 49th place on the men’s side. Houston is the only other candidate that has placed thus far, ranking 56th. On the women’s side, UConn ranks 8th overall.

Fan base

So far, BYU has done well in the first two measures. Academically, it is definitely in the top two best choices of expansion candidates. In terms of overall athletics program strength, BYU grades out well, with football and men’s basketball both being solid and consistent for a long period of time and the other sports bringing good value as well. Fan base and ability to fill up its stadiums are where BYU really has an advantage, though. In the Cougars’ six home football games in 2015, the team drew an average of 58,532 fans to each contest. Memphis came in a distant second place, garnering 43,802 spectators per home game.

Likewise, the Cougars’ men’s basketball team easily outdrew other potential candidates. BYU averaged 14,699 fans at the Marriott Center in the 2015-16 season. Again, Memphis finished second, playing in front of 12,028 people a night. If the Y. is added to the league, LaVell Edwards Stadium would be the third-largest football stadium and the Marriott Center would be the largest basketball venue in the Big 12.

BYU fans cheer after Brigham Young Cougars wide receiver Mitchell Juergens (87) caught the go ahead touchdown as BYU and Boise State play Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

Not every fan can go to the games, however, due to distance or other factors. Christian D’Andrea, Alex Kirshner and Jason Kirk at SB Nation got creative and used another metric to determine fan base size. Using Facebook likes for potential candidates’ football, men’s basketball and other teams, the trio determined who had the most popular sports program. BYU’s football page was by far the most popular as it received 558,000 likes — over 200,000 more than UCF’s page. UConn and Memphis men’s basketball page were both more popular than BYU.

Overall, BYU’s sports teams had the second most likes behind only UConn.

Media market

Unfortunately, the Cougars have a bit of an uphill battle to face on this one. Of the eight schools mentioned, BYU is only the sixth largest media market. It should also be pointed out that the Y. has to share that market with the University of Utah, so it doesn't completely dominate it.

While BYU is going up against some big markets, the schools from those markets aren’t necessarily popular in the area. Take Houston for example. Houston ranks as the 10th biggest media market in the U.S. But the red Cougars are not even the most popular college team in the city. According to the New York Times, that distinction still belongs to the University of Texas. Each of the remaining schools have to compete with professional sports teams, as well, which is an issue the Y. does not have. So while the numbers don’t look great for the Cougs, this may not be as big of a deal as it seemed at first glance.

Conclusion

By nearly every measure that commissioner Bowlsby laid out, BYU more than holds its own compared to each of the other schools that have been tossed about in expansion talk. It will be interesting to see what unfolds over the ensuing months. What do you think, Cougar fans? Does the Y. get an invite?

![Dylan Cannon](http://img.ksl.com/slc/2539/253958/25395882\.jpg?filter=ksl/65x65) About the Author: Dylan Cannon ------------------------------ Dylan Cannon is a regular KSL.com contributor and can be reached at DylanCannon86@gmail.com or via twitter @DylanCannon11.

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