Mars wrote:

Almost all of their team is from California because they are so easily recognizable all across the west.

Out of 96 players on the 2008 roster (found here), I counted 42 from California. While that's a sizable percentage (43.7%), it hardly constitutes "almost all of their team," but by all means, let the hyperbole flow.

Mars wrote:

Conosticator wrote:

So much for gut instinct if you think Mar's source must be more reliable than the U.S. Census Bureau data that I used.

Still straining at the motes and ignoring the beams eh Con? I don't see where you countered their record over the past 7 years. In terms of market-power, Boise State has been the most desirable non-BCS school in the nation over that period of time. They can't compete with BYU when we are winning (though they're still miles past anyone else), but they haven't had any Crowtons in their recent history either... or just about ever.

Seriously, even their women's basketball team being way better than ours this season and being a consistently very good team matters more to conference expansion then whether Boise has 500 or 600K residents right now (while Provo/Orem has only 200K residents and the MWC already has a University in Salt Lake City). Almost all of their team is from California because they are so easily recognizable all across the west. Their BCS Bowl win over Big XII Champ Oklahoma is the type of thing the Mountain West Conference needs more of within it's brand.

You lack of understanding regarding the factors that go into conference expansion choices is appalling. Media market is a significant factor. Presenting patently false population (inflated by ~20%) and growth rate (inflated by ~400%) figures does not make the argument more persuasive.

I'm not sure from what source you can make the "terms of market power" claim. I live in AZ and often see BYU shirts and caps but rarely see any BSU stuff except during and immediately after the bowl game when they were hoping to sell to the BSU fans that had come to town. BYU consistently fills opponents' stadiums. Does BSU?

Having a bunch of California players not good enough for the Pac-10 does not make BSU "so easily recognizable all across the west". Your leap of logic is laughable. One thing makes a team "so easily recognizable" - winning.

Anyone other than a blindly loyal BSU fan recognizes that their win over Oklahoma was a fluke enabled purely by the successful (and lucky) execution of several trick plays. Like most non-BCS fans I loved seeing BSU win, but why would the MWC want to be known for needing to resort to trick plays to win. I'd rather the MWC be known for playing tough OOC schedules and beating those opponents regularly in smash-mouth football matchups.

Yndian wrote:

... but by all means, let the hyperbole flow.

LOL! You crack me up Yndian, props and karma!

And as long as I'm already in the comment screen, I say why not? Bring 'em in to the conference if they want in! While I agree with the naysayers that the BOOMING Boise metropolis itself (whatever the ACTUAL numbers are (whiners!)) wouldn't exactly do our conference exposure HUGE favors, well shoot, NEITHER DID OUR TV DEAL THE LAST TWO YEARS! Yet, inexplicably, our conference didn't end up all the worse for it.
The perk that Boise State DOES afford our beloved Mountain West Conference is greater legitimacy, whether real or simply perceived. Everyone now knows the name Boise State. This whole BCS monstrosity is unfortunately NOT going away, and in fact has an even stronger deathgrip on intercollegiate athletics than before (since they "included" (manhandled) all of the "mini-conferences" into a small and apparently voiceless corner of the BCS boardroom, so they couldn't be sued for antitrust). If there is added pressure to give another conference an autobid, or, thinking down the road even further, a guaranteed spot in an 8 or 12 team playoff, the Big School mucky-mucks will have a NO-BRAINER decision on their hands. Two BCS winners and a past National Champion... or the biggest BCS loser in its illustrious history, and cronies Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State?!
And to be honest, if the Boise State move did manage to get the MWC an auto-bid in the next five years or so, I think I'd actually prefer that to jumping ship for a current BCS conference, simply because, as has previously been pointed out, we're not going to be beating USC AND the rest of the Pac-12 almost every year for a BCS spot. However, BYU would be a solid contender EVERY YEAR in a newly knighted "BCS" Mountain West Conference (I know, I feel a little bit dirty having written that, but them's the breaks, I guess )
And now that CSTV has crawled even FURTHER into bed with CBS, our current agreement with them could potentially lead to further and more lucrative TV deals if CBS and its affiliates felt like the MWC were delivering a better product than it currently is. I guarantee that legitimacy is a more useful long run money conversation than the size of one town.

www.footballfanatic.com
www.sidelineapparel.com
www.sportsnutshop.com
www.collegesportsstuff.com

www.924store.com
www.collegecardstore.com

What do they have in common? They all have more BSU apparel than BYU apparel for sale. Some do not have BYU apparel. In my 10 minutes of searching, I found just one website with equal amount of apparel (but I only spent about 10 minutes searching). I didn't even waste time comparing to the rest of our league. A couple of the sites had BSU product on their main page.

If people are more willing to buy their crap, don't you think they would be more willing to watch their games on tv...especially against better competition?

I hate to say it, but I think people would view BSU as the premier football team of the conference. THAT is what they would add to the conference.

Having said that, I do think that if BSU started losing, people would forget about them VERY quickly. But right now, they are still the people's choice in my opinion.

I know there is more than just football to consider, but this was based solely on football.

BYU has more loyal followers than BSU. Because they're... BS.