mormonrasta wrote:

Here is an exchange between a BYU fan and Tom Hansen, Commish of the Pac-10:


Disclaimer: Before you read this, please understand that I made it clear to him that this is not an official comment from the PAC-10, but is just his perspective on the situation. In other words, it would be unfair if his kind response were used as some kind of leverage against him.

This is my letter:

Dear Mr. Hansen,

I am a law student at the University of Michigan. I am very interested in a body of law called Higher-education Law. I am writing because I seek to understanding the role of academic freedom in athletic conference composition. I am also a BYU graduate who has often wondered why the Pac-10 has seemed disinterested in the money and potential represented by BYU's sports programs.

Some un-authenticated sources suggest that one major reason that BYU is not invited to the Pac-10 is because of BYU's stand on academic freedom (which some argue amounts to academic restraint). (I also understand that playing on Sunday is an issue, but I am not concerned with that.)

I do not seek an official statement, but I would like to know:

Is BYU's approach to academics a factor that prevents them from more serious consideration by the Pac-10?

Is there a meaningful way to petition the Pac-10 decision-makers, or otherwise influence them to consider BYU as an asset rather than a liability? (Even with regard to the academic freedom issue, for example.) I am sure that flooding your inbox would be counterproductive.

I know that you have many responsibilities which keep you very busy.
Thank you for your time.



Here is his response:

Mr. -----,

I am pleased to respond to your inquiry, though I am going to provide brief answers where each element merits lengthy explanation and definition. Time requires brevity.

While the Pac-10 has not talked about expansion except in the broadest sense (see point No. 1 below) since the mid 1990's, I have never heard a discussion of academic freedom related to BYU during any discussion of possible expansion of the Conference.

Here are factors which have been prominent in relation to expansion of the Pac-10 and to BYU as a possible candidate.

1. The Chief Executive Officers of the member institutions about 1997 determined that they were pleased with the current membership of the Conference and would no longer consider or discuss the subject of expansion, thus ending discussion which had begun in 1990 when Penn State moved into the Big Ten.

2. Our Athletics Directors do not want to add members because they do not want to be forced to divide into two divisions. Further, there is no interest in a football playoff. They have judged that such a game would be likely to hurt the Conference's chances to advance teams to the BCS National Championship Game and other bowls.

3. The primary reason a I-A conference expands is to enlarge its home area for the sale of television rights in football. The Pac-10 claims about 19 per cent of the nation in its home area. Thus any new member would have to bring more than 1.9 per cent of the nation's television households to enlarge the home area enough to provide sufficient
additional income to increase the rights paid each member of the Conference. While I have not checked the numbers for some time, when we checked out every Western Division I-A university in the mid 1990's Utah had about .7 per cent of the nation's TV households. In comparison, we were interested in Texas because that State has
approximately 7 per cent of the nation's households.

4. The single most important factor to the Pac-10 were it ever to expand would be the academic nature and standing of any institution under consideration. Many sports fans probably would find that difficult to understand, but our CEOs made that clear. The Pac-10 members are all major research institutions, and any institution being
considered would have to be in that category. BYU is a fine academic institution, but it is primarily dedicated to undergraduate education rather than research, according to those who know about such things. That would be a major impediment for it.

I hope these comments are helpful. Thank you for writing.

Tom Hansen

Karma for a post that adds a ton to this discussion! You actually deserve about 5 karma for this post!

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/wildcats/37920.php


Here is a good article on the subject from 2004 when the Utes were the media darling.

More of these articles will surface if the Cougs can get into a BCS game.

I understand where the Pac 10 is coming from. I think when it comes to conference setup, the PAC 10 is the best out there. When you look at Mr. Hansen's comments in the letter it seems unlikely that the Pac 10 would offer BYU an invite. Although not stated in the letter, I agree with the sentiment that the Pac 10 would only expand by adding a rivalry pair, like BYU and Utah, Colorado State and Colorado, or even UNR and UNLV. I doubt the Pac 10 would consider adding Boise State anytime in the next 50 years. If they look down their noses at BYU's academics, then they would probably laugh at Boise State's. Boise State is making great strides towards improving, but they have a long way to go. To give you an idea, the school with the smallest endowment in the Pac 10 (according to wikipedia) is Washington State with $354 million, BYU has $289 million, and Bosie State has $61 million. So Boise State has about 1/6th of the smallest endowment in the Pac 10.

Isola wrote:

I understand where the Pac 10 is coming from. I think when it comes to conference setup, the PAC 10 is the best out there. When you look at Mr. Hansen's comments in the letter it seems unlikely that the Pac 10 would offer BYU an invite. Although not stated in the letter, I agree with the sentiment that the Pac 10 would only expand by adding a rivalry pair, like BYU and Utah, Colorado State and Colorado, or even UNR and UNLV. I doubt the Pac 10 would consider adding Boise State anytime in the next 50 years. If they look down their noses at BYU's academics, then they would probably laugh at Boise State's. Boise State is making great strides towards improving, but they have a long way to go. To give you an idea, the school with the smallest endowment in the Pac 10 (according to wikipedia) is Washington State with $354 million, BYU has $289 million, and Bosie State has $61 million. So Boise State has about 1/6th of the smallest endowment in the Pac 10.

Yeah, but BYU is "endowed from on high." None of the Pac-10 heathen institutions can claim that.

Isola wrote:

I understand where the Pac 10 is coming from. I think when it comes to conference setup, the PAC 10 is the best out there. When you look at Mr. Hansen's comments in the letter it seems unlikely that the Pac 10 would offer BYU an invite. Although not stated in the letter, I agree with the sentiment that the Pac 10 would only expand by adding a rivalry pair, like BYU and Utah, Colorado State and Colorado, or even UNR and UNLV. I doubt the Pac 10 would consider adding Boise State anytime in the next 50 years. If they look down their noses at BYU's academics, then they would probably laugh at Boise State's. Boise State is making great strides towards improving, but they have a long way to go. To give you an idea, the school with the smallest endowment in the Pac 10 (according to wikipedia) is Washington State with $354 million, BYU has $289 million, and Bosie State has $61 million. So Boise State has about 1/6th of the smallest endowment in the Pac 10.

And Boise would bring so many TV viewers...

The letter said something about Texas. Wouldn't that be interesting to have Texas schools in the "Pacific" 12.

I just don't see conferences changing much unless it is a mass change dictated by a higher source (and that does not mean from "On High" though maybe in the millennium the BCS problem will finally be fixed).

I think if the pac 10 ever does expand it will include BYU. BYU has the best credentials sports wise (not just football but in everything from track and field to basketball) and research wise of any non-bcs school in the west (I can't think of another west cost non-bcs academic institution which is as good as BYU, I could be wrong, but BYU publishes enough to be well thought of in research institution circles--at least in my program anyway, and I imagine that's the case in other programs as well).

I just don't think the pac-10 will want to expand any time within the next 10 years.