It really is just a matter of time before BYU joins a “Power 5” conference. BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall has an idea of which conference his school should join. The Big 12.
Back in 2011 BYU and the Big 12 had talks but the conference went with adding TCU and West Virginia. With all the emphasis on being in a Power 5 conference for scheduling purposes and the new College Football Playoff, BYU is feeling left out:
“We would love to be in the Big 12,” Mendenhall told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. “I would love to be a member of that conference. I think that would make a lot of sense.”
“Our attendance is high enough. And our winning percentage is high enough,” Mendenhall told the newspaper. “We have the entire Salt Lake City and Utah market as well as a worldwide following because of the church. There’d be a ton to offer the Big 12 because it’s a money-generated world right now. You’re talking about an amazing kind of brand.”
I completely understand BYU’s need to get into the Big 12 now. They are going to have to make a move soon and the Pac 12 is too big now for them to join. I’d bet this gets done within three years. This is just the price of doing business in the new College Football Playoff world we live in now.