on ZERO evidence. In fact, all evidence is to the contrary:

Fact: ESPN has picked up the maximum number of games each year of independence. They have not left a single game on the table.

Fact: ESPN executives have stated several times that I've seen over these past few years that they are very happy with BYU's deal. And why wouldn't they? They get BYU at a pretty darn nice price. Now, of course, just because ESPN executives say something, doesn't make it true. But it certainly leans more towards being happy than not being happy.

Fact: ESPN has continued to work to schedule P5 games at LES, even going out beyond the scope in time of our agreement with them. My opinion: They're scheduling those games because they want to televise those games.

Fact: There is limited inventory of quality college football for the later (mountain and pacific time zones) TV slots. ESPN shares the pac12 with Fox and the pac12 network, and so only gets a limited number of games from that source. Aside from those limited pac12 games and a few MWC games (usually including BSU), BYU is it for ESPN in the west. There's a reason why ESPN signed BYU in the first place, and this is a large reason why.

Put all this together, and it's difficult to mount any kind of rational argument that ESPN is somehow unhappy with BYU's deal, or that they will low-ball BYU in negotiations.

In my opinion, the much better inventory of games scheduled for LES in the next contract period will mean that ESPN will be giving BYU a nice raise. I think it much more likely that Bronco and Holmoe are angling for a raise from ESPN than trying to avoid being cut or lowballed by ESPN. There's just no way ESPN goes through all the trouble of scheduling games for/with BYU if they aren't interested in televising those games. And if they want to televise those games, they're going to have to pay a reasonable fee for doing so. They aren't going to be able to get away with paying less for an improved product (more marquis-type matchups at LES to televise). There are other networks out there that also lack quality college football inventory, after all. Of course, ESPN has been a great partner with BYU during independence, and I wouldn't expect other networks to jump into the picture. We'll be on ESPN for all but 1 home game every year for the foreseeable future. Now, if we ever see ESPN stop working on BYU's behalf to schedule quality games, then we can worry.