I am so tired of this argument. I don't see any factual basis for it. BYU's national exposure is very similar (and sometimes worse) than many of the top G5 and other regional schools. In today's world you can follow almost every P5 and most top G5 teams from the comfort of your own couch on broadcast TV networks available through most satellite and cable providers. There are legitimate arguments against BYU joining a conference but losing the ability to watch the Cougars isn't one of them. Joining the AAC or MWC isn't going to thrust BYU back into the days of the mtn. I was able to find the following from various schools football schedules.

- BYU will play 7 games on the ESPN family of networks, 2 on CBS Sports, 1 on BYUtv, and 2 with streaming only options.

- Boise State will play 8 games on the ESPN family and 4 on CBS Sports. They have more games on ESPN and no streaming only games.

- Air Force has 3 games on ESPN, 5 on CBS Sports, 1 on the PAC 12 network and three streaming online games. 9 games on my TV vs 10 for BYU.

- Utah State has 4 games on ESPN, 4 on CBS Sports, 1 each on the SEC & ACC Networks, and 2 streaming online games. Both BYU and USU have 10 games available on my TV this year.

- San Diego State has 3 games on ESPN and 4 on CBS sports and 1 game on the PAC 12 network. SDSU had the worst availability of any team I looked at with only 8 games available on my TV.

In short, these top MWC teams average 10.25 games on TV vs BYU's 10. Utah State & BYU had the same number of games on TV and Boise State had all 12 games available. If BYU were in the MWC, I would expect them to have very similar availability as Boise State. You could complain that there is an extra charge for CBS Sports if you want to but the games are easily available through most cable and satellite TV networks.

Top AAC teams have even better exposure although they will have some games moved to ESPN+ next year. But BYU doesn't have their new deal signed yet so BYU may end up with ESPN+ games as well.

- Cincinnati plays 8 games on the ESPN family (2 on ABC) and 4 on CBS Sports Network. One of the CBS Sports games was listed as a FB/CBSN broadcast so maybe they only have 11 games available vs 10 for BYU.

- UCF plays 8 games on the ESPN family (2 on ABC) and 4 on CBS Sports Network. All 12 games were available on national TV vs 10 for BYU.

- Navy has 3 ESPN games, 1 on CBS, 1 on NBC, and 6 on CBS Sports. The Houston game doesn't have TV plans listed yet. At worse they have 11 games on national TV vs 10 for BYU.

- Memphis has 10 ESPN games (3 on ABC including a Saturday night primetime game with gameday) and 1 game on CBSN. Again 11 games on national TV vs 10 for BYU.

- Houston has 9 ESPN games (1 on ABC) despite trying to tank the season. TV plans for the Navy game haven't been announced yet. At worst they have 9 games on national TV vs 10 for BYU.

- USF has 6 games on ESPN, 4 on CBSN, 1 on the ACC Network, and 1 streaming only game. Once more 11 games on national TV vs 10 for the Cougars.

These top AAC schools are averaging roughly 11 games on national TV vs BYU's 10 and they have had ABC games, Primetime games, etc.

Again, there are reasons to want to stay independent but claiming that BYU has better exposure is just not the case. Independence may have been necessary to break away from the mtn debacle but that was nearly 10 years ago now and you can watch most teams from anywhere in the country with your cable/satellite TV provider.

EDIT: It has been pointed out that I was mainly looking at availability and not necessarily exposure. I was thinking of them as being more or less the same thing. Certainly BYU being on ESPN vs Tennessee during the SEC primetime slot is better then being on CBS Sports at 8:30 pm on a Saturday and provides better exposure although both games are still available. It seems to me that the AAC has pretty good exposure and availability (primetime ABC game, Thursday night ESPN games, etc). The MWC, not so much.