Traveling all over the country to play was a staple of Independence and engaged BYU fans across the nation. In the XII they'll be able to do the same. But what about the vast majority of BYU fans, which live west of the Rockies? With the LDS population base still residing primarily in the western states, BYU needs to engage those fans and their children who will be BYU's next crop of recruits. BYU consistently playing games in Arizona & Southern California would be huge for both fan engagement and recruiting.

The truth is that BYU is never going to march into Texas and pick up the elite non-LDS athletes consistently. So the #1 priority for BYU's long term success in the XII is scooping up as many of the high level LDS prospects as possible. And that means heavily recruiting UT, CA, AZ, ID, NV, OR, WA, CO & HI. But BYU becomes less appealing if the only games they ever play out West are in Provo.