and I appreciate the rivalry, but as a native Utahn living in Davis Co, I've also had to put up with everything that entails (IYKYK) and I adamantly want to see the Utes excluded from the Big12 and fade into Wac12 obscurity. Most other Y fans in my local community and even on CB would appear to feel the same way.

The rivalry game could still be played. But, and I am asking sincerely here to anyone that truly knows, does the BYU admin view the potential benefits of adding Utah to the Big12 as outweighing the negatives of sharing the market, losing the potential recruiting advantages, etc.

I mean, they're not stupid. And one would think that having SUCCESSFUL, even dominant programs would be the primary and most important driver of ROI (revenue and even missionary efforts) for the school, so allowing the rival continued influence, relevance and opposition would seem to me to undermine those efforts. Why not bury them?

Are there really legitimate business reasons for BYU to advocate for the Utes to the Big12 which would outweigh the negatives? Please enlighten me because I'm obviously missing something here, and I'd really like to understand BYU's mindset and strategy, if true.