It's #RivalryDay in our office! #BYUvsUtah #utahvsbyu is on the field tomorrow evening at #LES in #Provo. While a win over the "school to the north" that wears #UglyRed would be nice, my primary concern at this point is the future of #BYUfootball since this is now year 7 of #IndyFootball & no #P5 league affiliation appears on the horizon, the future of the program is more #iffy than people realize. #ESPN has offered to carry their option of the football media deal through 2019, but after that more questions arise about the future moving into the next decade. If a new sustainable media deal can't be reached & no P5 league alignment can be arranged, my fears are the football program at BYU will be dropped. In the past & present there have been those in BYU Governance (Board of Trustees + Academic Council) who've desired to eliminate #intercollegiate #athletics at #LDSChurch owned institutions feeling as though such a mission detracts from that of state owned & operated schools, that BYU dilutes & lowers the branding value of universities such as the #UniversityOfUtah & especially #UtahStateUniversity. One of the reasons such a similar JUCO program was discontinued up at #Rexburg at the end of 2002. The makeup of the BYU BOT/AC includes many who are alumni of the University of Utah & Utah State University so they do look at things such as how a big church school & #athleticbrand impact surrounding state schools. All one needs to do is look back at Indiana & see what #NotreDame does to both #PurdueUniversity & #IndianaUniversity essentially relegating those 2 state schools to the smallest of the #B1G brands, whereas they could be as big as the #UniversityOfWisconsin or #MichiganStateUniversity if the #FightingIrish weren't the superbrand they've morphed into. Some of the brethren a year ago cited a desire for BYU to remain in the @wccsports for their other programs, but the real agenda behind this is to hold back the BYU brand, so hence the speculation for footballs future at BYU. (at United States Government)