BYU Athletics >>> Utah

I am re-posting some research I did last night after I tried to post it from my iPhone while driving an RV across Nebraska this afternoon. It's essentially a rundown comparing the Y and the U in athletics. As suspected, BYU dominates in everything except bowls (wins/winning percentage/BCS bowls) . . . but I didn't expect the Cimson Club to have more members than the Cougar Club; 4,400 vs. 4,000 per websites (see below). I joined the Cougar Club last night (it was far past time). Let's make a push to surpass them.

Update: FuriousMonkey pointed out that the Utes give their recently graduated students a free membership for the first year, thus artificially inflating their numbers . . . but we should still push membership to the Cougar Club . . . see benefits and join now here . . . )

University Enrollment (2009):

BYU: Over 35,000

Utah: Over 26.000

Total Alumni--living (active chapters):

BYU: 370,000 (105)

Utah: 210,000 (15)

Athletics Booster Organizations--Members (Satellite Chapters):

Cougar Club: "nearly 4,000" (15)

Crimson Club: 4,400 (ZERO)

TV markets/Fan base

This is difficult to quantify for various reasons. We all know SLC is a low-mid 30's media market and that BYU has more of a handle on this market than Utah does. But that is about the extent of the Utah fan base by in large. Being a state-run school it tends to draw in-state students that then tend to stay in state . . . all of this at a much higher rate than BYU students. BYU can claim significant fan bases (whether BYU grads, or LDS-cheerers) in the following top 50 media markets: LA #2, Bay-area #6, Phoenix #12, Seattle #14, Denver #18, Sacramento #20, Portland #23, San Diego #27, and Las Vegas #43. Then add high concentrations of BYU fans in niche markets (Idaho markets, Hawaii, smaller CA markets), and respectable clusters of fans/alumni in other top media markets (Dallas/FW #5 and D.C. #9) and you truly have a national following of which TV contracts negotiators will take note. Utah cannot quite match BYU even in it's home market, and it pales in comparison outside the Wasatch front. One recent opinion piece summed it up nicely while suggesting that BYU take Colorado's place in the BigXII:

"BYU replaces Colorado. When it comes to the premiere sport, and what realignment is all about, the Cougars have the Buffs beat hands down. They play better football and have been a perennial top-20 team that consistently gets into, and performs well in bowls. They play in a bigger stadium (64,000+ versus 50,000) to sold out crowds. And they have much better TV ratings. Their home market, Salt Lake City, is smaller than Denver by about 35 percent and they split it with Utah. Colorado, however, also shares the Denver market with Colorado State, Air Force, the Broncos of the NFL, and until the end of September, pro baseball. Salt Lake is also one of the fastest growing markets in the country. By taking BYU the Big 12 can draw a “line n the sand” and compete against the PAC, who is busy grabbing Utah in said Salt Lake market. Although the Utes have performed well as of late, BYU has a larger following in the Salt Lake City market and a longer legacy of football success. With their LDS affiliation, BYU also has a big national following, and per ESPN figures is one of the best draws in the nation from a television rating standpoint. Simply stated, The Cougs draw well…at home, away, and on the boob tube. Therefore, the Big 12 can actually grab the premier team in the Salt Lake market, one that has a national following, defend themselves against further PAC incursions, and actually increase their revenue. Finally, the Cougars also perform well in other sports, while Colorado does not."

Athletic Revenue (2007-8)

BYU: $36.7 million (64th nationally . . . 2nd in MWC behind TCU's 57th; but TCU, followed by BYU, were the top two non-AQ revenue teams in the nation; meaning that 62 out ot the top 63 revenue earning NCAA schools were from BCS conferences . . . that revenue-sharing for TV contracts and bowl payouts goes a long way, eh?)

Utah: $26.9 million (80th nationally . . . SEVENTH in the MWC, and 13th among non-AQ schools)

Additionally, this Database search of PUBLIC ONLY NCAA teams in 2004-5 had Utah at $25.5 million . . . which was behind UNM and SDSU (safely presumable that they were behind BYU, TCU, and AFA that year as well) . . . and barely ahead of UNLV.

A cash-cow Utah Althletics is not.

Athletics Budget (2009):

BYU: $30 million (spending much less than we made)

Utah: $27 million (spending a tad more than they made)

Football Attendance (2009):

BYU: 64,497 capacity . . . sold out 20 consecutive times (only 20-25 teams NATIONALLY average a sell out each year). 26-27th nationally for total average attendance per home game for the last 4 years (Source for this and below)

UTah: 45,017 capacity . . . often sell out (but usually only the bigger games or in the better years as evidenced by plenty of empty seats being plainly noticeable for games against "lesser" teams every year.) Utes came in at 49-57th nationally for total average attendance per home game for last 4 years.

Basketball Attendance (2009):

BYU: 17th nationally at 14,097 per home game (Marriott Center capacity 22,700; 62% full . . . we can definitely do better here!)

Utah: 56th nationally at 9,202 per home game (Huntsman Center capacity 15,000; 61% full)

BYU has averaged over 13K and Utah averaged UNDER 10K for the last four years running.

Now switching gears from demographics and financial matters to athletic accomplishments . . .

Sears Director's Cup Standings--total final ranking of all NCAA sports (current and incomplete 2009-2010):

BYU: 34th (should go up quite a bit with our strong softball and track finishes this year)

Utah: 67th

Average of last decade: BYU 29th-ish, Utah 60th (also, BYU averaged in the mid to high teens through most of the 1990s.)

Deseret Duel (started in 2007):

BYU 2 wins, Utah 1 win (BYU owned Utes in 2009-10 with final tally of 45-15)

NCAA Football National Titles:

BYU: 1984

Utah: None

BCS Games/wins:

BYU: None (though snubbed at least twice and not invited to play 1995 & 2001)

Utah: 2 games and 2 wins (same BCS performance as Boise State)

Bowl Games (record):

BYU 28 (10-17-1)

Utah 15 (12-3) . . . Utes are, admittedly, amazing in Bowl games.

Heisman Trophies:

BYU: Ty Detmer

Utah: None

(This and other BYU Hardware link here)

Doak Walker Awards:

BYU: Luke Staley

Utah: None

Davey O'Brien Award:

BYU: Four

Utah: None

Sammy Baugh Trophy:

BYU: Seven

Utah: None

Outland Trophy:

BYU: Two

Utah: None

(sensing a pattern here on the grid-iron?)

Wooden Award

BYU: Danny Ainge

Utah: Andrew Bogut

All-Americans (all sports):

BYU: 1060

Utah: Couldn't find it (maybe they're not proud of their figure?), but I'd wager quite a hefty sum that it's much less than a thousand.

Academic All-Americans 2009-10:

BYU 67

Utah 44

If you go through this data and think that Utah is/was the crown jewel of the MWC then you're just not willing to accept the facts. Two BCS bowl wins are impressive, for sure, but Colorado didn't need any BCS bowl accomplishments to gain admission to the PAC-10. Therefore, the reason Utah (or maybe even Colorado for that matter) is in a BCS conference over BYU is because of the homophilic and anti-religious tendencies of the Bay-area PAC 10 schools which black-balled BYU because of who we are, and what we stand for (the "Academic profile/Med School" issue is a load of crud . . . ASU, OSU, and WSU don't have med schools and stink academically on the national scale; plus, BYU has a WAY better academic ranking for the undergraduate school than Utah.). It's religious profiling, plain and simple. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.