6 Fast Facts Why BYU's Independence Will Succeed While Others Would Fail

The bold move to independence by BYU was not an idea hatched over the weekend when the news broke out of Walnut Creek that the PAC-10 was going to become the PAC-12 and invite Utah to join them.  

The idea grew during years of slow growth by the LDS church over 40 years. One of the mission’s of the church is to aid “the saints” (the members) in their sojourn on earth, especially as it relates to families. The church is an aid, as the “Bee Dictionary” puts it, an activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose, not a destination.

To accomplish that mission LDS leadership made far reaching decisions about the importance of communication to a worldwide audience in its missionary activities way back in 1960, and mapped a course for the next 50 years.

We now stand at the point they designed.

It was to be a followup to service and a help to the membership that resulted. 

Here are six things that the LDS church has done and is now in a position to do that will make its foray into football independence successful.

Communications Are the Key

Bonneville International Corporation is wholly owned by the LDS Church through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation. The seeds of its beginning started out as a radio and TV network in downtown Salt Lake City.

Bonneville Communications grew to own 10 radio stations and one NBC affiliate TV station in Salt Lake, and it operates a second non-affiliated TV station, also in Salt Lake City.  The core product of Bonneville was a semi-annual world wide conference of church leaders, and a local radio and TV station, formerly associated with CBS. As the church grew, the demand for “what’s going on in Salt Lake” grew from members who left Utah for the far reaches of the mountain west, then the west coast, where over 1 million members live today. Later, the east coast, and slowly the south, added significant membership. 

With each growth stride came more and more pressure on Bonneville for greater production capability.

This pressure led church leaders to invest in its own satellite and associate agreements that gave it worldwide satellite broadcasting ability to over 2,400 facilities capable of seating over 1,200. Eventually that number grew to over 24,000 in over 100 countries world wide. 

With the progress of the Internet, investments were made, agreements reached and various arms and companies now have the ability to send the word out around the world by air waves, satellite and Internet. Investments were made in compression software to allow for low cost high speed real time transmission of any kind of programming. 

It may well be that Bonneville stands alone among all broadcast providers worldwide in its broad range and capability of transmitting across the various platforms.

Production Facilities Grow to Fill the Demand

With the ability to provide broadcast signal worldwide came the demand for production. Starting small, BYU, then other church affiliated production activity, began producing movies, television shows, and other original content that grew to the creation of the finest HD broadcast facility west of the Mississippi, including mobile ability.

That is saying something considering that Los Angeles, you may note, is west of the Mississippi.

Movies and movie sets were being produced. A permanent movie set is now in the construction state that is a life size replica of Jerusalem, Israel at the time of Jesus Christ, for an on-going series on the Life of Christ. No other movie production company, TV station, company or corporation has had the ability to do this.

What it shows is the long term commitment to the excellence in production capability, and product that will come out of BYU and Bonneville.

Bonneville also uses these facilities for broadcast distribution services and PSA production services to other non-profit organizations. Another sign of dedication to broadcast expansion, service and capability. High quality low cost production and distribution in the broadcast medium will be in high demand and a growth market for Bonneville for the long term.

BYU: “the World Is Our Campus”

In the early days of BYU, there were two main colleges in Utah.

They were affectionately referred to as “the U” for the University of Utah, and “the Y” for BYU. Utah put a big rock U on the mountain above its university campus. BYU put a big block Y on their mountain that can be clearly seen by air fifty miles away. 

The motto of BYU, "the world is our campus", began to become a reality with study abroad programs that matured into a campus in Jerusalem, Israel. Students from around the world began to follow the missionaries who brought them into the church back to the school that sent them out.

Little pockets of BYU fans began to spring up around the world until BYU began to grow into a world wide commodity available to all faithful “saints”.

This availability put yet further demands on BYU, its athletic programs, and church broadcast ability. Capacity had to be enlarged to meet not only current demand, but the demands of a church with the vision that it would one day have 100 million members in over 200 countries.

All things being equal, the church’s mission, you must remember, is to “aid the saints”, and that meant all services would need to expand and expand with the top level professionalism expected from “the Lord’s University”, which embraced “the Lord’s gospel.’ No small task. 

Church Education System to Match Church Communication System

To meet the needs of the growing membership worldwide, one of the departments administratively in the LDS church, known as the “Church Education System” (CES), was tasked with meeting the needs of the members educationally.

The Church Education System maintained small colleges in the Pacific, more like high schools, a college in Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii), a business college in Salt Lake City, and a small two-year college in Rexburg, Idaho, Ricks College. The mission of serving the needs of youth worldwide was upgraded.

Online and home study content was expanded. Ricks College was upgraded from a two-year school to a four-year university, BYU-Idaho. Plans were looked at to expand yet further as BYU could only accept 2,500 new freshman admissions each year out of over 100,000 applications. 

When you think about it, the LDS church could, if it wanted to, be supporting four large universities the size of BYU.

In some minds, that was exactly what was needed, and sites were looked at in Virginia, Texas, Arizona, California and other places. Colleges were talked to for possible purchase and conversion to “LDS Church administration and ownership.” Ultimately, it was decided a brick and mortar environment was, at that time and since, too expensive. 

But the interest, and fan base, existed. And BYU all alone was not meeting the needs, or demand.

The Growing Rub of “the World’s Ways” Versus BYU’s Ways

Some say in the end it was "the rub." Or, the growing dissatisfaction in “gentile” administration in associations was beginning to rub on BYU and LDS Church standards.

A bowl game in San Diego was allowed to slip away and be replaced by one in Las Vegas, a complete anathema to the church’s standards and mission. Games were proposed to be played on Sunday, and agreements on broadcast and ownership of BYU broadcast rights all began to rub against the very fabric and mission of BYU and the LDS church.

By contract, BYU, and thus the LDS church, was potentially being "confined," and limited in what they saw as their mission and purpose. Their mission and purpose wasn't in facilitating the success of a bowl game in "sin city USA." 

Those administering athletic conference decisions were looking at BYU as just another college.

It wasn’t and isn’t.

The standards, vitriolic from opposing fans and decisions other schools were making was in direct opposition to the standards expected from and taught to BYU students, alumni and family, whether members of the LDS church or not.

The growing demand from 15 million members supporting 340 missions and 52,500 missionaries in nearly 29,000 congregations was placing a high demand on the church.

Additionally, the Church Education System (CES) had a network of 350,000 college-age students attending universities all over the nation who had family and church ties to BYU. The church ties were being met in what are called “institutes” where college students up to age 30 attend classes in connection with the classes they are taking at the university or college they are enrolled at.  

It was clear that the standards issue, the population demand and the 370,000 upcoming high-school students were placing a greater demand on the services of the LDS church than they were meeting.  Something had to be done that was drastic to meet the needs of the people they were supposed to be in aid of. 

Endowment to Humanity

Many colleges and universities list their “endowment” as a mark of the solid foundation upon which the institution can operate. For instance, Southern California has an endowment officially of 2.6 billion dollars. Stanford has one of the largest at 12.8 billion.  

However, BYU, and the LDS church, annually GIVES AWAY from its “humanitarian fund” to non-members $1.3 billion or more every year.

Clearly, the mission of BYU and the LDS church had nothing to do with money, or even sports. It had to do with its core mission, “aid the family in its needs and progress toward God.” 

Enter sports. 

If sports can help pay the bill of excellent broadcast facilities, why not let it? If sports and excellence in sports aid in the positive image of the LDS church, its members and humanitarian efforts for “all of God’s children,” why not let it? If sports can be a vehicle to teach and exemplify the doctrines of health, fitness, and well being, why not let it? These and many other questions I am not even aware of were asked and answered, and in the end, it all added up to, standing independent of the world. 

BYU would make the break, and be used as a vehicle, not as a destination.

Why Will BYU Be Successful in Independence?

Because BYU is a vehicle for a greater cause that has nothing substantial to do with sports.

It is a vehicle for a greater cause, a greater good, a bolder plan and a greater need that strikes to the heart and mission of the LDS church.  

“It ain’t about sports,” as they would say in Utah. Well, at least it isn't all about football. BYU excels at many sports, including basketball, lacrosse, rugby, volleyball, track and field and many other sports. All contribute to "the mission" and all will be included in the broader mandate to excel.  

To that end, BYU will have all the money it needs to be the best vehicle it can be.

When it is seen that there needs to be another vehicle to aid in the mission of the church, one could surmise BYU-Hawaii or BYU-Idaho will get either an enlarged athletic program, in the case of the former, or a first class athletic program for the latter.  

We can look forward, as the LDS church marches on in the next 100 years, to see a parallel growth in the “church education system” and BYU. It is, after all, there for only one reason, “to aid the family in its mission on earth.”  

And no organization or effort can fail, if that is its goal.