ESPN behind BYU’s move to independence

ESPN’s Dave Brown, one of the most talented game/team brokers in sports for the World Wide Leader, spoke with authority and enthusiasm and he was immaculately dressed, like a high-powered TV mogul. Brown sold BYU football like it was ruby in its regal crown He couldn’t cite all the ratings on the spot, but said last year’s BYU-Oklahoma game ranked No. 9 in the rating season, going up against Virginia Tech-Alabama. “BYU always rates great for us,” Brown said. “The Miami game back in the ’90s with Ty Detmer did a six rating for us, and the Holiday Bowl games in the ’80s did a much higher rating than ESPN had in the regular season.”  Brown said ESPN could pull together games for the Cougars in football and basketball. He refuted the idea that ESPN could take a former broker role to get BYU a BCS slot. He said nothing about unofficial ESPN hierarchy old boy’s talk at summer cruises and golf outings with the bigwigs of the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC. Neither BYU nor Brown talked money figures, but the Oklahoma-BYU game brought the Cougars just over a million dollars. One can guess BYU’s future home football games with ESPN (seven to eight a year) will be in the $700,000 to $1.2 million range apiece, with the Notre Dame and Texas games on the high end. Then there are ESPN broadcasts of BYU home basketball games. You do the math. — Deseret News