Mayors of Utah Valley: Embracing a big moment as a valley
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- BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU’s application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.
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- From left, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe and then-BYU President Kevin J. Worthen address questions during a press conference at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Friday, Sept, 10, 2021.
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- In this undated photo, Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi says “welcome home” to travelers inside the new Provo Airport Terminal.
Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo
BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe talks during a press conference after the Big 12 officially accepted BYU's application to join the league on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.
For decades, BYU fans have longed for the school to join an elite athletic conference. And after years of effort and negotiations, that day is here, effective July 1, as the Cougars join the Big 12 Conference. (Former President Kevin J. Worthen can rightly count this as one of his major achievements at BYU. We will miss him and his excellent service. And we’re excited about the appointment of President Shane Reese, one of the favorite college professors of my sons.)
Old timers will remember the days when the Cougars were part of the Western Athletic Conference or “WAC” and then the Mountain West Conference. Most recently, BYU has been independent in football and a member of the West Coast Conference for other sports. These were good conferences, in which we witnessed many thrilling moments over the years, but the dream conferences are known as “the Power 5,” namely the ACC, the Big 10, the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the SEC. The Power 5 conferences garner far more media attention and revenue than other conferences, and the football champion of each of them gets an automatic spot in one of the elite New Year’s Day bowl games, which means increased access to the playoffs and championships.
So what does this mean for the average resident of this area? If nothing else, it’s a chance to embrace the excitement. If you live in this valley, you are both welcome and entitled to claim BYU as your home team (or at least as one of them). No other university in the valley has a football program.
But even if you have no affection for BYU sports — or for sports at all — I hope you’ll embrace this opportunity to welcome new visitors to our area and showcase our community. Teams in the Big 12 have very loyal fan bases who love to travel to road games.
This year, Big 12 teams from Florida, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia will play here. You will no doubt see a lot of Baylor green, Horned Frog purple and Longhorn burnt orange, among other fan bases, throughout the valley. When you see a visiting fan, I hope you’ll show them the respect and friendliness you would appreciate if you were traveling to an out-of-state game. In fact, as our valley now enters a bigger spotlight than it ever has before, I think we ought to help everyone see BYU as the best place in the nation to attend a road game by far. Certainly no football stadium has a more picturesque backdrop, with the mountains of Rock Canyon and Timpanogos flanking it.
Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo
From left, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe and then-BYU President Kevin J. Worthen address questions during a press conference at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Friday, Sept, 10, 2021.
There is no better place to live than in this valley. And there are no better people on earth. Let’s ensure visiting fans experience both of those realities!
In this undated photo, Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi says "welcome home" to travelers inside the new Provo Airport Terminal.
