The speculation is BYU to the Big 12, and the issues are obvious. There’s geography—Provo is a long ways from Morgantown. There’s the financials—BYU might be able to command more on its own than with the Big 12’s current schools. Then, there are Sundays.
BYU famously doesn’t play on Sundays. It’s great. In a world where other major American religious movements have completely abandoned all semblance of principle in favor of entrepreneurial expedience, the most prominent LDS school in the country still makes sure its athletes don’t compete on the seventh day of the week. Religious or not, pro-religion or not, it’s a good display of truth to oneself.
It’s a real pain in the ass for some college sports, though, with baseball and softball among the first to come to mind.
The thing is, it’s not actually a problem. Look at men’s basketball. In the WCC, the schedule goes Thursday/Saturday, every single week. It’s not perfect—students miss Thursday and Friday classes, and potentially Wednesday classes as well depending on the preferred travel cadence—but there’s nothing prohibiting the Big 12 from making exceptions for sports that require weekend series to allow BYU to play Thursday-Saturday, or to even just always play a doubleheader on Saturday. Basketball won’t be affected—Big 12 Sunday games are rare. The other sports can fall in line.
There are obstacles—Provo is a long ways from Morgantown, BYU might be too big for the Big 12 economically (and its demographic is growing rapidly). But Sundays aren’t one of them.
