BYU has been contacted by the Big 12. How to save face with the WCC?

BYU has been contacted by the Big 12, according to The Upset Blog. There is one aspect of that article I would like to focus on.

BYU needs to find a way to save face with the WCC. Everyone should realize that the WCC fans are going to be royally upset that BYU only sticks with them for 1 year.

Here are some ideas that I have to save face with the WCC.

1. Join the Big 12 in non-WCC sports at first, then have basketball and the other sports follow to the Big 12 in a 2 to 3 year time-frame. This means that BYU joins the Big 12 in Football, Gymnastics, Swimming/Diving, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field and Softball right away, but joins in all other sports (Men's and Women's basketball, Baseball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Tennis and Women's Volleyball) after 2014 or 2015.

2. Have a scheduling agreement, much like the MWC has with the MVC, between the WCC and the Big 12. Guarantee that 2-3 games per years will be on ESPN/ABC. (Credit the KSL guys Greg Wrubbel and Jeremiah Jensen for this one.)

3. Pay a handsome exit fee to the WCC.

Certainly, the WCC may have figured that BYU's membership could be short term to begin with. But how could they have passed it up? There may have been an exit clause for BYU written in. The contract was never made public. These ideas are to save face with the WCC fans and to keep a good relationship between the LDS church and the religions that sponsor the other WCC schools.

Patrick Kinehan and ESPN 700 (the Utah University Flagship station) in response says that BYU should not worry too much about about upsetting the WCC. His argument is that basketball was sacrificed for the sake of football. That BYU's basketball program will get plenty of exposure as a member of the Big 12. Can't argue with his logic either.

As a side note...In either the Big 12 or the WCC, the Marriott Center, with it's 22,000 seat capacity is the largest arena by far. The Big 12; the average basketball arena is around 12,000. The WCC, the average is around 4,000. In the WCC, BYU has the largest baseball stadium. But that would be the 2nd smallest in the Big 12.

Another side note...near every WCC city lies a Mormon Temple. Which means plenty of BYU fans nearby. In the WCC the farthest you find yourself from a temple is at Santa Clara University which is about 40 miles from the Oakland, California Temple. In Big 12, it is well over 100 miles from Iowa State University to the Winter Quarters, Nebraska Temple. The only Big 12 school with a temple in the same city is Texas Tech.

Temples in WCC cities...
San Diego California (San Diego)
Los Angeles California (Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount)
Oakland California (Santa Clara, San Francisco and St. Mary's)
Portland (Lake Oswego) Oregon (Portland U)
Spokane (Opportunity) Washington (Gonzaga)

Nearest Temples to Big 12 towns
Lubbock Texas (Texas Tech)
San Antonio Texas (U Texas)
Houston (Klein) Texas (Baylor, Texas A&M)
Oklahoma City (Yukon) Oklahoma (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State)
Kansas City Missouri (Under Construction) (Kansas and Kansas State)
St. Louis Missouri (Missouri)
Winter Quarters Nebraska (Iowa State)

Other things about BYU joining the Big 12 go without saying. No Sunday play. A game with Utah in every sport every season. Not interrupting the Notre Dame agreement. Iron clad commitment from Oklahoma and Texas. BYUTV.
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A source at the Dallas Morning News (@ChuckCarltonDMN) says that this will be the new Big 12 alignment. He says...book it.

South

Baylor
Brigham Young
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Tech

North

Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Notre Dame
Pittsburgh

Personally, I thing that he is just waging a bet via twitter and not making an announcement. I am more comfortable with my assertion that Pittsburgh would rather be in the ACC, especially if West Virginia--their arch rival--is there. But there is a good chance that if the Big 12 can get Notre Dame, they can get Arkansas. Although, Arkansas might stay in the SEC with Texas A&M. And if Arkansas is in the Big 12, I bet that they will be in the South Division.