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BYU reportedly will stay in Mountain West

BYU’s down to less than a week to decide its athletic future: Stay with the Mountain West or go the independent route in football and join the WAC for everything else, including college hoops.

If a report in the Denver Post is right, the Cougars are staying in the MWC - and they could announce that decision soon.

One of the issues is BYU’s desire to broadcast its games on BYU-TV. If those problems get resolved, the school may stay. Here’s an explanation from Natalie Meisler of the Post:

Currently The Mtn. and affiliates Versus and CBS-Sports hold exclusive rights to MWC football programming. The kickoffs are staggered throughout each Saturday. Some might recall one of the reasons for the MWC’s break from ESPN several years ago was that school presidents around the conference did not want mid-week football games scheduled, as happens with WAC and Conference-USA teams.

If any BYU football inventory moves over to BYU-TV, the next headache would be informing fans of opposing teams where to find the network. That might be a small inconvenience compared to completely losing the Salt Lake City market or BYU’s Top 25 finishes counting towards BCS automatic qualifying membership.

Then again, at least one Mountain West writer isn’t buying it. My guess it goes down to the last minute and we find out BYU’s decision next Tuesday night.

Mike Miller’s also on Twitter @BeyndArcMMiller, usually talkin’ hoops. Click here for more.