Las Vegas Love/Hate Relationship with BYU

This article came by way of a BYU weekly highlights newsletter. Ron Kantowski of the Las Vegas Review Journal wrote the piece.

Love ’em or loathe ’em, BYU Cougars are good for business

Kantowski’s point is spot on. I lived in Vegas for a year and a half. If you think Utah fans can’t stand some of BYU’s faith based, private school policies and accompanying attitude, you can imagine how folks in sin city might have a little problem with BYU as well. To make matters worse, the Cougars usually rolled in to Vegas and put a beat down on the Rebels in football. In basketball it was always more even.

Though the schools and fan bases could not be more different, they are somewhat geographically linked by the I-15 and their games always made for a good time. Not to mention, there is a huge LDS population in Las Vegas that would always come out in droves to support the Cougars. And of course the Rebels fans would all come out to see the enemy come to town.

As Kantowski points out, UNLV has been left high and dry by all the Mountain West Conference defections. It’s a shame the two schools no longer play. It would be good business for the city of Vegas and a great way for BYU to reward it’s loyal fan base in Nevada. 

Kantowski makes a humorous reference to the Cougars playing in the Las Vegas Bowl 46 or 47 times in a row. And he’s right, that bowl basically became the BYU invitational for 5 years running. What you may not remember though is that the Las Vegas Bowl was on hard times before the 6-6 Cougars staggered into town in December of 2005 to play Cal. Many people thought they were a poor choice at the time until they saw how many BYU fans showed up. BYU really helped save that bowl game. 

Finally, Kantowski points out why BYU’s departure from the MWC and subsequent TV contract with ESPN has been huge for the Cougars and their fan base. It is interesting to hear it though from the vantage point of one of the schools left behind. The show must go on but all this conference realignment really will take away some of the fun regional rivalries.