Story today in Deseret News ... their athletic department couldn't get around Title IX, so the team will now exist outside the NCAA. Hopefully, many other schools with club teams will follow suit.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,405023885,00.html The same paper has covered their bouts with Title IX in the past.
Interesting idea. Getting enough fall games might be problematic, but the entire team would be eligible for the PDL season. I suppose if enough teams were interested, the PDL could run year round similar to international leagues.
This is a very interesting development. The idea of a university that has a club team but no varsity team actually owning a team that is playing in the PDL is certainly a great example of thinking outside the box. Aside from getting around the Title IX restrictions, for a school like BYU, which is totally funded by the Church of LDS, this actually maikes more sense than a traditional varsity team as it allows for players who are going on Mormon missions to not have to fit their missions around NCAA rules and what not. And, the idea of going to Europe to play games over there, which fits the LDS part of spreading their gospel and gets the players great football experience, kills 2 proverbial birds with one sword. A very intriguing development, to say the least. I wonder if it will be a blip on the college radar or the beginning of a trend?
If BYU was totally funded by the LDS church then they wouldn't have to comply with Title IX. Outside of the issue of getting enough quality games, I would think this team would have a hard time being competitive in the PDL?
Even if they're totally funded by the LDS, any federal aid they take in the way of research grants, federally guaranteed student loans, etc. would put them under Title IX. They'd probably be competitive enough to play in the league.
BYU has won the national club championship like five times in the last seven years. They've definitely outgrown the competition.