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With all the reports that the Big 12 is considering expansion comes the revival of reports that BYU is "difficult."

They aren't hard to find. They're being revived by other potential expansion targets. A lot of them came from Mountain West schools that worked with — or against — BYU.

Some of those become public, like the San Diego State associate athletic director who emailed Oklahoma's AD and offered to share "all the disadvantages of being in the conference with BYU."

A lot more comments were made off the record.

It's worth remembering what happened the last time BYU belonged to a league — when it got screwed over and tagged "difficult" in the process.

Back in 2010, former Real Salt Lake owner David Checketts, who led the MWC's TV negotiations in 2004, put it bluntly: The owners of The Mtn., Comcast and CBS "didn't live up to any of the promises they made to BYU."

What BYU asked for when the 2004 deal was negotiated with CSTV (later sold to CBS) was the same arrangement it previously had (and now has again) with ESPN — the right to rebroadcast football and basketball games. And to telecast games that weren't carried by one of the league's TV partners.

You could argue that the second item could have harmed the league by competing with MWC games carried by The Mtn. or CBS College Sports (now the CBS Sports Network). But the repeats? Really?

Regardless, Checketts said BYU had been promised both.

"I was in the room when they told them this, but they didn't want to put it in writing," he said.

That was a huge mistake on BYU's part. Should have gotten it in writing.

According to Checketts, he arranged a meeting between then-BYU president Cecil O. Samuelson and executives from Comcast (which bought into and operated The Mtn.) and CBS in 2006. "And he was assured that they were going to do it," Checketts said. "They apologized to him."

But, again, nothing in writing. Again, big mistake. Because those execs either moved on or simply reneged.

How does this make BYU difficult? Because BYU officials brought the issue up again and again at Mountain West meetings. They refused to let it drop.

And, rather than support a fellow league member who had been lied to and screwed over, representatives of the other MWC institutions — along with league staffers — apparently just got annoyed. Got tired of hearing about it.

Got sick of BYU being difficult.

This is not to suggest that TV was the only issue between BYU and the Mountain West. It was, however, the pivotal issue — the dispute that led BYU to quit the conference.

Is it an issue that could keep the Cougars out of the Big 12? BYUtv could certainly give up its one live football telecast per season. And, as has been demonstrated in the West Coast Conference, BYUtv can be an asset to the entire league, airing games (including some that don't involve the Cougars) that otherwise would not be televised.

Plus, given the current state of college athletics, you'd think BYU would make whatever accommodations it has to (outside of Sunday play) for membership in a Power 5 conference.

Except maybe those football and basketball repeats.

Would that be enough to keep the Cougars independent? BYU would have to be really difficult to let that happen.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.