Red-Blue Rivalry Alive in Business Community

There’s a major issue coming to a head this weekend and it has our great state divided. BYU and the University of Utah will go head-to-head on the gridiron with a Mountain West Conference championship on the line as well as a potential trip to a BCS bowl game. Most important, though, are the bragging rights that will last a whole year.

“Friendly” wagers have been a part of this rivalry dating back well before Robbie Bosco led the Cougars to a national championship or Alex Smith quarterbacked the Utes to the Fiesta Bowl.

And the Utah-BYU rivalry is alive and well in the business community.

Lane Beattie, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and his counterpart Provo/Orem Chamber President, Steve Densley, have jumped into the fray with a parlay of their own. The losing team’s corresponding Chamber will fly the flag of the winner in a prominent place for a full business day. Both men have agreed that the back side of their office doors does not constitute “prominent” and further upped the ante with dinner in their respective cities.

Neither chamber officially condones gambling, gaming or any other form of wagering outside of friendly BYU-Utah related matters and both like their chances of coming out on top.

“We’re business people and the numbers tell the story,” says Beattie who’s chamber is officially cheering for the Utes. “The way I see it, 11-0 is a better bottom line than 10-1.”

The media is already hyping this game as the most significant in the history of the rivalry with the Cougars ranked 14th and the Utes ranked 7th in the BCS standings.

Throughout the state, businesses and their employees are raising the level of trash talk as the big game draws near. Don’t be surprised to see people going to work in red or blue Friday—or maybe even Thursday for state employees.

The Great Harvest in Taylorsville will have what would normally be called white bread dyed red for Utah fans and blue for Cougar fans the day before the game as well as sugar cookies divided into the respective school colors. At the end of the day, the decorated delectables will be tallied and bragging rights awarded.

Some organizations are even finding a way to use the rivalry to benefit the community. Mountain America Credit Union is encouraging employees to donate non-perishable food items in either the BYU pile or the Utah pile. The organization has also organized a scavenger hunt for employees with winners getting points for their team. In addition, every employee who brings in ten food items gets one raffle ticket for a drawing to win tickets to the game. Mountain America Credit Union has held some form of this competition for the past few years but there is no conclusive, scientific link between the competition in the office and the outcome on the field. (FYI-at the time of this posting, the Utes lead 352-192.)

One thing is for certain. By Saturday night, one team will have won the game and given its fans plenty of reason to boast come Monday morning.

“Both schools have had outstanding seasons,” says Beattie. “The real winner is the state of Utah with the two teams serving as incredible ambassadors for this truly great place to live, work and enjoy top-notch college football.”