Big 12 will have 12 teams by next season...

[jbhtexas]

I fail to understand how one can judge BYU's national following based on their budget. Actually, it just means BYU gets little or no revenue from fat TV contracts and the shared bowl payouts of the BCS conferences.

Why is it so hard to understand? A large national following should translate to $$$, and if a national following doesn't bring in $$$, it's irrelevant as far as conference expansion goes because it brings nothing to the table.

Look at the primary revenue streams for an athletic department, which are conference revenue distribution (which is primarily TV money, BCS distribution, and other bowl money), donations, merchandising, advertising rights, and endowments.

The ability to get money from "fat" TV contracts is related to the strength of the conference's national following. Donations, merchandising, and advertising rights are related to national following. National following is a significant reason why Notre Dame has a budget of $81,000,000, and Nebraska, located in a state with a rather low population, has a budget of $77,000,000.

I wasn't able to find any firm numbers for recent MWC conference revenue distribution, but I found articles claiming anywhere from $2,000,000 to over $4,000,000 per team.

For BYU, assuming the low end conference distribution, their non-conference generated revenue would be somewhere around $35,000,000. Assuming ISU got around $10,000,000 from the Big 12 (which might be high), ISU's non-conference generated revenue would be somewhere around $36,000,000. ND and NU's non-con revenue is likely $60,000,000+.

If BYU has a large national following, those who follow are a bunch of tightwads who don't contribute to the AD and don't buy merchandise, because their non-con revenue is very low relative to schools that are known to have a large national following (i.e. ND and NU), and very similar to schools that don't have a large national following (i.e. ISU).

The only way national following matters as far as conference expansion goes is if that following brings in money. That isn't happening for BYU. If BYU does have a large national following, they aren't turning it into cash.

BYU would be a superior choice for the Big 12. It has a much larger fan following than Utah, for example.

Utah would have been a lousy choice for the Big 12 as well.

Now, about their fan following:
1. BYU averaged 64,236 (in a 64,000-seat stadium) in football attendance last year, which is 27th nationally.
2. BYU averaged 14,029 in basketball attendance last year, which is 17th nationally.

Attendance at local games is not an indicator of a national following. BYU is pulling in a significant amount of gate money from local attendance, which means their non-local support is supplying even less revenue.

BYU would be a home run choice for the Big 12. An absolute home run.

Only if their addition does not result in a revenue loss for the other schools. And to this point, nobody here has shown that adding BYU to the Big 12 will maintain, or better yet, increase the revenue of the other Big 12 schools. Personally, I'd like the Big 12 to be at 12 teams, but not if it costs ISU revenue. Adding schools just to get back to 12 makes no sesne if it makes revenue go down for the other schools, especially if the networks are willing to pay the big money for a 10-team conference.