[MBA85]

If the goal is maximizing TV revenue (and the Big 12 becomes the Little 8), the Pac should poach Baylor and TCU. 

Baylor football somehow has become a brand. Combine them with TCU and you get the Dallas and Austin markets.

Texas Tech had a generational talent in Mahomes but their football program has only gotten worse since he left. Does not bode well for them. 

Oklahoma State has a hard ceiling on its potential popularity, given that it will never truly rival OU.

There are options that would be more attractive to Pac fans, like BYU and Nebraska, but I don't think those schools would bring enough TV market value to justify what they would ask for in return. Not worth the headache.

None of those schools would seem to match the old academic requirements of the Pac-12 as research universities but that may be dinosaur thinking these days.

How about Rice?  Strong academics, a lot of alums who are also Stanford alums.  Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, so a large market.  Bloom and McCaffrey are set to turn football around.  Strong baseball program which hit a rough patch is about to turn itself around under Cruz and
Bostic.  Women's sports are strong and improving.

[MBA85]

If the goal is maximizing TV revenue (and the Big 12 becomes the Little 8), the Pac should poach Baylor and TCU. 

Baylor football somehow has become a brand. Combine them with TCU and you get the Dallas and Austin markets.

Texas Tech had a generational talent in Mahomes but their football program has only gotten worse since he left. Does not bode well for them. 

Oklahoma State has a hard ceiling on its potential popularity, given that it will never truly rival OU.

There are options that would be more attractive to Pac fans, like BYU and Nebraska, but I don't think those schools would bring enough TV market value to justify what they would ask for in return. Not worth the headache.

None of those schools would seem to match the old academic requirements of the Pac-12 as research universities but that may be dinosaur thinking these days.

How about Rice?  Strong academics, a lot of alums who are also Stanford alums.  Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, so a large market.  Bloom and McCaffrey are set to turn football around.  Strong baseball program which hit a rough patch is about to turn itself around under Cruz and
Bostic.  Women's sports are strong and improving.