[Farm93]

Many of the existing small college town BigTen schools are in smallish towns.   That's part of their charm, of course.
However, in many cases the schools represent citizens across the entire state AND many in those states are all-in on football Saturdays.  Oregon State and Washington State do not fill their stadiums and they are not exactly the top weekend priority for citizens in the State of Washington or Oregon.

Worse - Few BigTen alums live near those campuses and both campuses are difficult for visiting fans to visit.   OSU is probably more attractive than WSU, but both must seem undesirable.   UW or UO may have legislative mandates to stay with WSU and OSU.   However, those mandates might literally kill UW and UO football.   My guess is few politicians would want to be known for killing UW or UO football.   

Back to Stanford...

I recall during the last season when the USC/UCLA news emerged.   Many of my season ticket football neighbors noted that the contests against the two SoCal schools were an important part of their season ticket purchase.   It was rather clear to me that Stanford football might lose a good chunk of season ticket holders when UCLA & USC are not on the schedule.   If UW and Oregon are added to that calculus then Stanford football will be in real trouble.   It likely wouldn't matter if Stanford football landed in a conference a bunch of MWC schools or ACC schools, the stadium will be empty.

If the stadium will be virtually empty with or without a football team, then IMHO it would be better to cite CTE concerns and drop football.

Sadly, I am reduced to hoping that the BigTen intends to invite Stanford, but wants to improve the terms of the merger by making sure Stanford to has no other choice.   This game of musical chairs is all about potential incremental TV revenue from football.    Stanford, especially when it is in the 4-8 to 8-4 zone, would not be accretive to that conference even if Stanford accepted a dramatically reduced slice of the revenue pie.

[Farm93]

Many of the existing small college town BigTen schools are in smallish towns.   That's part of their charm, of course.
However, in many cases the schools represent citizens across the entire state AND many in those states are all-in on football Saturdays.  Oregon State and Washington State do not fill their stadiums and they are not exactly the top weekend priority for citizens in the State of Washington or Oregon.

Worse - Few BigTen alums live near those campuses and both campuses are difficult for visiting fans to visit.   OSU is probably more attractive than WSU, but both must seem undesirable.   UW or UO may have legislative mandates to stay with WSU and OSU.   However, those mandates might literally kill UW and UO football.   My guess is few politicians would want to be known for killing UW or UO football.   

Back to Stanford...

I recall during the last season when the USC/UCLA news emerged.   Many of my season ticket football neighbors noted that the contests against the two SoCal schools were an important part of their season ticket purchase.   It was rather clear to me that Stanford football might lose a good chunk of season ticket holders when UCLA & USC are not on the schedule.   If UW and Oregon are added to that calculus then Stanford football will be in real trouble.   It likely wouldn't matter if Stanford football landed in a conference a bunch of MWC schools or ACC schools, the stadium will be empty.

If the stadium will be virtually empty with or without a football team, then IMHO it would be better to cite CTE concerns and drop football.

Sadly, I am reduced to hoping that the BigTen intends to invite Stanford, but wants to improve the terms of the merger by making sure Stanford to has no other choice.   This game of musical chairs is all about potential incremental TV revenue from football.    Stanford, especially when it is in the 4-8 to 8-4 zone, would not be accretive to that conference even if Stanford accepted a dramatically reduced slice of the revenue pie.