[OutsiderFan]

And yet, despite the size of the Bay Area market, the Eugene and Seattle markets were more appealing. In other words, if nobody is interested in watching, market size means nothing.

Well, I would argue far fewer people gave a rip about Rutgers football than Cal and Stanford, when they joined the Big Ten. 

The Bay Area has 7.5M population, but only 2.5M TV households.  The Big Ten makes most of its money by cable fees customers are forced to pay to get the Big Ten Network in markets with Big Ten teams. U.S. cable subscriptions now have just 58% market share, and I would bet the Bay Area has less than that.

I don't think it's a matter of Cal and Stanford having no value per se, it's a matter of them not being properties the Big Ten Network can make money off by getting the BTN on basic cable packages in the Bay Area.

[OutsiderFan]

And yet, despite the size of the Bay Area market, the Eugene and Seattle markets were more appealing. In other words, if nobody is interested in watching, market size means nothing.

Well, I would argue far fewer people gave a rip about Rutgers football than Cal and Stanford, when they joined the Big Ten. 

The Bay Area has 7.5M population, but only 2.5M TV households.  The Big Ten makes most of its money by cable fees customers are forced to pay to get the Big Ten Network in markets with Big Ten teams. U.S. cable subscriptions now have just 58% market share, and I would bet the Bay Area has less than that.

I don't think it's a matter of Cal and Stanford having no value per se, it's a matter of them not being properties the Big Ten Network can make money off by getting the BTN on basic cable packages in the Bay Area.