They, like us, have an exclusive contract with ESPN. If ESPN can pay us and BSU as members of the Big 12, that saves them millions. If the Big 12 expanded east than ESPN would pay millions of additional money to UCF/Cincinnati/Memphis/whoever, and still have to pay both Boise State and BYU.

So besides the fact that BYU/Boise State are the two most attractive from a competitive standpoint, cost-cutting ESPN will be saving a lot of money over the next few years if it can convince the Big 12 to bring us in..