SDSU. the California market is worth a lot of money and has limited supply of competitive teams. Two of the most valued programs are now off the table. You basically have Stanford, Cal, SDSU, and Fresno St left. It’s not clear that Cal is worth much. Stanford probably is despite low fan interest today. SDSU is arguably the best remaining choice. And if you pump them full of SEC cash they could be really interesting.

Geography is the same reason BYU might be of interest to the SEC, or Utah (though I think BYU clearly is worth more than Utah). Oregon and Washington I’d guess are being pursued right now.

The SEC needs pacific and mountain time inventory. There isn’t a ton of it available that’s worth much, so those who are worth something are in a good position.

They can try to accomplish the same thing with a scheduling agreement, but it’s one thing to have someone in your conference and another to just contract with them. And at the end of that contract, there’s nothing stopping the Big 10 from contracting with SDSU.

This is a war between the Big 10 and SEC. the Big 10 is ahead right now. The SEC can’t have the Big 10 making more per team, so they’ve got to increase their overall market value. Tough to do if you can’t access one of the largest tv markets in the country directly.