--Ohio State's largest viewership last season was Utah. That was the highest rated non CFP game that year peaking at 20 million viewers. So Utah isn't a problem as you suggest. And tOSU has about 8 million fans.

So the rest is coming from national interest in a compelling football game.

— USC's highest viewership this year was Notre Dame, closely followed by Utah in the highest rated P12 vs P12 in the CFP era, breaking the record set by Oregon-Utah in 2019.

— Oregon vs. Utah last year was the highest rated regular season P12 game in the CFP era.

The BYU fan answer to that is that has nothing to do with Utah...even though Utah is a common denominator here.

They say, because Utah has a small fanbase, any Utah game with high viewership doesn't count. It has to be the other team...but it's easy to measure vs. that teams other games.

You're right, Utah has an extremely small fanbase compared to blue blood programs. But...it's not about fanbase. It's eyeballs.

No one in the west has a worthwhile fanbase either. And fans aren't paying enough attention to move the needle anyway — outside of Oregon and maybe UW.

The answer is the money is in tapping national audiences. That group is into compelling, high profile games. The difference between ASU_CU or Utah vs. ASU on any given Saturday is minimal. It might be low 1.2 to 1.5 million. But the delta of 300k or so, is irrelevant in 9-digit TV contracts.

The 9-digit TV contract is paid predominantly by networks paying up to select the best matchups each week. Not individual teams.

For a conference now, the key is to find marquee matchups with national implications. Utah has been doing that on a regular basis.