as or better time slots/channels than 4-5 BYU got when BYU was in independence.

We do have a one year sample of BYU being in the Big 12, and now with BYU being in a better conference a .500 P5 team is often just as good as the undefeated G5 team. So the arguments about fan appearance over team quality don't hold up well for that example.

Also we have evidence of how our own fanbase stops showing up as our performance goes down. That's true for pretty much all fanbases in the country. If they lose a lot, their attendance goes down. BYU had awful attendance in their 1-27 bball season.

So how is it again that quality of players doesn't matter?