Just some thoughts on Big XII expansion.
Most unrealistic to best immediate option.
The best option is the most unrealistic.
Adding ND and BYU (only if ND was a partner, we could do without a homophobic institution) as partial football members would provide the best increase in potential viewers and households for the Big 12. If they wanted to bring Olympic sports, we can make accommodation. They already have tier 3 networks. ND brings every major urban market as the Catholic national university so Boston, Chicago, NYC, Miami, NOLA, Atlanta, Philly, St Louis, Omaha, SD, SF, LA, Portland and Seattle. BYU gives you the rural west where Mormons have communities.
We could create two 5 team divisions around OU and UT.
The Royal Division (protected rivals)
UT (OU, TCU) TT (KSU, OSU) BU (OU, TCU) KU (KSU, ISU) WVU (OSU, ISU)
The Wilkinson Division (protected rivals)
OU (UT, BU)) OSU (TT, WVU) KSU (TT, KU) ISU (WVU, KU) TCU (UT, BU)
Newbies would get hazed a little by not having TT or OU as permanent games. Everyone would miss one team a team a year to play either ND or BYU as the 9th game.
Winners of each division would be first determined by record in said divisions. If ND and/or BYU have the best divisional records or win head to head, one or both would play in the CCG. If three way ties were to happen involving them, they would be eliminated and head to head between the remaining two would decide the participants since each is only playing 5 games.
They would allows to set up a Pac 12 challenge without WVU. ND would play USC and Stanford, BYU obviously would take on Utah, TT- ASU, KU-CU, the rest would be random draw.
If only ND brought their Olympic sports, we could go to a 20 game conference schedule in basketball. If BYU insisted, we would go to a 22 game round robin or 10 games in division and 6 cross division games.
The next best option is 2-6 ACC schools. Which 2 to 6 is tricky. Let's assume, the B1G decides to court UVA and UNC and the SEC pulls NCSU and VT. As WVU fans, we want to have access to the south for recruiting. The best two choices are GT and FSU (Georgia/Florida recruiting, adds 31 million residents, 11 million houses, one AAU school). At this point, jumping to 16 seems most prudent. I personally want WVU in a southern pod with Clemson, FSU and GT but Miami probably gets the fourth spot. Throw in Duke and Syracuse with ISU and WVU. This, of course, would hinge on the ACC collapsing which also seems unlikely.
The rest of G5 candidates pros and cons.
UCF
Pro- large student body, growing alumni population, 20 million state residents, 7 million households, improving football and basketball, great recruiting area
Cons- 3 other highly popular already established, stupid name, still not great facilities, the Magic, Orlando City
SDSU
Pros- Large (diverse) student body, 280,000 alumni, largest state. Great recruiting area, Excellent basketball.
Cons- poorly branded, not perceived as a great academic school, there are 4 other P5 schools in the state, Opposite side of the country from WVU, poor current facilities, Padres and Chargers.
Cincy
Pros- winning basketball and football, decent size student body and alumni, in a large state, decent recruiting
Cons- no one outside of Cincinnati cares (it's all Ohio State), the Reds and Bengals, not as fertile recruiting ground as others, lukewarm fan base, still 5 hours away from Morgantown, no real traditional rivalry with WVU
ECU
Pros- great fan base, decent size in a big state, good football, WVU actually has tradition with them
Cons- 4 other P5 schools in a state of 10 million, other programs are lacking, 7 hours from Morgantown, not perceived as a great academic institute
Memphis
Pros- great basketball tradition, Beale St, improving football
Cons- terrible facilities outside of basketball arena, no one outside of Memphis cares. Has two P5 schools in state and Arkansas and Ole Miss fans nearby, academically perceived poorly, still 7 hours from Morgantown, no tradition with WVU
CSU (I grew up rooting for them as my 2nd team)
Pros- closer to the rest of the Big XII, great beer, wonderful locale, may upgrade facilities, decent academics
Cons- haven't built the stadium yet, fan base doesn't seem hardcore, not as a big a state as some others, limited to Fort Collins for the most part, the Broncos, Nuggets, Avalanche
BYU
Pros- national Mormon university (large fan base), good football and basketball tradition, good academics, own network
Cons- run by homophobic Mormons, we already have dry games at Baylor, wants special treatment, useless without another major team.
SJSU
Pros-large international student population, Bay area, oldest California State University, growing area
Cons-not marketed very well, poor athletic tradition, poorly named, the Sharks, 49ers, Warriors, Earthquakes, Raiders, Giants, A's
Buffalo
Pros- AAU, large state
Cons- poorly named, athletics need a lot of work, no tradition with WVU, Sabres, Bills, terrible nickname
UNLV
Pros- only game in town, very good basketball, fun city to visit
Cons- not a huge population grab, football is mediocre, poorly perceived academically
Not worth discussing (yet) Tulane, USF, UConn, Fresno State, Boise St, SMU, Houston, FIU, NIU
To me, we need population and household the most. We also need access points for foreign markets. Texas gives a chance to go south, UCF would allows us to move into the Caribbean, SDSU would give us a point to jump into Asia. All of these areas have recent interest in American football and getting a foothold will help us keep up with the SEC and B1G and forge a relationship with the Pac 12. It's 1300 miles from the center of the conference to either UCF or SDSU. Why not cover 3 of 4 time zones? It would allow us to have games starting at 11 am, 2:30, 6 and 9 CT on any given weekend.
I personally think SDSU should go by California State San Diego (not Cal State- SD). UCF should become Florida STEAM University (Science. Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) with Florida Poly/Tech already taken.
Flame away.