It is not tiny. It’s got 3.4M people (30th) and is typically top 5 in growth. It is larger than Iowa, Miss, and KS, all of which have two teams. It’ll pass CT in the next year or two.
And in terms of young people it is much higher.
Plus BYU is a national brand.
State population / P4 teams:
California- 9.8m
Pennsylvania- 6.5m
Ohio- 5.9m
Florida- 5.6m
Georgia- 5.5m
Texas- 4.3m
Virginia- 4.3m
Arizona- 3.7m
NC- 2.7m
SC- 2.6m
Indiana- 2.3m
Kentucky- 2.3m
Oklahoma- 2m
Utah- 1.7m
Iowa- 1.6m
Kansas- 1.5m
I’d say only in Kansas, Utah, and Arizona would the BXII have the biggest fanbase in their respective state. Utah is a small state however you slice it.
Here is a list of the top 10 schools by revenue earned last year from either conference (works as a shorthand for brands):
(Notre Dame), Virginia, FSU, Clemson, Stanford, Duke, Louisville, Arizona, UNC, Arizona State, TCU
California, Kansas, Miami, Utah, and VPI round out the top 15. A raid on the ACC would have to be extremely deep. If the GOR is unbreakable (and again, Texas is getting no media rights next year from either conference, so until proven otherwise I’m thinking it’s not breakable), smart money is on the ACC as being the one able to poach the next cycle. I don’t think anyone has ever willingly left a better contract for a worse one in all these realignment wars, and I don’t expect it to happen in 2030.