A Texas grad put this list together of Big 12 members and potential invitees at a WVU board.
Here are 5 different metrics to measure schools. The first set of datum is the official NCAA 2011 attendance numbers for the most reasonably available schools for expansion. As suggested by BlueNGoldBlooded downthread, I have included ND, the B12, and selected ACC schools as points of reference. I think gameday attendance is a relatively accurate barometer to divine the order of conference expansion because I personally see a correlation between people in the stadium and people watching on TV. Still, gameday draw is subject to justifiable criticism in individual cases. In the end, though, conference expansion is also a sort of an art form. The second set of information lists whether the school is AAU. The third set of information is shown in "[ ]", and represents a statistical guess as to the number of TV viewers nationwide for a each school as compiled by Nate Silver in his “The Geography of College Football Fans”. This set of datum may not be completely accurate, due to some spam responses, as Silver himself admits. The fourth set of information is a "school valuation" shown in "( )", and is one professor's idea of the "value" of various public schools (not including private schools) compiled by Ryan Brewer of Indiana University. Brewer has not released his methodology in determining his values AFAIK. The fourth set of datum may be the most subjective of all. The fifth set is shown in “{ }”, and represents my perceived intangibles for each school. Some may choose to ignore the third, fourth, and fifth sets due to subjectivity.
05. Texas: 100,524 AAU [5. 2,250,319] (1. $848.3M) {“10”}
13. Oklahoma: 85,161 [19. 1,201,587] (9. $343M) {“9”)
14. Notre Dame: 80,795 [4. 2,261,738] {“10”}
17. Clemson: 78,234 [10. 1,761,162] (25. $131M) {SC / Fans}
18. Florida State: 77,842 [38. 813,315] (54. $23.6M) {State capitol / FL}
23. Virginia Tech: 66,233 [13. 1,325,282] (24. $134.2M) {VA / Fans}
26. Brigham Young: 60,265 [43. 709,864] {TV / Mormon / UT}
30. Oklahoma State: 57,229 [41. 719,648] (18. $155.2M) {OK}
32. West Virginia: 56,532 [29. 959,403] (21. $141.2M) {WV / Sports}
37. Texas Tech: 55,347 [33. 911,787] (32. $100.4M) {TX}
38. Iowa State: 53,647 AAU [52. 535,627] (41. $59.9M) {IA}
40. East Carolina: 50,012 [68. 348,391] (65. $6.2M) {NC}
43. Kansas State: 49,816 [60. 427,688] (42. $59.8M) {KS}
45. Miami: 48,654 [14. 1,322,142] {City / FL}
46. Louisville: 48,538 [73. 300,443] (51. $30.4M) {City / Bridge / Basketball / KY}
47. Georgia Tech: 48,232 AAU [11. 1,664,088] (35. $85M) { Atlanta / GA}
50. Pittsburgh: 46,003 AAU [37. 831,496] (47. $44M) {City / PA}
53. South Florida: 44,550 [53. 520,627] (49. $38.9M) {FL}
54. Rutgers: 43,761 AAU [32. 937,874] (93. <$19M>) {Greater NYC / Northeast corridor}
56. Maryland: 42,355 AAU [58. 474,059] (58. $14.99M) { Washington D.C. / MY}
57. Kansas: 42,283 AAU [40. 768,002] (59. $14.9M) {KS}
59. Baylor: 41,368 [85. 209,736] {TX}
63. Connecticut: 36,668 [47. 618,724] (83. $0M) {Northeast corridor / Basketball / CN}
67. Central Florida: 34,283 [55. 506,679] (45. $53.8M) {FL}
68. Boise State: 34,018 [57. 483,489] (40. $64.8M) {ID}
69. Texas Christian: 33,686 (42,466 prior to ongoing stadium upgrade) [65. 370,459] {DFW}
73. Cincinnati: 32,293 [70. 322,757] (57. $15M) {City / OH}
76. Houston: 31,731 [112. 100, 253] {City}
93. Memphis: 20,078 [80. 235,656] (86. $0M) {City / TN}
97. Tulane: 19,726 AAU [111. 101,701] { New Orleans / LA}
105. Rice: 17,329 AAU [103. 126,901] {City}
We have the 47th most watched football program in the country already. We have plenty of hope. Hard to understand how the ACC gets so many eyeballs but are so horrible in football. Have to wonder where we rank in basketball.