So I used this paradigm to sort through and relegate some of 77 schools in the unwieldy everybody gets stay conference proposal.
There are 22 States that have multiple teams. Some of those need to be dropped, not only do they not deliver TV viewers, but because of local regional population, they never be able to deliver the eyeballs.
Here are the 22 states with multiple teams and who I would preserve.
1. Oregon (2). Drop OSt
2. Washington(2). Drop Wazzou
3. Cali (4) Keeps them all, I know CalStan have been under performing for years, I just keep thinking they'll wake up.
4. Arizona (2). Both teams stay
5. Utah (2) is indeed a low pop state, but both schools deliver good home attendance as well as decent to good TV numbers. Plus their rivalry delivers on a national scale.
6. Kansas (2) Population doesn't deserve two teams. Since football drives the money. Kansas has to go.
7. Iowa (2). Neither school has terrible numbers. ISU has one of the most loyal fanbases anywhere. Their attendance is good whether they suck or not. Both teams stay.
8. Oklahoma (2). Smaller pop state but of course OU stays, but so does OSt, they have the best numbers of the New16.
9. Texas (7) Yes, I said SEVEN schools. That is stupid. It needs to be Four like Cali. Bye Bye BU, UH & SMU. This somehow leaves us with TCU. But they perform better than, BU, UH & SMU.
10. Michigan(2) keep both schools.
11. Illinois (2) Illinois stays, see ya to NorthWestern. Illinois numbers aren't great, but the state population is good.
12. Indiana (3), Keeps ND, loses Purdue & Indiana
13. OHIO (2). No more Bearcats.
14. Kentucky (2). UK numbers are doing well enough to stay and so does Louisville.
15. Mississippi(2) Not big enough for two teams. Farewell, Miss St.
16. Georgia (2) Georgia Tech just doesn't move the needle. To bad, I kind of always liked them.
17. South Carolina (2) keeps both schools.
18. North Carolina (4). The ninth most populous state somehow has four teams in the 77. Only UNC & NCST can stay. No more Duke or Wake
19. Tennessee (2). Vandy should in no way get to stay.
20. Pennsylvania (2). Both schools stay. Pitt is marginal in some books, but they do as well as anybody else in the bottom half
21. Florida (4). Third most populous state deserves four but UCF is on the cusp of not making it.
22. Alabama (2) Both schools stay.
There are 11 states with one team. These states keep their representation 1. Minnesota 2. Wisconsin 3. West Virginia 4. Missouri 5. Colorado 6. Nebraska 7. Arkansas 8. Louisiana. 9. New York. These two state and their markets get relegated. 10. New Jersey 11. Maryland.
That is a total 50 teams. This strategy reduces fat while retaining most of the states viewers. If you want to cut to 48 you'd drop TCU & UCF, then have 4 12 team conferences.