It’s only a matter of how many Doctoral programs a given school offers. Pac-10 schools have more than 20. BYU has less than 20, but it is still considered by Carnegie to be a “Research University.”
IV. Market Ranking
While it’s nice to talk about football and academics, only three things drove the Big VIII to raid the SWC, or the ACC to raid the Big East: market size, ratings, and money.
Obviously, some considerations need to be taken into account. Some colleges are in major metro areas (SDSU) but have less than stellar attendance and probably less than stellar ratings that go with them.
Other schools are in smaller areas (Oregon) but have a good national reputation and deliver good ratings in a nearby market.
One other caveat often overlooked about BYU is the number of Mormons in existing Pac-10 markets. In 2006, California had 750,000, Arizona had 361,000, Oregon had 143,000, and Washington had 248,000 Mormons for a total of 1.5 million Mormons within the Pac-10 footprint. That’s equivalent to the population of Phoenix.
Now, many of them are certainly already fans of their local teams, but looking at the number of students and football players who come to BYU from Pac-10 states, there are many BYU fans out there as well.
Even without considering BYU fans already living in Pac-10 markets, BYU and Utah are near the top of the list and command the market they are in.
Pac-10
USC: 1
UCLA: 1
Cal: 4
Stanford: 4
UW: 14
ASU: 15
Oregon: 23 (Portland), 148 (Eugene)
Oregon State: 23 (Portland), 148 (Corvallis)
Zona: 61
WSU: 92 (Spokane)
Non-BCS
TCU: 4
SDSU: 17
BYU: 31
Utah: 31
UNLV: 33
Central Florida: 34
Memphis: 49
Hawaii: 64
Fresno: 66
East Carolina: 89
Boise St.: 102
CSU: 123
UNR: 124
Southern Miss: 227
Big XII
Texas: 4 (Dallas), 42 (Austin)
A&M: 4 (Dallas), 243 (College Station)
Colorado: 22 (Denver-Boulder)
V. Athletic Department Budget (in millions)
Finally, here are two gauges of overall athletic commitment. This is a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg problem.
Many of the non-BCS schools would surely have larger budgets if they got a bigger slice of the BCS pie. Any school invited to the Pac-10 would be able to upgrade (much like Louisville, Cincinnati, and Connecticut have done in the Big East).
However, this list does show what these schools have been able to build without the BCS dollars.
Pac-10
USC: $76
Stanford: $65
UCLA: $61
Cal: $60
UW: $59
ASU: $53
Oregon: $50
Zona: $45
Oregon State: $45
WSU: $31
Non-BCS
TCU: $39
BYU: $32
SDSU: $31
Central Florida: $29
Memphis: $29
Utah: $26
Hawaii: $26
East Carolina: $25
UNLV: $25
Fresno: $25
Boise St: $22
CSU: $19
UNR: $19
Southern Miss: $16
Big XII
Texas: $105
A&M: $69
Colorado: $42
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