Pac 12 expansion isnt complete and LS is certainly looking at CSU and BYU as possible counterparts for the newly added schools. The rams need to get their **** together and improve the football experience in FC. I think it would be ideal to have the Rams with us in the south division
I'm not a CSU hater, I did grad school there and wish them well except when they are playing the Buffs.
That said the idea that the PAC12 or the Big XII would have interest in them is beyond a joke right now. Even when they were winning they had trouble drawing over 30k for home games, now that they are down they have slipped under 24k average home attendance and for a number of games have been under 20k. This is all with ticket prices that are substantially below the norm for schools in AQ conferences. The last time they were in a bowl game the TV rating for the bowl were the second lowest of that entire bowl season, only ahead of New Orleans bowl with the Sun Belt champion. They are also notoriously bad in terms of road attendence, they just don't travel well.
As much as we would like to think otherwise college football is a business, money is what makes the decisions and right now no AQ conference is going go after a school that they don't see as bringing their conference significant income potential through ticket sales and more importantly through TV viewership.
Even if CSU were to get back to where they were when they had their glory years the revenue generated simply wouldn't justify giving up a revenue share to them.
In the western US there are a number of other schools that would be way ahead of CSU in desirability for expansion. BYU would already be in an AQ conference if not for their being a pain in the neck to deal with. Air Force brings home attendance of around 45k, travels extreemly well, especially in areas with a strong military presence and has historically been a popular TV team in ratings. New Mexico has a disaster of a football program but they are the sports franchise in their state in the middle of a fast growing city closing in on 1 million people. San Diego State has a much bigger media market but has never been able to capture much interest, on the other hand Boise is in a smaller but fast growing area and is the only show, they are likely way ahead of CSU in revenue and revenue potential.
This doesn't even consider the Texas schools that would be in line ahead of CSU, UTEP with a city of over 1 milliion, Houston, SMU, and Rice all of which have SWC history.
As college football continues to get even more money driven with the new media contracts it will be harder and harder for the lower revenue schools to stay competitive. Any hope of CSU making a move forward is based on their returning to winning ways but with one of the lowest football budgets in the MWC and a long time history of losing the chances of that happening are pretty slim. Even if they do return to winning their targets based on past times when they were winning their revenue would not be a target for an AQ conference.
Looking at the total program and what is happening in college football I see their future as much more likely ending up in FCS where their resources would allow them to be a successfull program and expenses would be much lower.
