Awesome. Great explanation. However, your head is still up the DFW ass. Completely ignored the Forest again. sigh.
This is rich coming from you. It's easier to count the times you haven't had your head in your ass.
The forest that you point out is an economic one.
The program that brings the most $$$ to the conference is the most attractive.
...are you following? Are you able to keep up?
Ranked teams get better TV coverage than unranked teams. They get broadcast across the whole forest, and across the prairie, from sea to shining sea.
The team with the better chance of being nationally ranked is the team you want in your conference.
...are you still with me?
Teams who are have access to the best players have a greater probability of being ranked than schools who struggle to attract the best players.
...I know that last point is a hard concept to grasp. But try to hang on.
TCU is uniquely positioned because it is in one of the top 4 recruiting grounds on the planet.
...this is where it gets tricky...
TCU had been able to win games and get ranked. As a result, TCU has been known to get a little national attention for itself. Adverisers and conferences like it when teams get attention for winning. They spend money on adversing with the conference that get's it's games on national TV the most.
...let me know if I'm way over your head. I suspect you'd like to treat TV advertising like a game of Parker Brother's Risk, and want to spread your armies over podunk markets. But the last 10 years has proven that CU's relevance to the conference has diminished to the point where only the MTN network cares about CU-CSU. Meanwhile TCU is invited in a major bowl game.
Your Parkers Brothers Risk strategy ISN'T working. CU will be syphoning off $$$ from programs who manage to win. Meanwhile, CU has gone from a team that used to play on TV, but is now getting bumped for games people actually want to watch.
I don't like this any more than you do. But it's called reality. When you leave your ivory tower, it just might hit you in the face.