Another question since you guys are closer to Texas, If the Pac-10 wanted Texas, I am assume they have to take A&M to come along correct? Would they also have to take Tech and Baylor too? From what I was reading, back when the Big 12 formed. Baylor basically got in because of heavy lobbying by some powerful political people (Governor?). Not sure why Baylor got the sweet deal, and teams like Rice, Houston, SMU, TCU etc got a raw deal.
In short, yes, A&M would likely go wherever they went. I could *see* UT in the Pac and A&M in the Big 10, but I just don't think that would happen. The Horns and Aggies have been in the same league for 100 years basically. It wouldn't work, in the end.
And the BU-TT stuff has been covered, but yes, Richards was a BU alum and Tech alums were the largest (or pretty close) group in the Capitol and the Speaker was a Tech guy, so that was that. The other teams got a raw deal because they were either smaller private schools with littler legislative sway or a public commuter school (Houston) which had always been looked down on by the others (they didn't join the SEC until the 70s).
You think OU would be #3 in Dallas? Not all of Texas, that part I understand. But I would think that Dallas would be about 50/50 between OU and UT. Then add in the OKC and Tulsa markets and to my way of thinking, OU would be a great fit in the Pac 12 with CU. Forget Utah, let's bring the Sooners with us.
Yes, OU is a big No. 3 in DFW. I don't have the numbers on me, but alumni rolls for UT and A&M are much bigger than OU's in DFW. I'm pretty sure it's UT, A&M, a decent gap, OU, then OSU/Texas Tech neck and neck. But in terms of overall fans, it's ultimately a Texas market.
OU owns both of the Oklahoma markets, obviously, but they're something like 45 and 60 or something.
I asked the question in another thread also - but is there a single school that would bring the entire Dallas market with it to another conference? Needless to say, whatever school that is (I'm guessing it's UT) would undoubtedly have the most attraction to another conference that is looking to expand.
Definitely the answer is Texas. That reason is because you'd get all the Texas fans watching, plus the fans of other teams who hate them but still watch them (ala Howard Stern).