The Lions' Pride

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/20/which-football-and-basketball-programs-produce-the-largest-profits/

Honestly, PSU would be close to near impossible to get rid of and replace. Rutgers would not cover the Philly Market and neither would UMD. Only PSU would cover that market unless they accepted someone like Temple into the BTN then that would weak even though they have zero fans, it would mean the BTN now has rights to charge subscribers in that area $1.10/month instead of $0.30/month (not actual numbers)

Think about this old quote: "The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts."

It very much describes the situation in regards to what Penn State brings to the Big Ten. Remove Penn State from the equation, and the Big Ten is left with a footprint of states with declining populations in a section of the country with only one of the top ten television markets in the country. Penn State brings the 23rd biggest media market in Pittsburgh and the 4th biggest media market in Philadelphia. And, even with the additions of Rutgers and Maryland, the conference needs Penn State and it's East coast presence to legitimize the #1 television market (New York) and the #9 television market (Washington DC)/#26 television market (Baltimore).

ok, but you take the Philly market away (by PSU moving out of the conference), who do you replace them with that covers "the rest of the state?" Pitt isnt bringing in the rest of the state outside Philly.

Yeah, combined the rest of the state might bring in more money to the BTN as its a larger area so maybe they have lots more cable boxes. But you take away the Philly market by losing PSU, you would need to add Pitt for the western part of the state and a school Temple for the Philly market. I dont know how the middle of the state would work with the BTN's right with the cable/satellite providers.

Either way you look at it, the BT could have 1 school such as PSU that covers most, if not the entire state, or you could slice the pie 2 more times by adding terrible Pitt and Temple. Plus, outside of cable boxes, with PSU you would get better ratings which would result in additional revenue through ads.