Conferences: dilution?

One of the things that pundits and others say regarding all of the different conference expansion that's continually being talked about is that conferences don't want to take on teams that will dilute their makeup. But this is a bit of a misnomer that needs to be taken apart a bit.

On one hand, if you're referring to dilution in a monetary sense, this is extremely true. Sure there are other considerations, but if a school isn't in a decent market and/or able to at least pull their share in contributing revenue, they stand little chance of being courted by another conference. Financially, this makes sense for all the "current" conference members.

On the other hand, you could be referring to dilution of the competitive aspects of the conference, bringing in a team that simply can't compete at the level the conference is already at. A variation of this is when a school is disqualified for lack of academic credentials. But on the whole, I think this type of dilution, gets more focus than it deserves, partly because there's usually a solid connection between how competitive a team is and how much money they bring in.

Would it really be that bad to bring in a new conference member that wasn't able to compete as well on the field as long as they were able to pull their share in bringing in money? (Sure there's the tangled web of how much a dilution in competition will affect the ability of the conference as a whole to make money, and we can't discount it, but at the same time 1) I don't think it's that big of an effect, and 2) I don't think the presidents really get down to that much minutae.) But in general, doesn't it seem like a win-win? Adding a school that gives you more money and more wins doesn't seem like that bad of a deal to me. Which is why the SEC should really be interested in Texas A&M, from a football standpoint.

The table below lists each school's revenue and winning % from a six-year span, as well as their respective ranks in each category. Aside from the teams already in the SEC, Big10, and Pac12, (who I'd peg as the most stable conferences right now in that none of their teams would ever consider leaving) the Aggies have the 4th biggest desirable difference between their revenue rank and their winning % rank. Ahead of them are Duke, North Carolina, and Syracuse, all basketball schools comfortable in their basketball-centered conferences. And realistically, the big conferences aren't going to want teams that are complete creampuffs on the gridiron. (There's no way that Vanderbilt gets invited to the SEC nowadays, but you know that the SEC head coaches are glad they're in the conference and most likely an easy W on the schedule.) The Aggies always seem to have solid players but never can quite get over the hump in the Big12 - while they have potential, there's little to suggest that would change in the SEC. Throw in the Big12's impending demise and you've got a really good situation for both the SEC and Texas A&M.

Of course there are a lot more considerations that go into a teams invitation to a new conference, such as geography (becoming less and less of an issue), academics, overall fit, etc. But money is still the big driving force. And when all the chaos ensues again, the teams that can generate it are the ones who are going to be the prized properties.

Revenue & Competition, 2003-2008
Conf	Team	03-08 Revenue (in millions)	Revenue Rank	03-08 Winning%	W% Rank	Difference in Rank
ACC	Duke	318.1	32	.171	116	-84
Pac10	Washington	319.1	31	.254	110	-79
Pac10	Stanford	354.9	23	.333	99	-76
Big10	Illinois	309.6	33	.310	104	-71
ACC	North Carolina	336.7	26	.389	90	-64
BigEast	Syracuse	271.3	47	.310	104	-57
SEC	Kentucky	366.2	21	.438	77	-56
Big10	Indiana	274.4	46	.338	97	-51
Big12	Texas A&M	400.9	17	.493	67	-50
Big10	Michigan St	402.4	16	.514	62	-46
Indy	Notre Dame	438.9	10	.541	55	-45
Big12	Baylor	228.7	57	.314	102	-45
CUSA	SMU	179.9	67	.229	112	-45
Big10	Minnesota	357.6	22	.507	64	-42
Pac10	Arizona	258.7	51	.380	91	-40
SEC	Vanderbilt	240.9	54	.352	94	-40
MAC	Temple	151.7	78	.186	115	-37
Big12	Iowa St	209.7	61	.347	95	-34
SEC	Alabama	465.5	7	.584	40	-33
MtnWest	UNLV	159.2	73	.271	106	-33
SEC	South Carolina	340.2	25	.534	57	-32
Pac10	UCLA	332.7	27	.520	59	-32
MtnWest	San Diego St	191.4	65	.338	97	-32
SEC	Mississippi St	168.1	71	.324	101	-30
SunBelt	Western Kentucky	116.4	89	.167	117	-28
ACC	Virginia	394.8	19	.568	46	-27
Big12	Colorado	263.9	50	.440	76	-26
Big10	Purdue	321.2	30	.547	53	-23
Big12	Kansas	394.1	20	.581	41	-21
Big12	Oklahoma St	348.8	24	.573	45	-21
SEC	Arkansas	329.3	29	.554	49	-20
CUSA	UCF	173.4	69	.392	89	-20
SEC	Tennessee	484.9	5	.645	24	-19
Big10	Penn St	452.7	8	.635	27	-19
MAC	Buffalo	114.9	90	.264	108	-18
Big12	Kansas St	267.1	49	.500	66	-17
CUSA	Tulane	118.2	86	.314	102	-16
Big10	Michigan	516.1	4	.653	19	-15
ACC	NC State	236.5	55	.466	70	-15
Big12	Nebraska	397.4	18	.613	32	-14
Big10	Iowa	422.7	13	.640	25	-12
Pac10	Washington St	196.2	63	.444	75	-12
Big10	Wisconsin	478.2	6	.701	16	-10
MAC	Eastern Michigan	107.8	96	.271	106	-10
SunBelt	Florida Intl	101	101	.234	111	-10
SEC	Mississippi	195.4	64	.458	73	-9
CUSA	Rice	154.4	77	.403	86	-9
WAC	New Mexico St	104.6	99	.264	108	-9
SEC	Florida	554.6	3	.756	11	-8
Big10	Northwestern	236.2	56	.514	62	-6
CUSA	UAB	118.2	86	.366	92	-6
Big10	Ohio St	645.5	1	.816	4	-3
BigEast	Connecticut	306.2	36	.589	38	-2
WAC	Utah St	75.3	111	.214	113	-2
Big12	Texas	634.7	2	.857	3	-1
SEC	Auburn	424.1	12	.724	13	-1
WAC	Idaho	72.3	113	.211	114	-1
MtnWest	Wyoming	128.6	82	.423	82	0
CUSA	East Carolina	144.2	81	.432	80	1
Pac10	Arizona St	283.2	43	.581	41	2
SEC	LSU	440.5	9	.810	6	3
SEC	Georgia	436.5	11	.782	8	3
ACC	Clemson	302	37	.627	31	6
MtnWest	Colorado St	118	88	.425	81	7
MAC	Kent St	96.7	103	.343	96	7
CUSA	UTEP	123.4	85	.438	77	8
Big12	Oklahoma	413.8	14	.815	5	9
SunBelt	North Texas	89.8	108	.333	99	9
Pac10	California	332.4	28	.675	18	10
BigEast	Rutgers	258.6	52	.581	41	11
BigEast	Pittsburgh	222.1	58	.562	47	11
ACC	Wake Forest	217.2	60	.554	49	11
CUSA	Memphis	170.2	70	.520	59	11
CUSA	Marshall	113.2	93	.423	82	11
MAC	Ohio	105.4	98	.403	86	12
Pac10	USC	412.1	15	.910	1	14
ACC	Georgia Tech	267.6	48	.597	34	14
ACC	Miami	286.9	41	.640	25	16
WAC	San Jose St	95.5	104	.400	88	16
Big12	Missouri	287.4	40	.649	22	18
ACC	Maryland	220.7	59	.581	41	18
Pac10	Oregon	293.4	38	.653	19	19
MAC	Miami (OH)	128.4	83	.507	64	19
ACC	Boston College	308.4	34	.718	14	20
ACC	Virginia Tech	307.5	35	.750	12	23
ACC	Florida St	277.9	45	.649	22	23
Pac10	Oregon St	247.7	53	.632	30	23
BigEast	Louisville	287.9	39	.703	15	24
MtnWest	New Mexico	151.3	79	.541	55	24
MAC	Western Michigan	113.9	92	.486	68	24
SunBelt	LA-Monroe	43	117	.357	93	24
Big12	Texas Tech	286	42	.697	17	25
SunBelt	Middle TN St	93.2	107	.423	82	25
CUSA	Houston	151.1	80	.553	52	28
SunBelt	LA-Lafayette	56.7	116	.414	85	31
BigEast	South Florida	165.5	72	.589	38	34
BigEast	West Virginia	280.5	44	.763	9	35
BigEast	Cincinnati	176.9	68	.600	33	35
MAC	Central Michigan	112.2	95	.520	59	36
MAC	Akron	95.4	105	.472	69	36
MAC	Ball St	93.9	106	.466	70	36
SunBelt	Florida Atlantic	80.3	110	.449	74	36
SunBelt	Arkansas St	57.7	115	.437	79	36
WAC	Nevada	114.7	91	.547	53	38
MtnWest	BYU	190.6	66	.635	27	39
WAC	Fresno St	158.9	74	.597	34	40
WAC	Louisiana Tech	67.9	114	.466	70	44
MtnWest	TCU	208.6	62	.760	10	52
MAC	Toledo	88.5	109	.534	57	52
MAC	Northern Illinois	100.4	102	.554	49	53
CUSA	Tulsa	128.4	83	.633	29	54
WAC	Hawaii	155.1	76	.650	21	55
MAC	Bowling Green	107.8	96	.595	37	59
SunBelt	Troy	74	112	.562	47	65
CUSA	Southern Miss	103.7	100	.597	34	66
MtnWest	Utah	155.9	75	.787	7	68
WAC	Boise St	112.8	94	.872	2	92