What kills you in sports travel is not really football. If you are a serious I-A program you are going to fly charter directly to the nearest airport (which in most of the Big 12 is not even a commercial airport). Or even basketball. Its the other team sports (individual-ish sports like golf or track are different, generally consisting of a single conference tournament). Softball/baseball, women's basketball, volleyball, and soccer (I don't think the Big 12 has soccer, but this is a more general discussion). You have to travel those teams to a H and H schedule in a ligitimate way. That means charters for all of those teams, or flying commercial (difficult to such hubs of international commerce like Morgantown, Stillwater, Lawrence or Ames) along with all of the accompanying gear. That ads up, not only in $$ but it hurts your kids (who really are student athletes) in those sports.
WVU, since you brought it up, "borrowed" $16M (interest free with no repayment expected) from the state taxpayers and the school's academic endowment. It is also after a federal $20M upgrade to its airport, which normally receives two EAS subisdized puddle jumpers per day, so it can accept full-sized planes (which would mean football related flights, which would rival Alaska's "bridge to nowhere" as the boondoggle transportation project of the century). Its only 68 miles to Pittsburgh, an international airport.
The big deal, really, in these geographically illogical conferences, in football and basketball, is recruiting. Take any legitimate team. Look at the roster. The recruiting base is the conference footprint. Selling kids on 2000 mile air trips to state they (thanks to the school system) really cannot find on a map is limited.
