You make good points can't see anything that you wrote I cannot agree with..

I don't understand why anyone would go after NC State over NC. I know everyone talks about "The Presence" "Expanding the Market" etc... The bottom line is this, do you want to see NC State vs Alabama? I know I would not watch that, especially if NC State was in the SEC. Really thats what its about, How many NC State fans are there really? Because that is what you will be getting, not expanding the market to NC, which btw would be terrible for both Clemson and Scar, but rather you are expanding the market to include NC State fans. Do you really expect NC, WF or Duke fans to get excited about NC State in the SEC? So the factors I think will be important:

1. Not the state but the team, fan following of the team, how big is it?
2. Expanding the TV market means will people want to watch it that are not fans of the two teams playing? Is NC State vs Georgia or Clemson vs Georgia more desirable?

The Va Tech thing is worth talking about. They really do get thrashed every time they play the SEC. There is a reason for that, they don't get the types of players there to compete in the SEC. Frank Beamer has done a great job of doing more with less there. But you can rest assured when he is gone, which will likely be soon, Va Tech will fall off the face of the planet. How many fans will they really bring to the table? I doubt very seriously that they are going to accept any Johnny Come Lately's in terms of programs they are looking at. Texas A&M brings a brand to the table that is Texas A&M for the past 100 years or whatever. Va Tech's brand is Frank Beamer and they won't have one when he is gone.