You're partly correct. Level of support is more important than TV market size. Interest in and support for athletics within the SUNY system is almost non-existent. Syracuse is now New York State's team anyway. But there is one thing UB has that makes it qualified for the Big Ten: they are a member of the Association of American Universities which all Big Ten schools must be. With their operating budget and paltry NIL, UB will be in the MAC forever, unless a billionaire decides to become their patron, like T. Boone Pickens did for Oklahoma State.