To me, this is one of the bigger issues with the Big 12 and I'm not sure how expansion helps. All of the other Power Five conferences have a regional identity. The SEC has the greater South outside of Virginia and North Carolina. The Big Ten has the Rust Belt at its heart and Nebraska and New Jersey on the periphery. The Pac-12 has the Rockies to the Pacific. The ACC's is looser, but they're on the East Coast with the exception of Louisville and Pitt. If you live on one of the coasts and meet a college football fan from one of those regions, they're probably a fan of the "local" conference back home.
What is the Big 12's regional identity? It was Texas and the plains, but with the states of Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri gone we look more like an oversized division of a conference rather than a full conference. It's hard to feel much pride for the conference when there isn't really a regional connection. Even Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have more in common with Iowa than Texas.
What is the Big 12's regional identity? It was Texas and the plains, but with the states of Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri gone we look more like an oversized division of a conference rather than a full conference. It's hard to feel much pride for the conference when there isn't really a regional connection. Even Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have more in common with Iowa than Texas.
