if an iowa state fan sees the school relegated - needlessly i might add - to a third-tier program, they will checkout from college football. sure, a small number will be in jack trice, maybe 15-20,000 instead of the normal 60,000.
but the program will dry up. revenues from pledges, ticket sales, gear, conference earnings, tv, radio, etc. will drop from $100,000,000 to 10-15% of that. and cyclone fans will walk from the game. thus, the game will suffer over time as this is duplicated at school after school across the landscape.