The "Tech" issue is turning into the "Tech/Baylor" issue. Personally I don't think the legistlature is letting UT & A&M go anywhere without them, but stranger things have happened. To much revenue to be lost for the state (I think we have a 18 Billion dollar shortfall, on the plus side still no state income tax).
The alumni bases and fans from UT and A&M would prefer to dump them. As far as the local fans go, they seem not to care as long as they put the screws to the BIG 12/OK/anyone else to get more money. I think they would be more excited about going to LA and the west coast for a while, but that would wear out and I don't think there alumni bases are big there. It honestly seems to me Texas doesn't want to move, they like being the biggest fish in a small pond. They want to keep bullying the BIG 12 into giving them a bigger share of the revenue.
Caveat I don't have a whole host of UT friends, this place is a melting pot because of all the tech companies.
Jwinslow - I agree completely PAC 16 will be just as weak as the PAC 10 & BIG 12, They wont be able to get any more money from TV because they don't have anything inside the Eastern (god's time as a friend once called it) timezone. The guys on the radio keep mention UCLA,Standford, Cal, Washington, as being on the rise, but like you said, West Coast fans are more fickle than anyone, they only support winners, if you aint winning then we're headed to the beach or to hug a tree somewhere.
I've kinda stopped listening to the sport talk here because of alot of this... i'll try to keep listening to see what else they have to say... incase your interested the website is
ESPN Austin
I will give the local guys some credit, they do occasionally mention the academic side of this, which I have to believe will play a bigger role than anyone is saying... I'm not quite sure how the Big Ten and the Pac 10 stack up as far as rankings and research money goes.