Think of it this way. Remember how we used to say that players that committed to BYU seemed to get depressed ratings? Well, the incentive for ESPN and other media is to have BYU have undervalued roster ratings because then they don't have to compete with other media for BYU and they can pay BYU a lower value for their games.

The same thing applies for B12 football and ACC football media. ESPN doesn't want to have to pay top dollar for those games! They want them at a lower rate. If they can push it down, B12 has less negotiating power, and ESPN gets inventory at a favorable price point.