I recently published a blog on the way that the lure of BCS dollars has undermined the historic connection between college athletic conferences and traditional American regions.
See it at http://hnn.us/articles/why-penn-state-playing-football-midwest-anyway.
Like water in the West,college and professional (is that a real distinction these days?)sports teams flow toward money. In a similar vein, a GIS colleague forwarded the map below which is also illuminating.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672861/infographic-whos-your-states-highest-paid-public-employee