Attendance last night was 40,025. Capacity at Heintz is 65,050. So there were 25,025 empty seats for a Thursday night conference game. The Panthers did sell out against Notre Dame, but are averaging only 48,666 for their four home games.
People say the Big Ten should admit Pitt with expansion. Why? It would be another athletic program that Nebraska, Iowa & others would have to subsidize. Iowa loses about $750,000 in revenue a year because of the Big Ten's ticket revenue sharing plan. That number would only go up with the admission of Pitt.
Don't bring up their basketball program. There is no money in basketball. ESPN only pays the Big East $38 million a year for football & basketball. Admitting Kansas would even be worse. Kansas draws even less than Pitt.