Remember that the power conferences are so big now that even with 18 games you still miss H/Hs with some teams. For instance rivals Indiana & Purdue played only once this year. Ohio State and Michigan State only played once.
In the 15 team ACC a lot of the traditional H/Hs and rivalries from the old ACC era are gone. Then you add in the fact if you're say a Syracuse maybe you get Duke, North Carolina or whoever high profile team at home now with those extra two games.
Money wise you've got a bigger pool of games for something like the Big 10 network and greater chance to have more attractive TV games like an Ohio St./Michigan St round 2. I don't think H/H gates are even a consideration with the staggering sums of TV $$$s at play.
More casual fans are watching in conference play once you get out out of football season vs OOC. A lot of the big OOC games in college basketball are on neutral courts like the Champion Classic, CBS Sports Classic,etc that are controlled by TV networks or challenges like the ACC/Big 10 which are partnered with ESPN. Remember that ESPN runs most the exempt tournaments now and controls the TV rights. The Champions Classic and ACC/Big10 challenge are the same type of deal.
So the Big 10 network misses out on all those high quality games. 20 games gives the Big 10 network a bigger pool of attractive conference games they can control the rights to. So the casual Ohio State fan doesn't care about basketball until the football season is over.
If you look at college basketball ratings last year 7/10 highest rated games were after January 1st. A Wisconsin Purdue game was higher rated than the Duke Kansas game in prime time at the start of the season in the Champions Classic
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2017...e-season-espn/
Long story short, more appealing and higher rated games on the Big 10 network are going to put more money directly into the pockets of Big 10 schools.
The theory is that it's going to help out the bubble teams in P5 leagues. Teams will dump harder OOC games to compensate for the 20 game schedule so more teams are going into conference play with more wins and fewer losses which will juice the computer numbers. More opportunity for Quad 1/2 wins, RPI, etc
It's easier for bubble teams to get big wins in conference play. You're gonna get better crowds during league play and you've got some familiarity with opponents. Penn State beat Ohio State 3 times this year but lost but both of the quality opponents the played in OOC. Boston College beat Duke this year but got blown out by Providence.
Fewer risky early season games like exempt tournaments or games when the team hasn't gelled yet
