If you view that as a problem, not sure what to tell you. Sure they do not own 100% like the PAC or 50% like the B1G but they get top exposure which might be worth a value outside cash. When you get free advertising (worth maybe 1 million to 5 million per game) you have to figure out the added benefits even if it does not show up on the conference check every year.

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OU and UT would lose money if they joined the SEC and now the ACC.

Not sure I believe this, and even if they did it would be negligible compared to the 24 / 7 / 365 exposure they would get via CBS / ESPN / SECN. Sure the SEC could demand more money from CBS from that 3:30 slot but what exposure would be denied if the contract cancelled and say FOX picked it up for the current price or more but coast the conference the loss of exposure.

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The third tier rights you speak of is not media rights unless of course if I am wrong

If you are a Texas guy, look only to your own members. The WVU Pres or AD outlined the three different tiers back when WVU was joining the Big 12. Basically if the conference profits, it is Tier I or Tier II and if the school profits, it is Tier III. The problem is Tier III includes such a hodge podge of things like TV not picked up, radio, signage, and even things like naming rights and computer rights that it has become very hard to separate it by line item like it used to be.

If it helps on the TV side think of the crap game that was always the property of the school and not the conference like the "rent a win" home game. While they now appear to have been "pooled" and moved up to Tier II it seems memory serves that they can be "recaptured" by the schools if the conference does not want them.

You have to remember where all these deals started and who the pioneers were in the first place. North Carolina and Kentucky (later Kansas) got their starts in the radio age and those deals are still in place via vehicles like IMG College. This may explain why IMG College got such a big slice of the LHN (20 cents on the dollar?) and why schools like Ohio State and Kentucky have such valuable side deals in addition to their conference deals.

IMG certainly had their hooks in Texas and probably will as the "scraps" can add value to a group like IMG (who also owns CLC) while the "scraps" are not as profitable to the like of ESPN or FOX. CBS is the classic example with their 3:30 deal. All they want is the game of the week and don't want to make the effort for the lesser money generated after this game. Not to say this money does not add up, just does not give the same RoI so means more work for less money.

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SEC network controls all football games not televised on ESPN/ABC or CBS.

Having the control and exercising it are not the same. look at the ACC and Raycom. Probably the main reason ACC has been so slow on their conference deal as ESPN needed them early on for content but now ESPN can cherry pick football and basketball games and let Raycom do the heavy lifting on the lesser games in those and other sports.

If you follow UNC or UK basketball you can usually tell by the quality which games ABC / CBS / ESPN have exercised control on and which ones they have let go back to the schools. If you watch college baseball spend some time and see who is running the cameras at the game. Granted the LHN allows local staff and still be ESPN at home but on the road in the Big 12 notice the changes in staff between big games and small ones. In the SEC the big weekend series may be ESPN but the weekdays or lesser series may be kids in the schools AV department.

In the past (say last 5 years or so) you could tell by the cameras and scissor lifts at baseball games. You could also tell by looking at the production trucks out front and what names were on their doors. Since 2014 or so I paid less attention as I attend far fewer live games now but you can usually tell in the audio and video quality. Picture and sound at that Auburn @ Clemson game last week was clear and crisp. Not the same for SEC vs FCS or G5 type games.