The "Chicago market" is part of any of these conversations as long as it includes Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, or Illinois. Northwestern doesn't move the needle and other than Michigan or Notre Dame none of the others move the needle by themselves either.

TV viewership would remain unchanged (virtually), no?

NU would seem to be another dilutive mouth to feed.

They can say they're "Chicago's B1G team" all they want, but their following doesn't warrant special treatment.

ND is as much Chicago's team as Northwestern is.

that even Northwestern, with all of its arrogance, can't even bring itself to market itself as "Chicago's College Team," but instead uses "Chicago's Big 10 Team."

Chicago has always been and will always be a Notre Dame city, although I'll acknowledge that the haters account for some of those eyeballs.