Is there any path to Power 5?

Not at the moment. We need to stop playing the victim, get together with WSU, Cal and Stanford and get with the MWC to start making that as strong as possible. 

And we need to start raising money. A lot of it. It's all hands on deck time. 

We and Wazzu are the tip of the iceberg. How long before Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt start getting kicked out of their conferences because they don't generate the eyeballs Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia do? How long before those schools start demanding an unequal share of TV money?

It's coming. Might take some time, but it's coming. In the next round of TV negotiations, ESPN may not exist and Fox isn't gonna pay Vanderbilt $60 million.

So, what I am not understanding is what is the draw of Utah for the Big 12 other than a good football team? Is the SLC market a valued one?

So would the portland market.

P5 is a made up concept for the highest revenue conferences. No one knows where or who really coined the term in about 2006.

The NCAA's own manual has zero mention of "Power 5". However, as the NCAA is want to do it bent their rules for those high revenue conferences. However, the Power Five conferences are identified individually under NCAA rules as "autonomy conferences," which grants them some independence from standard NCAA rules to provide additional resources for the benefit of student-athletes.

The entire media debacle beginning over two decades ago was basically the end of any NCAA control of the FBS. Many think it never had control as there has never been a sponsored D1 football title.

I read a dissertation a decade ago that basically stated the NCAA could "lay down the law" by controlling all TV rights and distribution. Thus having funds for staffing, investigations, and enforcement. The premise was that powerful schools would fight and leave the purview of the NCAA, which would lead to a more pure amateur athletic entity that truly promoted the "student athlete". That the media would still need these NCAA conferences and teams as not many who left the fold could provide enough content or last very long without the mass of other programs.

The conclusion was that unless the NCAA and/or legislative bodies took action that media companies would control all aspects of professional and "amateur" athletics.

I believe many had those same type worries, but maybe thought it wouldn't come to pass. I'm not one that thinks governmental involvement is a good thing. But, legislative actions maybe what will be needed to alter the current course of college athletics.

The "Conventional wisdom" is that the Portland market =  duck market and that Oregon State fans only live in small towns.   IMO this is nonsense.  Over 55,000 OSU alumni live in Portland, and that doesn't count family members, friends, others who may have reason to follow OSU athletics.   The only thing holding an Oregon State Portland market in check is how well the team does.   From 2013 to 2021 we had a long string of mediocre of worse--at times way worse--football.  

Yeah, I'm still holding out hope that OSU and WSU will join the Big 12, as slim as that chance may be.
I think the small market issue, while legitimate, isn't as important as it seems when it comes to those programs potentially joining another conference.
I think OSU would likely get better viewership playing a Big 12 schedule and getting better time slots and network exposure than being constantly cast into the Pac-12 Network nether regions. Plus, the reality is that most of the Big 12 schools have fan bases/viewership that are much more likely to tune into football games.
It seems as if the real focus of the Big 12 is to gain strength through numbers while expanding its footprint nationally.
In that respect, OSU and WSU make sense. I know the Big 12 is hoping to add maybe some ACC teams and possibly even Notre Dame. I see the ACC schools as doubtful and there's absolutely no chance for Notre Dame to join.
As for Cal and Stanford, I think it's very obvious that they don't fit in with the Big 12 at all.
Both OSU and WSU have pretty solid athletic departments and OSU in particular is on a major upswing in football. Not to mention a great baseball program and the ability to fit right in with gymnastics and wrestling.
So anyway, that's my two cents.