Assuming adding USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Stanford as mentioned above, how would a 20-team, 5-pod conference play out hypothetically (football-wise)? Something similar to this (I guess):
Pod-A --> USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and Stanford
Pod B --> Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Pod C --> Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan St.
Pod D --> Michigan, Ohio St., Penn St., Maryland, Rutgers
Then what? Pods play all teams in their pod once and rotate through the rest of the pods on a three year cycle? in that regards, for football at least, you're not looking at a lot of extra travel. For the teams that play Pod-A, you have two or three games that require travel out west once every three years. The bigger difference is that every team in Pod-A now has a guaranteed two or three game schedule out "east" every season. I don't imagine that's going to be a hold up in any sort of negotiation like this.
Now, beyond football (because, as many people have mentioned, there are like 296 other sports that exist besides just football), how in god's name is a 20-team conference from coast to coast going to work?! Even on a map it looks ridiculous... let alone in practicality.