Think about it, there's also the travel advantage. How much easier is it for Alabama and LSU fans to travel to the Sugar, Orange, or Cotton Bowls than it is for fans of Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan St., and Notre Dame? And now we could be talking about having to make multiple trips.
Which, BTW, is ridiculous. Yet another reason for a home field situation to play itself out. Yes, people do travel to different regional sites in the basketball tournament, but usually, the top teams play closer to home.
I agree obviously, but it's always been that way for the Big Ten with the Rose Bowl. When UCLA (plays at the Rose Bowl) or USC is playing, they don't even have to travel as opposed to Penn State, who has to go coast-to-coast. Also, midwestern cities in general with Chicago being an obvious exception are not destination, although from all reports Indy has done a fantastic job with events. The bottomline it's early January, where would you rather go to Detroit or Miami?
Clearly it favors the SEC the most (Miami/New Orleans) and the Pac-12 (Phoenix/Los Angeles). Clearly hurts after the Big 10, the Big 12 and then probably the Big East(do they still count?) ACC it helps more than it hurts with Miami.
The basketball tournament is much more made-for-tv than football. While the ratings are great, much of the attendance particularly when it's in domes is very underwhelming. And most of the time, people only go to the games when "their" team is playing. My cousin and uncle went to the Championship Game in Atlanta when Maryland was in it and had no problem getting tickets since you had to buy tickets to both sessions and many fans of the losing teams from that Saturday were more than happy to part with their tickets.