Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I have no idea if this is even close to true, but is the University of California the problem? Had it invested in football at UCLA and Cal, that very well might have created a better environment for a more lucrative Pacific Coast football conference media deal. UCLA's part in this is interesting. They got to come along to the Big Ten with USC to get the big money, but UCLA still doesn't really invest in football, and hasn't since the 90s (effectively, since the cost of investing in football escalated). They are banking on their rivalry with USC to feed them (and they have more to offer in basketball than the other Pacific Coast schools). But what if the Regents and/or Boards of those two UCs actually committed to football. Bringing in better recruits, better facilities for a better fan experience, and recharging the rivalries in the traditional Pacific Coast conference might have led to hanging on to the big three money makers (plus UCLA).

In a year or two, when everyone's athletes are worn down from the travel, could revitalized football programs generate enough economic interest to lure the carpetbaggers back?

Probably all academic. As I said, I think Stanford and Cal are banking on further realignment.

• Close to 40% of California's population were born in another state or country. Those aren't going to be natural Cal/UCLA fans. (I point out that many of these might be exceptions to the "don't care about college football" rule, but they sure don't care about Cal/UCLA.) 
• Racial demographics are a little more thorny, but if we assume that there might be slightly less interest in football from Latinos (who may prefer futbol) and Asians (who I've not found to be overly CFB-centric), they make up a combined 56% of California's population. 
• California has a massive university system between the UC and the Cal State systems. Which means that not a lot of people in the state actually ATTEND Cal/UCLA. I suspect that a number of those people who attended other schools gravitate to rooting for one of the big 4 programs in the state when it comes to football, but that is bandwagon fandom. I see it down here in SoCal. People root for USC when they're good at football and UCLA when they're good at basketball, and then on years where they're not... Nobody cares. 
• Both Cal and UCLA are in geographies with significant NFL and NBA presences. SoCal has 2 NFL and 2 NBA teams, and the Bay has one NFL and one NBA team. And those pro teams are mostly pretty darn good right now. So they can take on the "sports fandom" that maybe in the past would have bled over to CFB, particularly during the stretch when the LA area had zero NFL teams. 
• In California, there's is PLENTY to do other than go to a football game. It's one thing to go support your team as an on-campus student (or an in-area alumni) if the city veritably revolves around the CFB game every home weekend. It's another when the CFB game is just one more event in a megalopolis full of massive alternative entertainment choices every weekend.