You seem to be confusing rural and suburban areas. Can't, Buffalo, and EMU are suburban. NIU, Miami, Bowling Green are rural. I've been to most MAC campuses and quite a few Big Ten campuses. The Big Ten is made up entirely of land grant universities. That and their academics tie them together, but more importantly than any of that, they share the same culture. The MAC does not share a culture across its member institutions, in fact it varies wildly.
Akron begged to get into the MAC, and it was a horrible mistake. If I had my say back then I would be dead against such a move (I am well aware of how the MAC was around the time we got in, so I am not judging based on where we are now). We never belonged in this league; the MAC has never treated us like one of its core members.
As far as EMU's budget, they spend it funding non-revenue programs. That is where their priority is. they can be just as successful in a non-football league or a lower division. If you're in the MAC, as an FBS school football had better be your top priority, followed by basketball. Ball State is another school who doesn't care for sports, but keeps them reluctantly. They drove away Brady Hoke after he became too successful.
Ugh. U of Mich, Indiana, Iowa and Northwestern are not Land Grant universities.
According to the NCAA, total football operating expenses:
EMU $4.385 million
Akron $3.862 million
Basketball operating expenses:
EMU $1.367 million
Akron $1.035 million
So if EMU doesn't care about the big sports...?
BTW, I only looked up a handful of schools, but BGSU and Ball State both outspent Akron on football and basketball.
Just because emu spent more on bball doesn't make them a better team.