One thing you are missing. And it’s huge. They NEED the NCAA. Only to keep from labor wages and taxes. It’s necessary to keep the “amateur” status. That is the only reason the NCAA is still involved. The schools would’ve left years ago.
The status is no longer amateur. Athletes are being recruited with bags of money. Something tells me the SEC and Big 10 will not care about a little thing like taxes nor do they care about the NCAA. They will dump it in a heart beat.
Matt Hayes:
The SEC and Big Ten don’t need the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12. They might need USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Texas, Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame and Florida State to make their product deeper and stronger.
Now everyone is in self-preservation mode. Guess who wins there? The SEC and Big Ten and anyone they decide to carry along for the ride.
Ways Playoff expansion plays out.
1. A double-secret meeting in the next few months where all sides agree on a 12-team Playoff.
2. The ACC digs in and refuses to budge, the SEC and Big Ten make expansion moves to further weaken the remaining 3 Power 5 conferences.
3. The Pac-12 and Big 12 form a super conference, trying to maximize games that can draw 4 million viewers.
4. The ACC, nearly left for dead during the last round of major expansion before poaching the Big East, can’t fend off the SEC, Big Ten and newly formed Pac-12/Big 12 super conference.
It looks like Notre Dame has two chances to stay afloat as an independent. The expanded Playoff that gives the Irish more access (like the 12-team plan would), or CFB staying status quo (which won’t happen).
If the 12-team Playoff doesn’t unfold. Notre Dame has two options the SEC or the Big Ten. Clearly, the Big Ten is a better geographical fit.
SEC and Big Ten adding teams and restructuring a Playoff that fits their needs is absolutely a reality – and one television will pay top dollar for.
Look at an SEC/Big Ten combo much like you would look at the AFC and NFC in the NFL. Similar ideas.
One anonymous SEC president wrote in the survey that the Power 5 “should be an organization unto itself” and leave the
NCAA.