some of you keep forgetting that other sports exist. so you want to breakaway from the rest. What happens to the other sports? Does our new super conference have just SEC and B1G basketball tournaments?
There have been plenty of examples of teams participating in a conference in all sports but football. Gonzaga is one of those examples. So in theory you can breakaway in football only and form the aforementioned college football league.
I tried to come up with a basketball playoff (it's big money) featuring only the SEC and Big 10 and the additional teams they'd have to add to really give themselves credibility (Duke, Kansas, etc...) are probably not worth it.
Although if you're trying to fill out a 12 game football schedule, you can start to make the case for letting in some programs with consideration for basketball. I mentioned Arizona, Virginia, North Carolina and Syracuse, they all bring basketball credibility, but if you start to bring in Kansas, Duke, etc... it might not be worth it.
The other possibility is basketball only inclusions. Gonzaga doesn't play basketball, and a program like Duke might be fine as a basketball only addition, so if you go that route you do open the door for your own basketball postseason and another billion dollar revenue stream.
There will be doubt after the smoke clears from this "tournament" who the two dominant conferences are.
I think that's but part of the issue is if you create enough smoke you obscure the real picture. I remember TCU getting absolutely crushed by Georgia, they never should have been the #3 seed, but all some people remember is they squeaked by a team that was probably limited by their inability to steal TCU's signs.
In this case, there are two cupcake brackets. First is the worst one, you get SMU vs Penn State which will go on to play Boise State. Penn State doesn't have an especially good resume, but I think we expect them to win those games. However, if you told me to pick a team that might not, well they're not as good as Texas or Ohio State for example. Boise State getting to gameplan while Penn State plays a game is an enormous advantage. I expect Georgia (if healthy enough) to crush whoever makes it out, but there's a decent chance SMU or Boise State make it out of there simply based on the odds.
Then there's Texas' bracket. I would favor them much more heavily, but they play a more physical and arguably better team in Clemson, while Arizona St. can sit around and scheme. Basically if I was trying to create a scenario where Texas or Penn State could be upset by lesser programs, it would be something like this.
And the lawsuits. I reckon no matter which approach is taken, lawsuits would be overwhelming.
I'm not sure what you can really do in terms of the actual breakaway, if it's a true breakaway. Nothing says you have to compete in the NCAA. You form your own thing and compete, like the NAIA. The NCCAA is also a thing, so if all member schools agree to it, I'm not sure who can sue the SEC or Big 10 to force them to stick around in the NCAA for football. I mean the NCAA has actually given teams the death penalty before, they did that to SMU, so who could have sued SMU to keep them from playing football in their own league and on what basis?
