The real question is can schools sustain non-revenue sports at current level with out cuts? Also, we will have different levels that still have not settled out yet G 6 may find it more challanging, etc. So far NIL and revenue share, seems to have actually hurt the SEC and bluebloods the most. If I told you 4 years ago 2025 playoff would be Miami, Ole Miss, Indiana, and Oregon you would have tought I was crazy! Miami has played in 1 ACC title game since they joined in 2004 never won conference although if ACC had correct tiebreaker they likely would have this year. Indiana until last year was a B10 bottom feeder hadn't won at all since 1993 and before. Old Miss except for Manning years has been middle of pack in SEC overall and bottom of SEC West. Oregon while typically top 15, had not been in playoff since NC game vs Auburn more than a decade ago. Clemson / Bama / FSU / USC all struggling and even GA / Michigan / ND / OSU slipped a bit this year. I mean Indiana, Vandy and Ole Miss are winning and Florida, LSU, and Auburn are firing their coaches. It is a different and unstable world. Yes you gotta have the $$$ to invest, but you better have alignment of Pres./AD/HC/GM and the right leadership and coach with a plan and ability to ID talent and spend it wisely. One can throw money at it and still lose! To win it all you gotta have a very good HC and QB, but they have to be supported by the right roster and staff executing a solid plan.

and develop their own league with a massive television media contract. This is why teams are working so hard as to make themselves be of value to be invited to that league. The ACC is a failing conference that probably won't exist as it now stands by 2030.

let the grass get too long. a couple sprouts became amazing trees; but the shade of assumed superiority turned into mediocrity and calcification. Swofford-itis set in and none of the acc's "horses and none of its men" could right it, sinking a once great and amazing college amateur sports saga to a wearisome, fretful death.

whole different world coming.

As I posted in another post.... The Big Ten and SEC already get the biggest slice — leaving doesn’t magically increase it Most of the money they care about is already theirs: Big Ten media rights SEC media rights Conference‑owned networks Conference sponsorships Conference championships Leaving the NCAA doesn’t increase those dollars. Breaking away loses them two very large "shared pots" ...the CFP and March Madness — and breaking away reduces their value as a brand. Why? CFP value depends on national legitimacy. A “Big Ten + SEC only” playoff is worth less than a national playoff. ESPN and FOX pay for: national interest national markets national brackets Cutting out the ACC, Big 12, Notre Dame, etc. shrinks the product, which shrinks the check. March Madness is even more extreme. The Big Ten and SEC don’t control it. They don’t own it. They don’t have the legal authority to recreate it. And March Madness is THE NCAA’s financial engine — not the conferences’. If the Big Ten and SEC leave Division I basketball, they: lose access to the tournament lose the brand value lose the exposure lose the recruiting pipeline There is no incentive to change the status quo when the B10 is going to send $70M checks this year to their members.

they only have 3/4 of the slots. ** Edited by uber hokie at 1/6/2026, 1:30:18 PM

No way the money can keep up with the idiocy these days

Sense replace the greed that’s driving it now.

there is a problem.

combine that with drastically raising the revenue sharing cap by the universities.

equity entities telling coaches which players to play and which to bench.

Rather it is a relatively quick in and out by the PE group. If so, how does that really help? I can see infastructure where PE is a combo construction loan but not as a source of cash to pay players and coaches.

Only to recapitalize it as it moves up the PE ladder. Maybe a couple teams could create such value to pay back the PE return assumption but don’t see many (and expect the tv revenue will begin to plateau at least slow as to growth). Haven’t seen results to Big 10 package across all those networks but did see it mostly lost out head to head to SEC ratings. Money is never free. What will be telling is/when schools are no longer designated as non profit and have a tax payment to make as well. ** Edited by VTJay at 1/6/2026, 1:19:22 PM

Athletic Association (NCAA) to just the National Athletic Association (NAA). Plus, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is already taken by the NAIA.

National Professional Athletic Association.

National Not Employees Players Union

Association and by the Nurse Practitioner Alliance of Alabama (https://www.npalliancealabama.org). Some other "common" usages of NPAA include National Performance Appraisal Awards (NPAA) and National Protected Area Authority (NPAA). I do wonder though if "professional" is used in the associations name, then does that open the door to question the schools having an education requirement for their athletes and/or limits on how long athletes can be associated with the team? It may be a question worth asking because at that point the athletes may be no different than professors. If schools don't require their professors to earn a degree in order to maintain their "job" and/or limit how long they are allowed to work for the school, then the schools may not be able to impose those standards on the athletes.

would the new organization want to share the acronym with something else? I don't think they could copyright the acronym like what I think happened with NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB.

I'd say you can drop that too.

NCAA does not represent ‘colleges.’ It beneficially represents two conferences that does not include the ACC.

and VT is preparing to be one of the programs that can....... No one is going to direct the SEC or Big 10/ND how they run their successful league. They really dont care if the ACC Big 12 and others fade.... NOT their problem. and guess what they could sustain. The key is what teams will be skimmed from the rest??? and if you dont have national branding, big budget good ratings and sucess, no matter if you get 45k in mahantan kansas you will be marginalized.

then you can’t play in our sandbox. It reeks of arrogance, greed and elitism.

The Bigs have the money and soak up all the NFL calibre and marginally NFL calibre talent leaving nothing for non P2 schools. That’s overselling my argument but not by much. The money can’t be fixed; the kids are due compensation for work they’ve invested IMO. But the game can be improved; reduce scholarship rosters to the pre 105 level…heck, make it 66 giving 3 deep on both sides of the ball. Maybe punters/kickers will need to do some PT and contact conditioning. While we’re at it, let’s return to leather helmets without face masks and tissue paper pads.

Even Ohio State, Texas, and Bama don't have enough money to maintain a super deep depth chart. Are you going to match a 2nd tier school's $1M offer to keep that guy sitting on your bench? Totally unsustainable. There's a ton of money being thrown around right now, things are in flux, but I believe things will settle down.

I’m a free market person and yes, the market will make corrections. And the Bigs will have to pay for the top tier talent. But even with the burden of purchasing the top talent, they will still have enough money to pay for the bottom half of their roster than does Troy, or NC Central, or App State…. What’s really unsustainable it the university/college system. A kid cannot go to college only to be given a post collegiate job that pays less than what could have been gotten with a HS degree. That is unsustainable for sure. Rosters will adjust when collegiate enrollments collapse. And micro economics would say that realization is soon to hit the post high school “higher learning” industry.

advantage to manipulate the market to maintain a super deep depth chart for a longer period of time? At least long enough until the other DI schools gradually decide they can't compete in this market, so they are going to switch to either DII, DIII, or form a brand new division level within the NCAA. It may even be a game of chicken to see who flinches first; the P2s or everyone else.

32 ways, they want to split it as few as 2 ways so they take their toys and go play in a different sand box. Or they can just wait it out until the others flinch first. Depending on when the contract (i.e. CFP, March Madness, Frozen Four, etc.) come up for renewal, it may be to their financial advantage to just go do their own thing now instead of waiting for the others to flinch. The result would still be the same, but the timeline would be different.

in the B10. They are growing at a fantastic rate in the current situation where they dominate sports and media contracts. The Big Ten and SEC already get the biggest slice — leaving doesn’t magically increase it. I know you believe that if the Big Ten and SEC break away, they’ll suddenly split the pie “2 ways instead of 32.” But that’s not how the money works. Most of the money they care about is already theirs: Big Ten media rights SEC media rights Conference‑owned networks Conference sponsorships Conference championships Those revenues are not split 32 ways. They’re split within each conference. Leaving the NCAA doesn’t increase those dollars. The only big shared pots are CFP and March Madness — and breaking away reduces their value. CFP value depends on national legitimacy. A “Big Ten + SEC only” playoff is worth less than a national playoff. ESPN and FOX pay for: national interest national markets national brackets Cutting out the ACC, Big 12, Notre Dame, etc. shrinks the product, which shrinks the check. March Madness is even more extreme. The Big Ten and SEC don’t control it (NCAA HQ does). They don’t own it. They don’t have the legal authority to recreate it. And March Madness is THE NCAA’s financial engine — not the conferences’. If the Big Ten and SEC leave Division I basketball, they: lose access to the tournament lose the brand value lose the exposure lose the recruiting pipeline They would be lighting money on fire for no good reason.

for the Big Ten and SEC to have even more access to the CFP than they already do now. If that wasn't the case, then the 5th ranked SEC team (Alabama) wouldn't have made it in the CFP over Notre Dame. For the record, I don't agree with ESPN's position. I have always thought all 10 FBS conferences should have received an automatic bid to any FBS playoffs. Then again, I am not the one cutting the checks so my opinion doesn't matter. If ESPN, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Fox, or anyone else wants a P2 only FBS playoff and they are willing to cut a large enough check, then I do think you will see the Big Ten and SEC agree to it without any hesitation.

reality. ESPN and FOX wanting more P2 access ≠ “P2 should leave the NCAA”. Media companies want: More Big Ten and SEC inventory More high‑rating matchups More predictable brands More control over the postseason But that does NOT mean they want: A breakaway league A P2‑only playoff The destruction of March Madness The collapse of national legitimacy Why? Because a P2‑only postseason is worth less money than a national one. ESPN wants more P2 access within the national structure — not a separate structure. A P2‑only playoff would require: ESPN/FOX to pay MORE for FEWER teams Advertisers to pay MORE for LESS reach Fans to accept LESS national representation That’s not how media economics works. If anything, the networks want: more playoff rounds (more TV/Broadcast slots to fill especially during the holidays more teams, more inventory, more national markets. It’s the same reason the NFL doesn’t cut out half its teams even though Cowboys–Packers draws more than Jaguars–Titans. ESPN pushing for more SEC/B1G access is about ratings, not structure. The Alabama vs. Notre Dame example is a perfect illustration of this. ESPN didn’t “force” Alabama in. They lobbied for a format that: maximizes ratings maximizes brand value maximizes playoff drama That’s not the same as: wanting a P2‑only playoff wanting the Big Ten and SEC to leave the NCAA wanting to eliminate national participation They want the most valuable teams in the biggest possible tournament. A P2‑only playoff shrinks the audience. Not only that, but a P2‑only playoff is worth less money than a national playoff. A national CFP sells: every region every demographic every alumni base every advertiser segment A P2‑only CFP sells: two regions two conferences a narrower demographic fewer markets It’s the difference between the World Cup vs a two‑country invitational. Even if the two countries are Brazil and Germany, the global value collapses. The Big Ten and SEC do NOT gain by leaving the NCAA. They lose March Madness access. They lose national legitimacy. They lose the NCAA’s legal shield. They become the direct defendants in every lawsuit. They fracture their own brands. They reduce the value of the CFP. The Big Ten and SEC are not stupid. They want control, not separation. The likely trajectory is: A CFP format where the Big Ten and SEC get more guaranteed access A governance structure where the P2 have more voting power A revenue model where the P2 take a larger share A national playoff that still includes other conferences Domination, not secession. That’s the model the NFL uses where big brands dominate and small brands still exist. The league stays national. The product stays valuable.

they have to ensure they are guaranteed to stay close as possible to the P2. The P2 doesn't hold all the cards as they NEED the other 2 conferences to keep the $ as high as possible from a national sport. This is why VT and others outside do have leverage. And the P2 won't continue to separate as much as those believe it will forever in the future. The NFL designed it specifically with a salary cap and draft to do just that. Not the same for CFB, but do believe there will be movement in that direction to keep this all viable for both. Some P2 will still continue to be at the top because of what those schools are for a long time, but I do think there will be rule changes to keep everyone closer on even footing than the past 10 years or so have been because of different TV deals.

to 66 scholarships, then does DI football still need 2 subdivisions for football? Also, it is worth noting that DII only offers 35 equivalent scholarships in football with a roster limit of 53 players. I forget exactly what is written in the DII Bylaws, but it is around that number.