occurs it will be for the same reason. Like the NFL merging with the AFL, it was to negotiate a bigger TV contract together than they could do on their own. Then what you are describing, smaller regional conferences inside a P1 league could happen. I still think if we see the CBA, the NFL could be running the P1 and using their already setup rules to run it all. The P1 for football breaks away from the NCAA, and the NCAA runs everything else. It’s really not far from what happens right now with the P2, but the B1G is probably fighting it, because a lot of their bottom football schools won’t make it. Indiana was not good for the P1. The B1G wants a more inclusive 24 team playoff, and I don’t think for a second, the power SEC schools want to give schools outside of the SEC a legitimate chance to win a National Championship. It’s killing them they haven’t won or even been in the Football National Championship game for 3 years. They would kill the Portal and NIL for football tomorrow IMHO if they could. The B1G also values academics more than football, unlike the SEC that many schools built up their academics by building up their football. Thus it may be harder to pull off than some think, since the B1G wants to put academics first, and not just be seen as a football factories. There is a lot of muscle/power on both sides. Grab your popcorn, a lot has changed since the B1G and SEC worked together less than a year ago to get control of the playoff rules. Now they only have each other to fight with for control/power and unless they are playing games, they appear to be on opposite sides of the P1 league being established. ** Edited by Stech at 2/19/2026, 6:03:24 AM