A 16 team playoff will make conference championship games fairly meaningless, so I could see those ending or becoming part of the playoff (The way the NFC and AFC championships determine the Super Bowl participants). But considering the amount of win or go home football games in a 16 team playoff (15 to be exact) would make so much $$, the SEC couldn't just turn its head away out of spite as that writer puts it. The structure of the playoff will be debated for certain. Auto bids, selection committees, home/away vs neutral/bowl sites, etc... but the money will ensure it happens. I could see 4 divisions in the SEC and B1G and the winners of each division being given automatic bids to the playoff, but only 1 auto bid for the champions of Big XII, Pac 12 and ACC. Then 5 other at large bids. So, the SEC and B1G probably guarantee themselves at least 5 playoff teams a year. Oh and welcome to the B1G Notre Dame, since this greatly increases your playoff shot. This format would be the primary reason for the SEC and B1G to expand beyond the point of diluted shares for their leagues. (i.e. going to 20-24, when 18-20 would max out your payout per school) Taking as many power football programs as possible to control the bids to the playoffs while at the same time weakening other conferences chances for multiple bids will put a lot of $$ back into the P2's pockets. That article said a 12 team playoff would be worth $1.2B. So, 12 out of 16 teams should be worth about $1.2B. So, if the B1G and SEC could split those 12 bids and pocket another $600M a year, that's $25M a school if you have 24 members.... $30M a school if you have 20. That's a lot of cheddar... And there's zero chance the SEC splits and forms its own championship. They aren't that stupid. They can be as spiteful as they want but they still need everybody to watch their games to cash in.