disagreement isn't about staying or leaving the conference. This will end up going away after they decide how shares are paid out in the future. USC & Michigan are certainly trying to establish where they are in the pecking order. I doubt it's any more than that.

Not a reliable source to put it politely.

would probably pay more for that in a heartbeat. It takes two monster teams from Fox, and Michigan and USCw make all of their football money like ND does. It sounds far fetched, but far fetched is the new normal these days. Way to think out of the box Rock! ** Edited by Stech at 11/13/2025, 1:24:45 PM

I wonder if Netflix would pay up for USC's home games if they went independent. I also wonder what a network would pay for a USC/Michigan package where you schedule one at home each week of the season, assuming they could get an attractive slate of games (14 or so total per season) playing each other, ND, and ACC/SEC/B12 teams. For reference, CBS and NBC reportedly paid about $300M each to air one Big Ten game per week (plus a few throwaway games on Peacock and CBB games). Alternatively, NBC reportedly pays ND $50M/year for 6-7 games per season. One of those deals seems like a LOT better value proposition than the other. If you don't believe me, check out the Big Ten TV ratings on CBS and NBC this year--there have been some huge clunkers.

have to open up the media contract for negotiations if that were to happen. On my end, I'd like Nebraska to scoff at the PE deal, and come back to her roots in the B12. They lost their recruiting stronghold when they left, and getting back to the plains, Colorado, and Texas would do that football team some good. I wonder though ..... What if USC, Michigan, and maybe a few other top schools broke off and went independent, and signed 10 year scheduling agreements like NS and Clemson just did. Let the money fall where it may, keep their post season money, and have their Olympics play each other. You get 6 - 8 top schools that do that, and it would change the dynamic of this conference stuff significantly. If they all got the same deal as ND with the playoffs, it's what I would do if it was an option.

realignment is going to be the end of the traditional conference paradigm, and a transition to the biggest brands entering into something that more closely resembles a confederacy of individual interests, as opposed to a traditional conference model with a centralized command structure. The big brands will own their own football media rights individually, will have more direct control, and will have longstanding scheduling agreements with other big brands instead of conferences.

There were independents like, say, Notre Dame, Penn State, Florida State, Miami, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse and a few tomato cans like Temple, Rutgers and Boston College. Think of the scheduling possibilities. Wouldn’t that be cool? ** Edited by Tailgate Guru at 11/13/2025, 6:34:54 PM

We were never tougher.

the PAC to the list.

College football began to unravel when that world went away.

we have media contracts, and playoff guaranteed monies. Today, the marque programs -probably about 5-10 realistically, are worth enough to have their own media contracts, have scheduling agreements like ND does with the ACC, and separate themselves from the rest. Why have a "P1"? The top brands would just be carrying the others, no different than now. lose the shared revenue of the post season, lose sharing the media money, and schedule football games on a contractual basis. If Michigan and USC ( not west, there is only one USC) were to leave the BIG, and schedule a 10 year scheduling agreement with ND and Clemson (only because ND already did), how many other top brands would want to be part of that club? Bama and a few SEC schools come to mind. OSU and Penn State come to mind. Texas and Oklahoma come to mind. The networks would fall all over themselves to air those games year after year - and they just might give individual media deals to those schools. Put your basketball and Olympics in the ACC, Big East, B12, or it really doesn't even matter, because any one of those conferences would LOVE a scheduling agreement with the top brands like the ACC currently has with ND.