Priorities can change though and sometimes colleges/universities
are forced to change because of changes in federal or state laws. Grand Canyon University is the first for-profit NCAA DI school (joined the WAC on July 1, 2013). I bet if you asked people 10, 20, or even 30 years ago if the NCAA would ever have a DI member that was for-profit, then majority of people (maybe even as much as 90%) would say "No." Yet it did happen.
FWIW there are examples in other countries where a college/university are the primary sponsor of professional teams (mostly soccer and rugby). Even BYU's men's soccer team was a professional team at one point. I suspect that if a college/university in North America thought its exposure would significant increase if it left the NCAA or NAIA and joined a professional league, then a school would do it (assuming it had enough capital to cover the franchise license and the rest of the start up cost). It would not surprise me if 1 day a group of blue bloods decided to leave the NCAA to become a pro league or join an existing pro league. They may even be willing to become a minor league to a pro league given how they have unofficially been one in football for years.
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In response to this post by Mercury)
Posted: 10/24/2018 at 11:00AM