Yes, I know that has been the talk for years
Hence why I have said on this board several different times that the super conferences (aka 64 teams) could be a means to an end. the 64 or however many schools need to create enough of gap between them and their peers so that when they decide to do whatever they are going to do, they would be immune from any political pressure (federal or within their state). Once they break away, then the super conferences can break up into smaller more regional conferences because they would pool their resources for the TV contracts (i.e. pre-1984 NCAA).
For the most part I had always assumed they would either create a new division level within the NCAA or form a new NCAA-like association (i.e. the NAIA). However, 1 scenario that I recently started to mull over is the possibility of these schools going the professional route. Hence why I thought the number might be smaller than 64.
If the schools opt to go the professional route, then it is unlikely politicians would try to step in to stop them and unlikely the other DI schools would protest because those schools know they couldn't afford to go pro in all or even some of the sports. I am not even sure the schools would have to go pro in all the sports. For example Duke could decide to go pro in men's basketball and men's lacrosse, but remain amateur in all other sports. Cal could opt to go pro in men's water polo and rugby, but remain amateur in all other sports. "Pro" in the sense the school joins a professional league of some kind.
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In response to this post by M-I-C)
Posted: 10/25/2018 at 5:54PM