do decide to break away to form their own association/division level, then it could be enough to void their current contracts. If they have to sit down at the negotiation table to come up with new contracts under this new association/division level, then someone could look to the NFL and see how much money it is making on its TV contracts. If the schools are only playing games against themselves, then the NFL may become a bigger influence on how they do business.

As Chip Brown suggests in his article (see HOO86's post below), the schools could come to the conclusion that everyone would make more money if they adopted a pre-1984 NCAA business model (aka 1 or 2 TV contracts for all the schools and conferences). The assumption is that the schools would be given the same antitrust exemption as the NFL. If the schools are able to have a limited number of TV contracts (approximately the same number as the NFL), then the networks involved could have a bigger say on how the conferences are structured. If the networks are willing to shell out NFL-like dollars to the school and are only asking the 4 conferences be as regionalized as possible (i.e. ACC=east, Big Ten=north, SEC=south,Pac-16=west), then the conferences may be willing to agree to the networks' request.

I am not saying that it will play out this way; just I could see it play out this way.