I'm probably missing facts on the financial side, but it feels to me like this latest round of conference imperialism is cutting off their nose to spite their face. At some point the SEC and B1G or ACC or whoever would seem to become so bloated that there will be diminishing returns. On and off the field.
The on field aspect is easy. Texas and OU are going to become perennially worse by joining the SEC. Same thing that happened to Mizzou and A&M. Off the field, once the novelty wears off, who's going to give a shit about 4-3 OU playing 7-0 Bama in the middle of October? Playing it out even further, if the conferences continue to expand, it's would seem to subvert the playoff system: either A) the power conference try to replace the schools that left (i.e., osu taking OU's place as the big 12 perennial playoff representative), or B) two conferences absorb all the great teams and convert the sport into a postseason that looks a lot more like the NFL playoffs, with the SEC as the NFC and the ACC as the AFC or something similar.
I don't think this model is sustainable. Model A doesn't seem sustainable because teams like osu don't have the same cache as ou. A playoff where Bama and Ohio State are the SEC reps, while Oklahoma state reps the big 12 and undefeated West Virginia makes it from the big ten doesn't hold the same water as ND-Bamer-OU. Model B doesn't work because there are too many teams on the outside. If there are six teams from each of two conferences that make the playoff, what happens to the remaining 100+? Will there be a doubleheader of a Minnesota-oregon state rose bowl followed by 8-4 Oklahoma against 9-3 Ohio state "wild card" game?
Again, maybe I'm missing something, but this whole imperialism kick seems like it's going to end poorly
slate.com
