Seems like a dumb plan honestly. IMO, the only ones that would want to do that are the ones that would fall in the top tier. Everyone else would be fighting an uphill battle if the top tier teams make 2-4 times more money than you do. At least now, for the most part, the schools that you're fighting it out against for the conference title are all getting the same money. But if you're in a big mega league, and the money is getting spread out in a different way, you could be getting 1/4 the amount of money as other teams in your league.
For discussion purposes, lets say that Colorado gets high marks for their consistently high TV viewership, so they get the top tier money. Meanwhile, Cincinnati, who is in the same conference, gets only 1/4 of the money that Colorado gets. In the long term, how is that sustainable for Cincinnati?
And even if this goes through, I actually think that it would hurt the overall viewership of that mega-league. I'm a bit stubborn, but I would likely stop watching all football games for teams that are in that league entirely. Kind of like the NBA. I have no interest anymore. If they start a separate league and only play against teams in it, then fine, but know that me and I'm sure many others like me will just stop watching it altogether.
What that would do to leagues like the MWC, PAC, AAC, etc is a big question. I think they'd still have a similar market, and depending on which broadcast companies get on board with the mega league, it could even open up other opportunities for the teams outside of this new league. My guess is that if this new league is putting this much money into it, they'd start their own network kind of like the Big10 network, Pac12 network, etc, have done in the past. If they did that, then maybe ESPN, ABC, Fox, CBS, etc, would go back to offering to get these other leagues media deals.
In the end, just lots of speculation and guesses. But I don't think it would destroy UNLV or any other programs in the long run as some are speculating.
