In Reply to: Analyst predicts Michigan and Ohio State will leave Big Ten with 24-te posted by mh on October 19, 2026 at 12:28:47
Forde expounded a bit on that:
This is an intriguing thought, although not a new one. Several years ago, one of the nation’s top athletic directors told me he believed Texas, Michigan, Ohio State and USC could all successfully go independent, perhaps others. Wetzel’s point is that dumbing down the playoff for the sake of mid-tier power-conference teams could hasten a breaking from traditional ties for the biggest brands. If winning a nonsensically large league has almost no inherent value, why do it when more lucrative, autonomous alternatives exist?
There are a couple of significant roadblocks, though: where to house every other varsity sport (dozens of them), and how to schedule games.
While it’s easy to wave a hand and say none of those sports matter, they actually do (especially basketball and all those with federally protected equal access and opportunity via Title IX). In the case of the Big Ten, it isn’t going to grant a Notre Dame–style, friends-with-benefits arrangement to departing members. Same with the SEC and, say, Texas. Maybe other leagues would, but any such agreement would be complicated and further exacerbate the practical and financial challenges already facing those sports.
As for scheduling football games: Who is willing to play the independents, and what’s in it for them? The blueblood independents could all play each other and fill out maybe one-third of a schedule, then they might have to buy the other two-thirds at a highway robbery rate. (Notre Dame has discovered the difficulty of scheduling quality opponents outside its yearly ACC agreement. BYU was driven mad trying to schedule during its stint as an independent.)
Perhaps a more likely short-term move by the big dogs in the big leagues is to bully their way into uneven revenue sharing (32), as has transpired in the ACC. Those who advance in the postseason or draw the most broadcast viewing eyeballs get the most money.