Yep I saw that rumor as well. This really is a heavyweight contest with ESPN throwing billions of dollars around like its confetti. I really have to wonder how that will work out for them in 5-10 years. This could just be the last gasp "blow-off" top in the market which is a common way for markets to end many years of expansion.
Anyway, I think that this is the real reason the conferences will go through major turmoil until the 2014 season.
Commissioners to discuss 'access' bowl limit and revenue sharing, sources say - ESPN "The biggest difference in the revenue distribution, compared to the current BCS system, is that starting in 2014, five conferences -- the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC -- will receive the biggest slices of the revenue. In the current BCS system, the six automatic qualifying BCS leagues, those five plus the Big East, received the lion's share of the revenue.
The commissioners reached that decision based on several factors,
including the BCS rankings of the conferences since 1998 based on the conference's 2014 membership. For example, the Big 12 gets credit for West Virginia and TCU's past BCS rankings, the Big Ten gets credit for Nebraska, the SEC gets credit for Texas A&M and Missouri, the ACC gets credit for Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, the Pac-12 for Utah and Colorado and the Big East gets credit for Boise State, Houston and UCF. The Mountain West and Conference USA also get credit for their new members.
Using those cumulative rankings, based on 2014 membership, for the top 25 final BCS rankings since 1998, there is a huge disparity between the power five leagues and the Group of Five conferences.
Awarding 25 points for first place, 24 for second, etc., for those annual rankings, the SEC ranks first with 1,054 points, followed by the Big Ten (860), Big 12 (816), ACC (673) and Pac-12 (671). Then there's a huge drop to the Group of Five -- the Big East (240), C-USA (49), MWC (58), Mid-American (21) and Sun Belt (0)."
That was from the ESPN article. Now go threw and start adding subtraction points that an FSU or Clemson or Maryland (probably not many but BiG is safely second already). We also saw today that ESPN is paying what $470 million per year for the playoff. What sounds better to the conferences $470 million / 5 the current alignment or perhaps adding a couple teams to knock the ACC out and split the $470 million / 4 ways. Now, the Big XII looks pretty good but not entirely safe in third. $470 / 4 = $117.5 / 10 teams - $11.75 mil per team plus or minus. If they could add two teams with relatively good football finishes since 1998 like FSU, Clemson, or perhaps Louisville then you boost your standings and only split the proceeds four ways. Therefore I think it really strengthens the conference if BIG and/or SEC take a couple more ACC teams like Va Tech, NC State, or others that have finished in the top 25 in past years.