I think we are on a 50 step plan to remove the "college" from college football and college basketball... Mega conferences are step 47.
You hit the nail on the head...one step closer to paid athletes in "college"?
Because after all it's just about money, plain and simple...what's to stop us from dealing in the shady art of paying the athletes when they deserve so much more for what they 'really' do for the machine that is Division 1 college athletics.
It's really too bad that cable television rights is doing this to these kids.
I don't understand why the large schools can't stream games online and have somewhat lower production values for the schools that don't happen to be on the major networks or cable channels similar to what we do with the early season games with CloneZone(although then it turns into an institutional control issue much of what is becoming a more tangible possibility with Texas and their development of the UT cable channel).