Why Big Ten, SEC football will probably expand, start their own league
By Ryan Kay
How realistic is it that the Big Ten, SEC actually leave the NCAA?
The two biggest events that can answer the question of the Big Ten and SEC leaving the NCAA depend on if it will meet the demands of the two super conferences regarding the future of the College Football Playoff and the men’s basketball postseason tournament.
Both conferences may demand that the CFP be expanded to 12 teams and three teams from both conferences will be picked each year to participate in it. Meaning out of the 12 teams, six of them would be from the Big Ten or SEC. Would the other conferences like the Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC agree to this? It all depends if they need the SEC and Big Ten to stay in the NCAA for them to benefit financially in the future.
As it stands right now, “Each conference receives $6 million from the College Football Playoff for each team selected for a semifinal game and $4 million for each team that plays in a non-playoff bowl under the College Football Playoff.” If the CFP were to expand to 12 teams, at minimum with three teams each from the Big Ten and SEC qualifying for the CFP, each of the two conferences would get $18 to 22 million. What about the NCAA basketball tournament though?
If the SEC and Big Ten were to break away from the NCAA and have their own end-of-the-season basketball tournament, they would still more than likely make more money off of their own tournament than continuing to participate in the NCAA basketball tournament. As of last season, “Every Division I conference — and, by extension, every Division I school — received a portion of that $170 million.” To be more specific, each team that qualifies for the NCAA tournament gets “$338,887 paid to the conference of the participating school.”
Now imagine if the Big Ten and SEC broke away from the NCAA and created their own end-of-the-season tournament for men’s basketball and negotiated a new media rights deal for it. Yes, the tournament would miss teams like Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas, and Butler for example but the Big Ten and SEC would make more money from their new tournament and the new Cinderellas could be Northwestern and Vanderbilt as opposed to St. Peters and Murray State. It makes financial sense to do this even though it would end arguably the greatest tournament of college athletics.
It is realistic for the Big Ten and SEC to leave the NCAA but how soon could it happen?