As controversial as the rollout of the European Super League concept has been, the fundamental theory driving its formation contains echos of a potential doomsday scenario for college sports that has been kicked around for years in the media rights world.
How much money could a group of elite college football programs make if they broke away from their conferences, pooled their television rights and sold them to a network with an NFL-style package? A lot. A whole, whole lot.
“I am not advocating they do this, but suffice it to say, that would be worth quite a bit more than whatever the numbers are you’re getting per conference now,” said Jeff Nelson, the president of data-driven consulting firm Navigate, which has worked with four of the five power conferences in college sports.