Leaders from the Big Ten and SEC are meeting in Nashville on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss more ways they can work together in the shifting college sports landscape—particularly around football scheduling.
No formal deals are expected to be struck this week, but ideas are being tossed around. And as college football continues to change—from NIL (name, image, and likeness) to the transfer portal—more and more businesspeople are trying to capitalize and cash in.
College football super leagues are the latest fascination of stakeholders—some inside but many from outside the sport—looking to reshape the game.
Last week, a group called College Sports Tomorrow unveiled a proposal for a College Student Football League that would pool together 136 FBS programs split into two leagues, with promotion and relegation. Backers include Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and influential professional and college sports search firm executive Len Perna, as well as several Power 4 athletic directors who are listed as “ambassadors.”
On Tuesday, a separate proposal came to light: Project Rudy, as Yahoo Sports reported, would overhaul scheduling, the postseason, and media rights for the Power 4 conferences. More than 25 athletic directors from power conferences have reportedly seen the presentation that is being led by former Disney executives Evan Richter, Kevin Mayer, and Tom Staggs, who all now work at investment firm Smash Capital.
Reality Check
The biggest revenue driver, and therefore most powerful part, of college football remains media rights. The biggest entities have deals running through the end of this decade, and in some cases longer:
- ACC: ESPN through 2036
- SEC: ESPN through 2034
- College Football Playoff: ESPN through 2032
- Big 12: ESPN and Fox through 2031
- Big Ten: CBS, Fox, and NBC through 2030
- Notre Dame: NBC through 2029
Any shift away from the current conference makeup would require full cooperation from network partners. Could a college football super league work one day in the future? Never say never—but don’t expect one anytime soon.
