For most of college football's existence, teams got together with peer institutions in their region to play as (mostly) friendly rivals. They formed conferences to support their mutual self-interest. Most of the money came from ticket sales and boosters. Then TV happened. Many schools continued along much as they had before. But at least one, and gradually everyone, came to realize that TV was the new game, and the game was on.

The Big Ten has arguably been the most successful at this new game. I believe they were the first to use the language of business to describe the game they were playing. Jim Delaney talked often about how hard they had worked to "build their brand". He saw they were winning this game, and he was very active in both promoting the brand and expanding its reach. Even when they were not the best on the field, they continued to succeed at the negotiating table.

Some folks, myself included, are beginning to think the game has gotten out of hand at its highest level. I would hope that some of the leaders of these primarily academic institutions would welcome a paradigm shift that would restore some of the balance between athletics and academics before it is hopelessly too late (if it isn't already).

I would love to see the pursuit of media riches change from being a competitive, eat or be eaten battle to the death. Especially because a single dominant network like ESPN gets fabulously rich when there are numerous conferences fighting with each other to get the best deal, while the losers have to settle for Fox. Conferences have expanded by realizing they improve their negotiation position when they are bigger. So why not stop competing with each other and cooperate instead?

I propose a 72 member conference that shares TV, bowl and tournament revenues equally. Let it negotiate with the Mouse from a position of ultimate strength. The P5 revenues are already relatively close, and far in excess of what most of their members really need to operate their athletic programs. Just think how much overhead could be reduced with a mega-merger.

Who knows? Maybe some of that money could be used to support academics.

I say we should all swallow our pride, declare the Big Ten the winner of the game we've been playing, and start a new, different game.