This article from Brian Ewart of vuhoops.com speculates about the likelihood that the Super conferences bolting the NCAA and what effect it could have on the C7+. He makes the argument that the decision to bolt would be driven by basketball and not football.
Quotes:
"It isn't clear that the superconference split is inevitable, but it looks more and more likely as the rapid-pace of conference realignment has exposed the business motives of these leagues."
"The NCAA's operation is funded largely by the revenue from the $10.8 billion, 14-year agreement, selling the television rights for the blockbuster Division I Men's Basketball Tournament to a combination of CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. About 90% of the NCAA's annual revenue is projected to come from media rights payments from the basketball tournament..."
"Division II and Division III sports generate very little revenue for the NCAA, but receive subsidies from the association...By breaking away from the NCAA, these power conferences could pocket the money previously spent by the governing body on those lower divisions."
"The Catholic 7 could become the strongest of the non-football conferences and might be stronger in basketball than any of the football conferences outside of the power leagues. With the superconferences looking to generate revenue from their men's basketball tournament, the more strong programs that can be added to the breakaway association, the better."
"They would need to argue that the benefit they add to the superconference association's basketball revenue is greater than the additional difficulties of dealing with a non-football conference in the mix. Those benefits may include greater shared tournament revenue, better regular-season scheduling opportunities, and a more "inclusive" outward appearance."
http://www.vuhoops.com/2012/12/24/380101...-villanova