(04-03-2014 07:23 AM)XLance Wrote:  One of the things that is creating a problem for a break-away is the issue of paying players. The "true cost" of attending a particular school may vary widely from one institution to another. If every P5 school gave the players the same amount, it would be a lawsuit in the making, because we would be back to where we started.
There will be no break away until all other alternatives within the NCAA have been exhausted. Then and only then will the P5 form committees, hold conferences and propose rules well before there is any serious consideration of leaving the NCAA.

Full cost is full cost. The issue is spending money and that can be set equally everywhere. There are obstructionists within the P5 that are desperately clinging to the favoritism that the NCAA has shown them and one cluster of them is in the state of North Carolina. Your school and Wake speak as though they are part of the P5 but you are really playing both sides to keep your status quo. Everyone knows it. You'll be bypassed if you hold out too long. There is too much at stake for the rest to put up with it. The only true thing necessary for the breakaway is a consensus between Slive and Delany. If the Big 10 and SEC decide to do something everyone else will either get in line or get left behind and that is the reality. Besides there is no better way for the networks to triage overhead than to utilize a breakaway as the excuse to do so.

When this happens Clemson, Florida State, and Virginia Tech will be leaving if you don't get out in front on this. You may even get blindsided by some basketball first schools that simply want more of their revenue. Texas won't lag for long and Oklahoma will be all over it. U.S.C., Oregon, and the Arizona's will jump on board as well. And where U.S.C. leads others will follow.

But really whether North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke, or Wake Forest come on board or not is really irrelevant to football. And without Clemson and Florida State the value of the ACC plummets. That's the kind of pressure that will force Virginia Tech to leave as well. While it would be nice to have everyone on the same page I think most realize that is likely not to happen but when you look at those who aren't willing to make the move the list is mostly comprised of dead weight when it comes to the gridiron. So it's nobody's loss but theirs. If Northwestern and Purdue decided to drop football do you think the states of Michigan and Ohio would care? They would keep them in the academic alliance and life would go on.

The breakaway will be comprised of the top brands in college football and anyone else who doesn't want to be left out. Everyone else who gets on board will be doing so for survival. Those who don't want to make the jump will only make it more profitable for everyone else. Of the three prima donnas of college athletics (Notre Dame, Texas, and North Carolina) I don't believe any of them are stupid enough to sit it out. Texas's alumni would force them to if they were reluctant. But Texas and Notre Dame both have a tremendous independent streak so I think they will go along. Besides who would they play if they didn't? Certainly they wouldn't play any folks that could pack the seats. Your sports won't mean a thing if you aren't playing peers.

What you say about it taking a bit more time may happen, but it won't take long. Critical mass will be reached fairly shortly given the lethargy the NCAA has in responding to changing times and the amount of money left on the table because of the handling of basketball. If it is only 48 schools that make the jump that would be great, but I bet there are a lot more who will say, "Take me, take me" when the time comes.