One of the problems with the FBS schools completely separating from the FCS and lower NCAA schools is antitrust issues. Could this issue not be resolved by opening an invitation for a spot to each state to allow in either their flagship or major state school? I am certainly not a lawyer, but every antitrust issue I remember has dealt with a state having zero inclusion. Once a school is in, the fire dies way down (see: Utah). I do not think it is practical to even the playing field by separating the Power 5 from the Go5, but bringing up a dozen or so FCS teams would give each state a representative.

We are not talking many states. It is Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont. Washington D.C. also does not have a presence, but Georgetown could easily fill that spot if they so desired. Delaware, one of the Montana schools, one of the North Dakota schools, and South Dakota State could immediately compete at a Sun Belt type level. I'm sure with the right incentives, Alaska could make it work, too. At that point, allowing the Big Sky to make up for their mistake of not backfilling the WAC may be worth it to the bigger schools if it would avoid antitrust lawsuits. Those New England schools could easily make a 10 team conference by bringing in Buffalo, UMASS, and probably Army. James Madison likely jumps up in a heartbeat to that conference. Include a handful of other schools that may decide that landscape is worth jumping into (Missouri State type programs), I wouldn't think the total number of FBS exceeds 150, which is doable.

Thoughts, comments? Details like looong transition periods (Vermont only has club football right now), bowl tie-ins, revenue sharing, and the like would be worked out. If any of you have a law background, would this even work as a starting point in the conversation to avoid lawsuits?

I would say that a clear set of criteria need to be outlined for consideration for membership in the upper tier. Couple that with a caveat that all moves up will be made in multiples of two teams both of which would have to be eligible for membership in the same conference.

That way it opens it up to everyone without having to have a team from each state, and it allows for orderly expansion. All states wishing to have an upper tier team could then take the appropriate budgetary initiatives to make sure that their teams qualifications met the criteria.

A competitor to the NCAA wouldn't have anti-trust issues. There would be three organizations for collegiate sports NAIA, NCAA, and the new one. Each of the other two organizations would be several times larger than the new one would be. The NCAA has a monopoly now and nobody is crying anti trust.

I don't think any of that stuff would really be necessary if the P5 wanted to just leave and form their own organization. I don't think there's anything anyone can do to stop them if they really want to. I don't think that's what they really want though. I think their dream is another subdivision of the NCAA just for them, that way they get to keep all the money and run everything yet not have to lose the equity that is the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm not sure how easy it would be to just create a new subdivision just by conferences and not by some set of standards that had to be met. The last time this was done there were stadium requirements, number of sports sponsored, attendance, and a few other things that had to be met to be 1A. I think you'd likely have to do the same to create a new division again, but how high would you have to set it to get rid of all the G5 teams? Probably higher than a lot of the lower P5 teams could reach. You could easily cut the bottom 20-40 teams with the stipend, increasing the required number of sports, increasing the number of scholarships at the FBS level to 100 or so, but if you go too high some of the P5 couldn't afford to do it.

All good points, and thanks for the insight. In any case, as a general sports fan, I would love to see New England commit to low tier FBS athletics and form a conference to get college sports going up there. A conference with a core of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, UMASS, Rhode Island, Buffalo, Army, Stony Brook, Delaware, and JMU would provide a great conference rival for the MAC and maybe get more kids interested in playing college football.

The issue is not the Maine's and New Hampshire's. They have no interest in FBS. The issue is the states with FBS schools, but without any in P5 conferences: Connecticut, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Hawaii, and Wyoming. If there is a split, they all need to have a school in a P5-equivalent conference. Rhode Island probably wants to ensure its major hoops teams, PC and URI, are included in whatever happens to basketball in a split.

Antitrust laws are a joke. Other than preventing a couple of big mergers, the only successful prosecution since the 20s was AT&T in the 1980s. Even Microsoft, the most obvious violator of them all, ended up settling and only changed a few minor business practices.

MLB, NFL, and even MLS have all survived antitrust lawsuits, and there's way more collusion in those organizations than in the NCAA.

Flagship is a BS term that has no real meaning except supposedly a couple states have such a designation.

MLS survived anti-trust because it is a single entity that has local operators. The basic salaries of MLS players are paid by the league not the clubs. The league takes a cut of income from each club to pay those salaries. The league was sued over its salary structure and it was upheld.

MLB was given an exemption but the courts have nibbled around the corners of it.

NFL lost an anti-trust case with Al Davis and lost the USFL case but the jury set damages at a dollar believing that the judge could correct that.

Anti-trust is a real concern for a breakaway, it's not impossible to conquer but it's not a given either.