I am of the opinion that the new media model we are going to see is going to be a content driven one, not a market driven one. With that said, controlling content is going to be critical, not just in terms of quantity but quality.

The Big Ten and SEC are by far the most valuable conferences due to the brands they possess. If either of these conferences were to deprive their competitors of their biggest brands as well as some of above average ones you create a market situation where not only does your market value sky rocket because you've augmented yourself with 2-3 elite programs but also, with the addition of some of above average ones, the quality of the rights that the SEC and/or the Big Ten is significantly higher than your rivals dues to the percentage of controlling share of the entire market you have in your inventory. Compare the difference in value between the SEC and an ACC whose best brands are Florida St, Clemson, VT, etc and an SEC who now controls those aforementioned brands and an ACC whose best brands are now Pitt, Syracuse, and BC. A larger set of content also opens the doors for a BTN2 and SECN2 channel as well as digital and streaming platform services that can further enrich the conference war chest.

With that said, I think both conferences would benefit from pursuing a conference model where they have 20 or 24 teams.

Thoughts?