(02-05-2018 11:25 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I don't see this as being realistic. Notre Dame is a singularly unique brand name in college sports with extraordinary power. They're also providing some access to what's most valuable (Irish football) with 5 ACC football opponents per year. Conferences will move mountains and consider relationships that they wouldn't with ANYONE else with respect to Notre Dame. Even the freaking Big Ten eventually relented and provided Notre Dame with hockey membership, which they wouldn't have done for anyone else. The only school that could even possibly approach that type of value is if Texas were to ever become an independent and seek a similar deal. Otherwise, non-football schools don't move the needle enough for the P5 leagues and arguably no football school other than Texas would move that needle enough, either.

As a general matter, any conference realignment proposal that begins with either "If Notre Dame joins a conference..." or "This school would get a Notre Dame-type deal..." is pointless. How Notre Dame is treated has virtually no relevance to how the entire rest of college sports is treated - they can do whatever the heck they want and have their cake (independence) and eat it, too (CFP access and money).

On that last part, except for the service academies, especially Army and Navy. I proposed the AAC making a deal with them in a similar fashion.

Air Force already does this except they're a full member of the MWC.