In a big picture sense-- do you think the fact that the Peach Bowl was played without both team's top stars (Walker/Pickett who volunteeringly sat out) plays a factor at all in some of media companies financial valuation projections/realignment that we're seeing today?

I know this wasn't the first time a team's star sat out to avoid possible injury knowing that they were a first round lock, but for me this helped frame a perspective that media companies pay for games that people actually want to watch with players that actually play. So now that the money has gotten astronomical, it has become critical to only pay for matchups that have high ROI for advertisers.

My guess as I'm trying to make sense of all the realignment stuff is that media companies are hoping to create more games "that matter", which might appeal to star players pride causing them to actually play. Otherwise, now that star (NFL level) players are making 7 figures in NIL, would we possibly start to see "load management" situations where they sit out regular season games in addition to some year end bowl games?