Yeah the problem with the streaming guys compared to cable is the cable guys had a business plan to maximize the leverage over a cable footprint, and use the conference brands to prop up their own existence.

Meanwhile Netflix and Amazon have gotten where they are by disrupting those old models, which means they have 0% respect for the way conference football has been traditionally aligned and how it got to where it is. The tradition of college football is only worth the brand value it has in the minds of people, they don't care about the sport.

Programs that got fricked by conference realignment (so think Texas or USCw or BYU or Notre Dame) will see these new players as a way to reshuffle the deck and undo old mistakes. Other players who like they way it is today (namely the SEC and B1G) will fight these changes and use the brand leverage they have to keep things from changing too quickly. It might be outright civil war.

Add in the last piece of the pie- that Netflix and Amazon don't give a shite about regional politics either which could unravel the entire thing. ESPN and CBS and the like were careful not to exclude states that have powerful politicians that could rock the boat last realignment. If Netflix starts trying to cherry pick with big money on the line then programs left out can use their national political pressure to basically ruin the NCAA.

Netflix might actually want that because they probably don't like that the sport has so many unknowns and unlike say ESPN they don't want a part of shaping that future. They just want the end result where players are paid, lawsuits aren't hanging over everyone's heads and they can make plans without contingencies like ESPN does.

If they could accidentally set off the powder keg that undoes the whole "student athlete model" and kills the NCAA and conferences, then afterwards they can swoop in with "so about that whole yall turning into a minor league that we discussed before that you shot down..."

This post was edited on 7/10/18 at 1:05 pm