re: Do you see a team sitting out the season due to

Sounds like a good way to get tossed out of a conference, and get the entire Athletic Department fired.

Remember when Nebraska talked about playing football during Covid, and the Big 10 slapped them down? All the talk about honoring conference rules and decisions?

This would be the same thing, with the addition of pissing off the broadcast partners. ESPN or CBS etc might try to void out their contract, saying the conference did not fulfill their end of the agreement (providing all member programs as available for their lineup).

And the fanbase would go insane. And so would the potential recruiting base.