re: Clemson fan here... curious to hear your thoughts...

I think what gets lost in these discussions are matchups within the conference. I'm not sure what ND is worth on its own as an indy, but it's not $80 million per year. And it has some decent games throughout the season to sell to its TV partner. What makes the SEC and B1G really separate themselves is matchups. Alone Alabama is worth X amount of dollars per year, and then the SEC can say ok, now I can guarantee you this many prime time match ups with Alabama and the teams within the conference, LSU, Florida, Georgia...who are worth X amount of dollars themselves. It does this with the entire conference through its schedule and could possibly control all 3 prime slots on Saturday. This is what drives contracts. Last thing I'll say, if the SEC adds a team, they don't necessarily have to be worth what the TV payout is, they just have to get over the hump with good match ups on Saturdays.