Why the SEC is not as dominate...

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Since the implementation of name, image and likeness turned the economic model of college sports on its head, the SEC is no longer the competitive behemoth that it once was.

You can talk all you want about fan passion and gameday pageantry and even under-the-table cheating, but the SEC's biggest advantage over the last 20 years was owning the real estate where the highest concentration of great athletes (and particularly football players) came from.

When someone like Smart or Nick Saban could sit in a living room in Atlanta or Miami and talk about how many millions of dollars their former players were making in the NFL, there was no need to look beyond the SEC.

While the SEC's brass cries and complains because they no longer own college sports, they're missing a larger point about a potential breakaway.

Now, college athletics is more like any other American business where most people decide where to live based on money and opportunity, not staying close to home.

The SEC has great stadiums, fan bases and tradition, but SEC supremacy was largely an illusion based on favorable geography, the perception of being an NFL factory and probably a few dollars exchanging hands under the table.

That's gone now, and as it has become increasingly clear that the college sports model is never going back to the way it was, we are now hearing threats of the SEC going it alone because they're the ones who really care about being governed by rules.

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