Rich: It’s ‘When’ Not ‘If’ We’ll See a College Football Super League Break Away from the NCAA

Ohio State made a deal with a bank to put a logo on the jersey, reportedly worth around 17 million. Before the show could finish reacting, Notre Dame did the same thing with SoFi for 18 to 20 million a year.

And not everyone is going to be making those deals. That is the whole story.

"So, what happens? Super League," Rich said. "And we called it years ago."

He is not hedging on this one. In his view a breakaway is not a hypothetical, it is a sequencing problem. The only real questions are who is in, who is out, and who gets to decide.

"If you don't think the SEC and the Big Ten are having some conversations behind the scenes just a little bit, I think you're out of your mind," Rich said. There was already a working group. Tony Petitti speaks this week at Big Ten media days, six teams Tuesday, six Wednesday and six Thursday, because there are 18 Big Ten teams now.

Then the show did the math out loud, which went about how you would expect. Eighteen in the Big Ten. Sixteen in the SEC. That is 34, or as Rich put it, halfway there.

Halfway to what is the fun part. Rich floated a number north of 60, with divisions. And yes, he wants relegation.

"Hell yeah, we're doing that," he said when asked about relegating and promoting. EPL style.

That is where his idea gets genuinely uncomfortable for the schools he is describing, and he knows it. A super league only works if the founding members are willing to apply the rules to themselves.

"If I'm joining this, I would be looking at the Big Ten and the SEC saying, are you ready to relegate some of your own teams?" Rich said.

He also took a shot at the math skills of the conferences involved, exempting Vanderbilt and Notre Dame, which triggered an immediate defense of Vanderbilt and a suggestion that Northwestern was the more appropriate target. The bit landed. The point stood.

The unresolved problem is governance. Who runs it? Who is in charge? Rich has nominated Greg Sankey multiple times and openly wonders whether Sankey would even want the job.

"Well, money talks," he said. "Somebody's going to throw something."

That is really the engine of the entire argument. Private equity is circling. Banks are handing out logo money. Schools that take it can go buy rosters that other schools will never be able to compete with. Until somebody organizes a group of like-minded schools that share the same problems with each other, Rich said, this stuff is going to keep growing and growing.

He also has a coach on record pointing the same direction. Michigan's football coach, Rich noted, is basically saying turn it into the mini NFL.

There was one useful correction from the show, and it is worth keeping straight. The Ohio State and Notre Dame deals are across all sports, not football alone. The 20 million is not going only to the football team. It is the entire athletic department.

Rich accepted the clarification, then asked the question that makes it not matter much.

"What's the main economic engine for the rest of it?"

Everybody knows the answer. That is exactly why the breakaway conversation is when, not if.