An absolutely bonkers rumor hit the X platform on December 5 from a Twitter user with alleged connections claiming that the SEC and Big Ten are working with the NFL to form a farm system for all 32 NFL franchises.
“In what is perhaps the wildest rumor I’ve ever shared here: my source telling me that SEC and B10 have had talks with the NFL regarding funding NIL and having schools sponsored by NFL teams as a farm system that would develop their draft picks,” the poster wrote.
Just a few hours before dropping that bombshell, the poster dropped a hint that something big could be in the works between Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips.
“Breakaway of the Autonomous conferences may be coming sooner than you think,” the poster prefaced before saying, “Yormark and Phillips meeting this week to discuss the landscape and how their 2 conferences can help each other.”
SEC and Big Ten closer to superconference status after FSU’s College Football Playoff snub
Yahoo Sports’s Ross Dellenger dropped the original news nuke on December 5 with a report that the NCAA is moving closer to just being a professional sports league itself through direct payments to athletes.
“NCAA president Charlie Baker is planning to introduce this week a proposal to create a new subdivision within Division I that grants certain schools more autonomy around policy-making and permits them to compensate athletes in a new and profound way,” Dellenger prefaced before saying, “In a letter sent to Division I members, and obtained by Yahoo Sports, Baker outlines a groundbreaking and radical change to the NCAA Division I athletics model, describing it as a “new forward-looking framework.
“According to Baker’s proposal, schools that choose to be part of the new subdivision — they can opt in or out — are required to meet a strict minimum standard rooted in athlete investment.”
The biggest money-makers in the sport are now exclusively in the SEC and the Big Ten, where the fan support is rabid; all the way down to the bottom-feeders. More schools are going to want to have the best atmosphere possible in the event player payouts can be generated by revenue and fan support.
Consider the College Football Playoff’s recent FSU snub as the best thing that could’ve happened to the two conferences. The Noles, along with Miami, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, are sure to take note of how little value the ACC has as a conference and abandon ship, and the SEC and Big Ten will be there to welcome those schools with welcome arms.