Where's the TV money. Welcome to American Conference II.
The TV money is where this will get interesting and ultimately where I think the P4 runs into issues. If P5 teams start to get relegated to lower tiers with far less money from conferences, that means significant budget shortfalls. A majority of the AD budget doesn't seem to be terribly elastic in the short term so who's going to pick up the bill for the shortfall? The states. And if the states start to feel the pinch of paying for stadium upgrades that the AD can no longer afford, you'd better believe that our government is going to start asking questions. With tax exempt status being such a big stick I don't think they'll let the P4 break away and leave the rest behind as easily as many want to believe.