so it makes sense.

So you are telling me that for the last 20 years, Notre Dame could have made more money if they had just joined a conference and revenue shared with Purdue? Man, what a bunch of idiots, leaving so much money on the table.

You forget that Conference affiliations existed long before television rights and broadcast terms even existed. Conferences were usually formed in the interest of scheduling, and for geographic purposes (maintain rivalries, keep travel costs and time to a minimum, etc.). Only recently has this changed, and it did so because of the extreme amounts of money being thrown at college athletics by television networks, networks enjoying the fruits of the television golden era.

My post, and linked article, reference the rapid implosion of the television golden era. This means that, at least to some degree, college football may be returning to what it was before the television golden era, where keeping costs to a minimum and sticking to your geographical region will become prevalent again.

However, not all schools are created equal. Some, unlike the Utes, have a national following. Notre Dame is a perfect example of a school with a national following that has proven that financial profitability has nothing to do with the notion that the sum is greater than the parts. More recently, BYU and Texas have also proven this via BYU's ESPN contract and the Longhorn network (I am saying nothing about the sustainability of these contracts).

Financial pickings are becoming more scarce. Schools are more and more interested, if they do align themselves with other schools via a conference, to only align with schools that bring money to the pot rather than only subtracting from it. To that end, I do believe that your point about so-called super conferences is a valid one.

I still think that control equals more money, hence P5 schools wanting more control and wresting some of that from the NCAA. It is inevitable that individual schools, like Texas, desire more and more control over their broadcast rights and controlling the medium while not having to empty their coffers because of Baylor.