The conferences are only worth more than the sum of their individual schools because of the pay structure that comes from bulk cable subscriptions. As cord cutting continues, future contracts between conferences and TV networks are going to be significantly less. But the value of individual teams won't drop at the same rate.

In other words, the value of conferences are going to drop at a significantly faster rate than the value of schools. And once schools find that
they are worth more alone than as a member of a conference, they will then either form elite conferences or all go independent. In either case, it's bad news for Utah and Oregon State.