The BIG/SEC hegemon rules football and can--and will--do whatever they want. But they have to navigate carefully to retain their ability to play in the Big Dance. They don't want to create a full civil war in which they "own" football and are completely shut out of basketball and Olympic sports.

We need to face the grim reality that the P2 premiere division is coming and will exist in its own airtight bubble for football only--with its own playoff and national championship. There are a number of remaining issues that need to be negotiated:

- how airtight the P2 football bubble really is, e.g., will there be interdivision preseason games (Alabama vs Swafford)

- how much network airtime and dollars are left for the non-P2 conferences and their Best-of-the-Rest playoffs and championship

- How do the P2 schools fold back into the rest of college world for basketball and Olympic sports

Yormark needs as much credible power as possible for this final negotiation. Duke and/or Gonzaga and/or UCONN give the B12 more credible bargaining power.