maybe, but does CBS $770 million a year for a tournament without the ACC/Big10/SEC/Pac12? Meanwhile, if those conferences got together, how hard would it be for them to top their take from march madness?
This is the classic case of synergy. I don’t think CBS pays that much for a tourney of just those four conferences. And since I bet that since tomorrow big conferences make 70-80 percent of the revenue anyway, any saving from excluding the little guys will be offset by losses in total revenue.
The little guys aren’t going to get equivalent value on their own either.