Unquestionably it would be a different playing environment, and yes, programs have made do with a lot less in the past. This has all been an arms race driven by TV revenue. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but for my alma mater, I'd be just fine with tuning down the profit dial, and turning up the college dial. Would it be more like current non-power conference football? Maybe, but probably somewhere in between what it is now and what that is. The built-in fan bases for programs like Wisconsin and Iowa will remain excited to come to games. Maybe not on the same scale, but still more so than the UNLV's and Boise State's of the world.
It's not my preference. My preference would be a reasonable profit sharing model, including a collective bargaining agreement, that keeps top-tier college football going in a manner similar to the way it is now...but with more regulation to keep a more balanced playing field. And--as I've noted--a return to conferences that have a reasonable geographic component.
But what I want is nearly irrelevant. We will see what the powers that be decide...
