Report: Former Disney Executives pitch new 70-team CFB league

Trent Knoop | Oct 8, 2024

Fans stop to take photos with the College Football National Championship trophy at Meijer in Ypsilanti, Mich. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. The trophy is going on a tour for fans to see presented by Dr. Pepper. / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK

The college football landscape is always changing and will likely never be settled. The College Football Playoff adopted a 12-team Playoff in 2024 and there were some historic changes made to conferences with teams switching things up. Four former Pac-12 teams went to the expanded Big Ten and both Oklahoma and Texas are now a part of the SEC Conference -- among other changes.

With recent reports looming between the Big Ten and SEC potentially teaming up in the future, there is a new report from Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellinger that could reshape the entire college football landscape as we know it.

Per Dellinger, former Disney Executives are pitching a new 70-team college football model. The model preserves the four power conferences, expands the postseason, overhauls scheduling, tiers revenue distribution and, most importantly, infuses as much as $9 billion of private capital cash into the system. The model is referred to as 'Project Rudy' named after the former Notre Dame walk-on Rudy Ruettiger.

The model is built on two concepts to enhance television coverage and to bring more money to the schools involved:

"(1) Arrange more games between power conference programs by eliminating all games against Group of Five and FCS opponents; expanding the playoffs; and pitting blue-blood powers more often against one another."

"(2) Consolidate the media rights of the 70 schools under one agreement, instead of the current structure of five different packages (one for each power league and Notre Dame)."

To make it simple, there would be no more non-conference games between Michigan vs. Western Michigan, or Ohio State vs. Akron, etc. It would be a bigger NFL version and the 12-team Playoff would be expanded to an unknown number.

Dellinger went on to say this new model would upfront each team money.

"An upfront infusion of $5.3 billion in private capital — borrowed from future media revenues — would provide schools immediate cash during a three-year transition period, helping them buy out non-power opponents and supplementing their annual television distribution. Television distribution, normally split evenly across conference members, provides schools their main source of revenue to fund athletic department expenses. It is the driving force for the most recent wave of conference realignment, as schools eschew historic rivalries and geographic footprints to shift to leagues with TV deals that pay out more money."

We will continue to update when more inforamtion is available.

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