The Pac -12 and B1G plan to combine Football, Basketball and Olympic Sports schedules to create a 24 team combined "collaborative effort". This begs the question of how a combined MW and C-USA "collaborative effort", containing a mere 17 teams once the 5 big-name programs leave, could possibly compete. It seems the "alliance" has been passed up at it's own game. This begs major questions of potential for visibility and revenue, when compared to the Pac-12 / B1G collaboration. Will the MW and C-USA have to increase to 12 teams each, in order to compete? Will other conferences copy this model? Could this "merger" give the MW the potential to "collaborate" with others than with the C-USA?