You bring up a good point.
If the top 30-40 teams break away (aka the UTK, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, etc), it creates a subdivision that MT CAN compete with (financially, on & off the field) at some point.
What does the subdivision look like & what relationship will / would it have with the upper division? And what about those BIG10 / SEC / ACC schools that don't have the $$$ to compete (Wake Forest, Vandy, etc). That's an interesting question to answer (for me).
Way too many moving parts and unknowns at this point.
The only thing I'm 100% confident of is the fact that the big money programs will break away. Into what is the question.
I really can't see there being anything that stops this from evolving into what's essentially a MLB model where there's no real parity. But worse, because there's no real mechanisms to at least keep some teams at least theoretically competitive (i.e. draft, roster limits, etc).
There's no way that a program like Texas (225 million) or Ohio State (251 million) is going to allow itself to be hamstrung by someone like Georgia Tech (106 million).
Even if you took the top 30 programs, there's a 120 million dollar difference between Ohio State and Ole Miss (133 million) in revenue.
If you're not in the top 5 in revenue, I don't see how you can stay competitive. And that includes mega-money programs like Tennessee - there's a 100 million dollar difference between Ohio State and Tennessee. What's to stop Ohio State from using that extra 100 mil to plunder every good player off Tennessee's roster every year like the P5 does to the G5? If you're Mississippi State or Purdue, you're 100% f****d if you make the cut.
Meanwhile, we can exist in a smaller division, with 'ships, bowls, maybe even a natty tournament.
The dream of playing with the Alabama's and Ohio State's might be dead, but ironically, we might find ourselves a heck of a lot closer to a meaningful national title with teams like a Georgia Tech or Kansas or someone like that than we are today.