I think the whole conference thing will become interesting when all of the current tv contracts are up. I know most of the GOR run for a long while yet, however ESPN is hemorrhaging money left and right. ESPN has been the driving force behind all of the conference changes at the major college level and of course all of these schools are chasing the tv money. What is going to happen when all of this money dries up?
Take a look at the building projects these programs are undertaking, it is almost ludicrous (training facilities, stadium upgrades, coaches salaries, etc). That is mostly being backed by the tv dollars. At the same time a lot of these programs are going into debt. Bloomberg had a recent article that highlighted how in the red some of these schools are.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-01-04/college-football-s-top-teams-are-built-on-crippling-debt
If the tv money dries up (which also is used to fund olympic sports) I wonder if we will see conferences shift back to more geographical regions due to budget constraints. Schools won't be able to afford to send the smaller teams the consistently long distances needed to compete. On the flip side might we see some schools contract a good deal of mens olympic teams and keep mostly the women teams for Title IX reasons to make up the deficit.
Conference realignment has been good for some and bad for others. It has ripped apart some of the great geographical rivalries but it has also created knew opportunities for some schools. Pitt, Penn State, and West Virginia are all within three hours of each other yet they are in three different conferences. PSU is in a midwestern conference, Pitt in a southeastern conference, and WVU in a southwestern one. It makes no real sense. I think Maryland and Rutgers being in the Big 10 is fairly asinine as well.