It's somewhat of a semantics distinction: The Big Ten is very unlikely to boot Rutgers, Northwestern, Purdue, or any other program that is a noncontributor to football revenue, or has outlived its usefulness as one. With the idea of "market" having been greatly diminished (well more than Politi concedes here) in favor of "football brand," it's totally fair to say that Rutgers fits the latter category as much as the former. Their market allowed the Big Ten to cash in big time, along with Maryland/D.C., but that value is already established and is not contingent on Rutgers' continued membership. Still, to repeat: It's almost impossible to see them expelled from the league.
But the breakaway of top programs/brands is 100 percent inevitable, a move that will dissolve current conferences (at least in terms of football media bargaining collectives) and create a tier of top programs that will be its own thing - a made-for-TV league. It'll happen within ten years, and there is no way on earth Rutgers is any part of that. It'll only be about 32 programs, and even then, that's probably stretching it. There's no other way for top program to continue to increase annual revenue at this point, so the natural next move is to horde more of it for themselves by eliminating the hangers on - programs that are only there because of traditional or historical affiliations, or else were one-time maneuvers to give a boost media negotiations.
