Illinois' Bret Bielema Tells Notre Dame to 'Just Join a Conference' After AD's Comments

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema had some pretty strong words for Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua on Thursday after the latter suggested a super league would be the best way to monetize college football television rights (but was against such a venture).

Bielema told Bevacqua to just join a conference already:

"If you want to truly maximize the media value around the largest sport in terms of eyeballs, which is college football, I do think the best way to do that is a super league," Bevacqua said in his remarks. "And I certainly don't want a super league. And I'm not sure anybody necessarily wants a super league. Flooding the market, aggregating the market, bringing it to an aggregate form to major media companies, I'm not sure that's going to drive the value some say it will. If you wanted to maximize media value around college football, I think you would take 24 to 30 teams, create unbelievably competitive scheduling where a team like Notre Dame would play Alabama, Georgia, Penn State, Ohio, State, Michigan and start to get a number that more closely resembles an NFL number."

College football fans would riot under such a system, of course, which would even further murder the traditional rivalries that have already been affected by conference expansion. European soccer fans roundly rejected the concept of a super league when several of the continent's biggest clubs entertained the idea a few years ago, and college fans would likely have a similar reaction.

Granted, nobody wanted NCAA tournament expansion in college basketball and that was rammed through anyway. But the repercussions of a super league in college football would be far more dire for a large number of institutions. Perhaps it isn't surprising that the school that has benefitted greatly from remaining an independent, Notre Dame, would be the one to float such a concept.