[M T]

I haven't been following all the threads on the musical chairs, but since this article was published in Dallas, I am surprised it didn't at least mention the fall of the Southwest Conference (1915-1996).

One retrospective look back from 25 years later (2021) had these points

The SWC’s demise was a harbinger of what was to come in college athletics.  
■ Yes, the conference’s football coaches and boosters illegally paid players, but if the name, image and likeness debate finally gets sorted out this year, those same NCAA parolees from the 1980s may look like pioneers instead. 
■ TV money broke up the SWC, ushering in the coming years of conference realignment, which divorced longtime rivals and valued media markets over geography, tradition or any other form of compatibility.  
■ And the conference’s collapse laid bare college athletics’ growing gulf between the haves (Texas had an athletics budget of $50 million at that time) versus the have-nots (Rice’s budget was less than $10 million), a divide that threatens the NCAA just as it did the Southwest Conference.

Other accounts:
ESPN(2020)   "The demise of the Southwest Conference, 25 years later"

Broyles, who died in 2017, once told The Dallas Morning News that he hated to leave but couldn't watch the conference continue to wither.

"There was no magic formula to turn the tide back to Rice and SMU being the kingpins in attendance like they were in the old days," Broyles said of the schools in Houston and Dallas, which had become pro football towns. "There was no way to turn the clock back. How do you get the pride back in a conference with probations and a lack of attendance?"

Texas Monthly (1974 - 22 years BEFORE the end)  "The Decline and Fall of the Southwest Conference"

[M T]

I haven't been following all the threads on the musical chairs, but since this article was published in Dallas, I am surprised it didn't at least mention the fall of the Southwest Conference (1915-1996).

One retrospective look back from 25 years later (2021) had these points

The SWC’s demise was a harbinger of what was to come in college athletics.  
■ Yes, the conference’s football coaches and boosters illegally paid players, but if the name, image and likeness debate finally gets sorted out this year, those same NCAA parolees from the 1980s may look like pioneers instead. 
■ TV money broke up the SWC, ushering in the coming years of conference realignment, which divorced longtime rivals and valued media markets over geography, tradition or any other form of compatibility.  
■ And the conference’s collapse laid bare college athletics’ growing gulf between the haves (Texas had an athletics budget of $50 million at that time) versus the have-nots (Rice’s budget was less than $10 million), a divide that threatens the NCAA just as it did the Southwest Conference.

Other accounts:
ESPN(2020)   "The demise of the Southwest Conference, 25 years later"

Broyles, who died in 2017, once told The Dallas Morning News that he hated to leave but couldn't watch the conference continue to wither.

"There was no magic formula to turn the tide back to Rice and SMU being the kingpins in attendance like they were in the old days," Broyles said of the schools in Houston and Dallas, which had become pro football towns. "There was no way to turn the clock back. How do you get the pride back in a conference with probations and a lack of attendance?"

Texas Monthly (1974 - 22 years BEFORE the end)  "The Decline and Fall of the Southwest Conference"