BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Are SEC football programs being held back by the bureaucracy of the NCAA?

Are the larger group's rules a help, or a hindrance? If the latter, could the SEC or other BCS divisions break off and run their own shows?

The question was a natural fit for a

networking event, held this morning over breakfast at the Harbert Center. Samford athletic director

Martin Newton

and basketball head coach

Bennie Seltzer

represented the school, and were joined by

Robbie Robertson

, president of The Colonnade Group, and

George Dennis

, sales director at Talladega Superspeedway.

Many of the topics of conversation were ones that have quickly become old standards in the sports business world: should the NCAA pay its student athletes? How can Birmingham attract a big sports event, or even a major pro team? Shouldn't we build our own dome stadium?

Speaking of standard conversation, it's also well known that some schools' sports programs generate far more revenue than others. But the idea that the Big Ten or ACC could just wave goodbye to college sports' governing body feels a bit more unconventional.

Then again, what's stopping them? Could they get up and leave at some point over the next few years?

"Why not?" Newton wonders.

Samford's athletic director points out that football contracts are already negotiated independently of the NCAA. Indeed, of the $845.9 million in revenue generated by the NCAA in 2010-11, 81.2 percent came from one deal: the association's March Madness contract with Turner/CBS Sports.

It was at this year's March Madness tournament where former NCAA President Cedric Dempsey discussed the possibility of major organizational changes to college sports' governing body in the near future. "I would suspect there's going to be either another subdivision or a separate division itself," Dempsey said in March. "Control and money are the driving forces."

Outside of the contract situation, Newton says the NCAA has gotten away from its core vision of representing all of its member schools. In his view, the NCAA should be providing an even plane for all schools to compete, and maintaining and enforcing a rule book that provides some level of standard practices across teams, divisions, and regions -- but isn't.

"A level playing field doesn't exist," Newton says.

Does that mean a big change -- a major sports conference divesting itself of the NCAA -- might soon start to make sense?