Even without Alabama the SEC already has 4 teams squarely in the CFP, 1 more than the Big 10 who's their biggest conference competitor.
The SEC championship game is going to lose value if the precedent is set that there are actual stakes resulting from the outcome? Wouldn't more people tune in if one of the teams could potentially be bounced out?
The last week or so it's gotten much louder than I expected from the national media types about us being behind ND. When SVP, Stephen A, Finebaum, Saban, Clay Travis, etc (as well as higher up Politicians) are all aligned on an issue that holds weight.
I'm not saying it means we're in tomorrow. What I'm saying is that when there's a clear injustice, it won't simply get swept under the rug. The SEC strong arming a corrupted committee into include an undeserving team of theirs year after year would trigger extreme backlash, especially after those teams repeatedly get exposed in the tournament.
Yes I believe Sankey & Disney hold real power, but I also think their leverage is overestimated, and the rest of the field's willingness to bend the knee is underrated. If they decided (along with the BIG 10) to just "walk away" as Pate and others have theorized, then that would mean killing off a ton of their value. They're most valuable when viewed as the king(s) of the jungle -- why would they set fire to a significant chunk of that jungle?
Media entities would also lose their non-SEC/BIG 10 fan viewership out of retaliation or apathy. Not to mention the non-Big 2 schools would no doubt join together -- and while not at the same level competitively -- could/would take a large share of the talent pool through NIL/Rev Share opportunities.
SEC can huff and puff all they want, but they ain't built to blow the house down.