ND was vocally opposed to 24 teams. The concession (temporary??) may have been

no more guff about ND's independence.

ESPN should want a single negotiation point, not multiple conferences. So, while pure independence probably doesn't work for them, a federated model where there are "owners" and one face to negotiate - i.e., a super league, probably makes a lot of sense for them. The SEC and BIG are useful idiots for the moment and are under the misapprehension that they are going to be the AFL and NFL - but not the case. Ultimately, football will need to separate at some point from the other conference sports.