Heh, academics at NC turn out to be quite questionable. But, remember the network deals are contingent on TV sets, not even on ratings. They don't even have to care enough to watch to be of value oddly enough.
But, I'd be lying if I said bringing in programs that won't win in football bothers me. Doesn't one bit, makes more sense to me to bring in programs good at everything else, the SEC is already good at football.
I do have a philosophy about this though, it's not just an irrational fear of football powers. First is the obvious, only one team can win a division, only one team can win a conference (unless, you know... Big 12). What this means is it doesn't matter if you come up with a division that has Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Ole Miss. Only one of those teams will win the division, and as we saw in 2011, even if you have three really good teams, only two of those have any chance whatsoever of playing for a title. They wouldn't even let Arkansas play in a BCS game.
This matters, there's no way around it. You stack football powers on top of football powers and you end up like Arkansas last year. Arkansas was a good team, they dominated one bowl team, beat two Big 12 teams. They end up 2-6 in the SEC though (kind of ironic they end up with as many wins against the Big 12 as they do against the SEC), because someone had to lose. Past a certain point it just becomes unhealthy and with Texas A&M, the SEC West is already on the verge.
The other is the notion that if a football power isn't winning, if a program that's built around winning at football finds themselves unable to do so, there's a real risk that their value as a program starts to deteriorate.
It worked out perfectly last time they kind of stood on the sidelines. I think it's fine to do that now as well, unless you know, North Carolina comes knocking or something. I don't know either what the trigger will be, truth is there might not be one for a while, a lot of conferences have signed long term contracts. If Oklahoma gets their way and the Big 12 expands, it might settle things for a while.