It's amazing to me how much some people really want to watch these shitty 16+ team conferences happen.
It's not that it's wanted, just seems inevitable. I would love to have the 96' Big 12 back 
How does it seem inevitable? Have we not seen yet that all of these conferences have their own wants and needs and narratives that change seemingly daily? These super-conferences would require cooperation amongst the conferences and more television money to make them work, both seem like laughable propositions at this point.
The popularity of the playoff is what makes it seem inevitable. TV ratings showed that viewership of any non-playoff bowl game has dwindled dramatically the last few years (Notre Dame-Ohio State bowl game last year only had 9.8 million viewers, less than half of the viewers from the same matchup ten years earlier). The current playoff contract will end around 2025 and conference re-alignment will almost surely precede the playoff evolution around that time. I'm not sure if this will end up with super conferences, but there will certainly be changes to the power five conferences. TV business will focus on the playoffs and teams perceived as playoff contenders, the power five conferences will collectively do everything they can to ensure their teams will have a chance at playoff berths, even if that means conference realignment.
