It almost had the feel of something from a Star Wars movie.

There was the formation of an alliance, or what some might call a rebel alliance with the Big Ten, Pac 12 and ACC coming together to battle the evil empire that is the Southeastern Conference.

The opening salvo occurred recently when the SEC went behind enemy lines and crippled the Big 12 by acquiring their two most important assets, Texas and Oklahoma.

One down and three more to go for the SEC, but the newly formed alliance took a stand on Tuesday afternoon hoping to fight back against their rival conference.

So what exactly happened on Tuesday when Kevin Warren from the Big Ten, Jim Phillips from the ACC, and George Klivakoff from the Pac 12 appeared on a video conference?

The answer is something, but kind of nothing.

Nothing was signed by any of the conferences. No formal agreements were made between the three leaders. It was essentially a handshake deal with no binding measures to it.

What does this all mean for the Hawkeyes?

The most interesting aspect of today’s announcement for fans was the potential scheduling agreement. It’s fair to say that what was presented today was at best, vague in specifics. Iowa and every other school will not be changing their contractual obligations for football.

Iowa is currently fully schedule to the 2025 season. That includes conference and non-conference games. That includes the Cy-Hawk game, which currently has a contract to 2025.

There were rumors suggesting that this new alliance would include Big Ten schools playing against ACC and Pac 12 schools every year and possibly reducing the number of conference games from nine to eight. If that were to happen, it’s possible that the Iowa State game could become a question mark after the 2025 meeting. Again, nothing is firmly decided at this point, so it’s all just speculation.

Also on the schedule front, it was announced the three conferences would look to schedule men’s and women’s basketball games. The Big Ten and ACC have had their men’s and women’s challenge for many years and now we could see some early season meetings with the Pac 12 being worked into the mix.

By the way, Iowa athletic director Gary Barta will be one of 11 athletic directors involved in and shaping the scheduling discussions.

The two other aspects of this that are certainly going to be discussed. One was possible expansion for any of the three conferences. The Pac 12 has indicated that they will announce a decision on expansion shortly and it appears that they will likely stand pat. Also, Pete Thamel from Yahoo is reporting that the Big Ten will likely not look to expand.

Kevin Warren told Yahoo Sports, “We feel very comfortable in the Big Ten that we are in a good position where we are.”

Lastly there’s the television aspect to all this. The Big Ten and the Pac 12 will have their media rights up for bid in 2023 and 2024. Both would certainly like to have a diverse TV portfolio. The Big Ten now has their own network, Fox, and ESPN as media partners. It will be interesting to see if ESPN stays with the Big Ten. It will also be interesting to see if the Big Ten, who has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to media rights, will look for a non-traditional partner like Amazon or Hulu. If it’s going to happen, this feels like it could in this next media rights cycle.

Along those same lines, the alliance will also be looking to open up the College Football Playoff to more media partners. Currently, ESPN has the contract until 2026, but there is a potential for it to expand to 12 teams before the end of the deal. If there is expansion the three conferences would like to see an open bidding process and have multiple partners, like ESPN and Fox sharing the rights.