Will BYU become part of a conference again?

To answer this question at this time would mean that you would know how schools will react to the changing state of the media in this day and age.  Let's face it, cable TV isn't dying, it is dead.  But subscribers have not completely left.  Because of infrastructure, there are many who are not able to get their internet without also subscribing to cable or satellite TV.  But that is all about to change when 5g technology will make it irrelevant.

No one knows what football will look like afterwards.  However, what we were going to, four super-conferences with 16 members each will not happen.  The money will not be there to support it.  The big conferences that we see today will get smaller.  Breakups are coming, but we are not sure how they will happen.

You might say it is easy to predict, based upon how successful programs are today.  But do not be so sure about that.  Northwestern and Rutgers on the outskirts of big cities are not about to let someone like Iowa push them aside.  In addition, with streaming replacing cable TV, the advantages of playing for Notre Dame as a pathway to the NFL diminish.  You will be able to watch any school from any part of the US.  The PAC-12 schools can go back to playing afternoon games.  If USC is the best team in the country, they will play their games at 1:00 pm local time, get the East Coast press that they need and not worry about being pre-empted by Penn State vs Indiana.

What I would suggest is some sort of promotion-relegation system similar to European soccer.  Break the country up into four regions, have 12 schools in each region at the top tier in each conference.  Every season the worst two schools for the past two years are relegated to a lower tier while the best two in the second tier are promoted.  Each tier plays a playoff.  Gone will be the bowls.  If this happens, yes BYU will be in a conference.  Every school in the country from Alabama to Wofford will be able to play at the top level.

There are currently 130 FBS schools.  You would need 144 for 3 tiers of 4 conferences.  Therefore, 24 current FCS schools would be in the mix.  These alignments would be only for football.  Basketball and all other sports will maintain their current alignment.