The Future of Sports Leagues

The Grantland article brought up some interesting possibilities:

• Sports leagues being partnered by networks. This almost happened in 1998 as NBC and TNT lost NFL coverage to CBS and ESPN. The Peacock and Billionaire Ted strongly considered forming their own pro football league to compete with the NFL.
• Some multibillionaire deciding to fund his own league either because he's unable to get a franchise in one of the four major sports leagues or because a certain market isn't being served.
• Sports leagues fracturing due to market size. All of the major markets would likely stay in their current leagues but the rest would form new leagues.
• The next work stoppage might actually be the catalyst for multiple sports leagues. A 2011 ESPN the Magazine article brought up a scenario where the NBA players could have bolted to form a new player-run league during that sport's lockout.