A strong conference benefits Northwestern, period. Would you rather be the champs (or in this year's case, a 6-6 team) in a tough conference or one perceived to be weak? Ask the Big 12 or Pac-12 if they enjoyed the "who gets left out of the playoff this year?" debate.
As much as I loath Michigan and the Ohio State, these two institutions:
1) Help enable Northwestern to cash $50MM checks each year for tv rights. How much of that do you think is driven by demand for NU sports inventory?
2) To my knowledge, have always supported equal revenue sharing because they, too, understand that having strong programs from top to bottom benefit everyone in the family. They want Northwestern to be strong, and Illinois, and Purdue, and IU, and so on...
3) Again, to my knowledge, have never criticized the "Northwesterns" of the conference for essentially taking the money and running - barely reinvesting in their revenue sports programs in a manner consistent with the wealth we enjoy from our conference membership.
I'm not enjoying myself with this post, but this is why "the conference pride nonsense" is a thing.
...can I assume we're good here, and I don't need to start in on the academic integrity piece?