I do know Saban has been lobbying to get out of playing his historic rivals. What a coward.
On the radio show, if the account I read is accurate, he spoke completely non-hypothetically as if relaying what he personally has already decided about the matter: "The way we're going to do our 7 team, 1 team fixed schedule..."
This fits what most sensible people long believed: that Saban would simply order Sankey (in Saban's Birmingham satellite office) to do whatever Saban wanted. No matter what the other teams wanted. Saban already told Sankey to nix the finished 3-rival format that was ready to be announced, and Sankey immediately put the whole thing on pause his boss. "For further study." This is Birmingham code for Saban doesn't want to play his historic rivals.
If there is only 1 rival game, I feel strongly that AL should have to play Tennessee or LSU. Those are the two teams he is afraid of. Those are the games everyone in the country wants to watch. Nobody outside of god-foresaken Alabama cares a flip about his Auburn. They have to play it on a day with no other games to get viewership. I don't even watch that game.
Alternatively, if Georgia and Alabama want to play every year, that would be okay. The schedule is always set for them to dodge each other. Let them play for a while.
The whole thing reeks of crookedness. It reminds of how Saban initiated and got implemented his new clock rule. He thinks that will rig things in his favor in his game with us.
Saban has never accomplished a single thing at AL without massive cheating. There is no evidence that he can win on a level playing field. He has NIL but he tried to con people that he wanted NIL regulated: the simple reason is that it levels the playing field. If he can get rules implemented he can cheat with impunity and he knows it.