Here's my interpretation of what manhattan is saying:
32 teams will be in the group that competes for the championship every year.
10-20 of those will be permanent members of that group; let's call it 16 for ****s and grins.
There are 16 members of that group who are not permanent, but are subject to relegation.
Those 16 are part of a larger group of 32 or 48 that are eligible for promotion or relegation (let's go with 48 just cause the actual number isn't important).
So, 16 permanent members plus 48 others.
Now, just pulling dollar numbers out of thin air (again don't focus on the actual numbers, just the concept):
The 16 permanent members get $80MM/year payouts. The other 48 get $60MM/year, plus an additional $1MM/year for each consecutive year they're in the championship bracket, up to a max of $70MM. If they fall out, their payout decreases by $1MM/year until they're back down to $60MM.
No catastrophic cliffs for relegation, and there's a pool of 64 teams for scheduling purposes, historic rivalries, etc.
tOSU, Alabama, USC, OU, UTerus, etc aren't going to agree to a relegation system where they're at risk. But they need the Mizzous, Vandys, et al for any concept to work.
There are probably 48 (or 42, or 56, or whatever, the precise numbers aren't important) schools that would accept that system rather than risk being excluded from a permanent revenue maximizing 32.