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In order to stave off the 2-super conference monster, Notre Dame must choose the ACC. The ACC Irish could save college football To use the only term they care about, the brand is too valuable. Though tradition clearly doesn’t matter to any of college football’s present-day power brokers, it’s inconceivable there would be a CFP structure that doesn’t include access for Notre Dame.

John Jenkins could take the path of sacrifice and piety, walking away from the extra money. That does not necessarily have to be the future, however. The other schools will undoubtedly file some type of antitrust lawsuit, but guess which side will be able to afford the better lawyers? The winners meet in a national championship game that rotates between the networks, much like the Super Bowl.
#Notre dame football conference affiliation history tv#
And only those 40 teams that are members of the B1G or SEC will have access to the “College Football Playoff.” Because the CFP will be driven by TV contracts, not a selection committee.ĮSPN/ABC would televise a 4-team SEC playoff. If the Irish take the money and join the B1G (or SEC), the race to 20 teams is on. The futures of both ND and the CFP feel inexorably linked. Just like the current College Football Playoff contract, Notre Dame’s deal with NBC expires after the 2025 season. Though nothing is finalized yet, it’s speculated that member schools could make $100 million a piece on media rights alone by 2030. But it’s also chump change compared to what B1G schools are expected to make once USC and UCLA arrive. The school makes an additional $10-11 million from its partnership with the ACC in all other sports. That relationship continues to the present day, paying Notre Dame $15 million a year. The Irish split off from the College Football Association and signed a 5-year deal to broadcast all home games on NBC in 1991. The first groundbreaking college football TV deal wasn’t for a conference, but for Notre Dame.
#Notre dame football conference affiliation history full#
The Fighting Irish have maintained that path of football independence ever since, with the exception of full ACC membership in 2020.Īs the Notre Dame brand became a powerhouse, independence paid very well. (Though, obviously, not white or black smoke.) Other reasons were provided by Big Ten presidents, but Rockne felt they were just blowing smoke. So Notre Dame’s proposed application to join the conference was rejected. “Who can trust people taking their orders from Rome? This is Uh-merica!” Or the types of people who joined labor unions. It was seen as a religion for immigrants and subversives. But the 1920s were rife with anti-Catholic prejudice in the Midwest. Knute Rockne was very keen on getting the Irish into the Big Ten, which was then called the Western Conference. Notre Dame has famously been a football independent from the beginning. So maybe the right choice will be made.īut it’s going to take a whole lot of willpower given the pot of gold the Big Ten can offer.

And if there’s one place where saving souls should matter, it’s Notre Dame. Maybe that won’t be the death of college football. If he beats the SEC in the race to land Notre Dame, the acceleration into 2 super conferences that control the College Football Playoff is complete. B1G commissioner Kevin Warren is Thanos, and the Fighting Irish are the Mind Stone. It’s no secret that the Big Ten is holding out for Notre Dame after plucking USC and UCLA from the Pac-12. The Fighting Irish are positioned to determine whether college football remains a national pastime or a consolidated, lesser version of the NFL. Golden Domers may have an overinflated opinion of Notre Dame’s importance, but not in this case.
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The fate of the college football free world rests in South Bend, Ind.
