You are assuming ND would be televised every week. That's not a guarantee especially when you have 20 teams in the conference. With their own deal, ND is guaranteed to be televised at least 6 games per year.
Would guaranteed national schedule be enough
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Remember the old adage...."When they say its not about the money, its about the money."
Like it. Have thought a long time it would be great for ND, Stanford and other real academic institutions form a league. How do you deal with the travel issues of Stanford's location??
We were not driven into the ACC, it was a contract of mutual convenience. Either side can let the contract expire and be all right.
This is a myth told by those with an agenda. The schedule has been more interesting in the past ten years than the previous 20.
Until the conferences are so full they can't logistically add any teams ND will be able to join any conference they want. Any one. ND has ultimate leverage.
Agreed. If ND is happy with where they are at the moment, then why bother changing? Even if ACC blows up at some point ND is not Washington State or Arizona who is going to be left with scraps to work with.
And even if they are full, they'd still add ND.
We have the ultimate leverage.
If we were the last team holding out and decided we wanted in a conference, there would be a bidding war.
We are fine
I billion a year from football??? According to Fobes two years ago ND was around the 5th most profitable football program and is doing just fine but a billion a year???
Notre Dame the fifth-most profitable program over last three years, per Forbes
Notre Dame has one of the biggest fanbases in the country (if not the biggest) and is one the nation’s premier college football programs. Now, thanks to Forbes, we have some numbers to back those c…
fightingirishwire.usatoday.com
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With ND and USC and UCLA joining the B10, the media rights would be closer to $150 million per year.
Notre Dame isn't hurting for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ today, Notre Dame won't be hurting for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ a year from now, and Notre Dame won't be hurting for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ten years from now.
If $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ was the big issue, as Golson said, Jack Swarbick would have had Football in a Conference full time long ago.
ACC is still better than the Big18. If you affiliate ND with the ACC, they have been in the CFP almost every year. The B18 nor the Pac can say that.
I cant see 2 super conferences? That would seem pretty silly. At some point, lets just go to 1, super duper conference and do a playoff with 30 teams and leave the other 100+ out.
I could see the Pac and the B12 merging to be a formidable 3rd and the ACC scooping up ND, Cinci and a few stragglers to be the 4th conf.
The real question is, who does the ACC go after?
I think they target UCF, Cinci, ND, WV, Ucon.....Cinci could probably leave if the B12 merged with the PAC
ND would be wanted but at what price? At some point the big 2 will be less willing to offer compromises on scheduling, tv rights, etc. The idea is to maximize your bargaining power. As the big 2 successfully grow and begin making billions the idea of having to give ND a sweetheart deal becomes less likely. It's a tough call.
When this playoff agreement is up, Notre Dame has no guarantee to be included.
If you think ND is going to get squeezed out with all the eyeballs and $$$$ they bring in via their fanbase you have zero clue.
Equally threatening -- and potentially more imminent -- could be a loss of access to marquee players due to the inability to a) play A-list schedules and b) secure competitive TV revenue.
Re the latter, I don't see ND raiding its piggy bank to finance its football program. College football is for major programs a revenue producer and in many cases, OUTRIGHT PROFITABLE as is the case for ND. No college CFO wants to see it flip to an EXPENSE ITEM.
Tradition, independence or conference affiliation notwithstanding.
I don't see how without maintaining FINANCIAL PARITY with the leading programs, ND can hope to compete with them on the field. It starts and ends with $$$.
Fact is, ND became ND due to its willingness to go anywhere to play anyone. But those other teams had to be willing to play ND as well. It all hinged on having a national reach.
TV changed all of that -- but only gradually. Now TV money is so determinative that scheduling is dictated not so much by geographical opportunism but by TV money packages. It's a 180 degree turnaround.
Does ND adapt or continue to play by its LITERALLY 1913 formula?
Where's the $1B figure come from?
The last data I saw had ND making slightly north of $50M on football? And that was profit.
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I was listening to an interview Herbstreit gave recently. He was saying that even mid-pack Big Ten programs like IU and Northwestern have better facilities than USC, because they make so much money already from their current deals.
Correct.
As your scheduling options dwindle, so does your LEVERAGE. You lose VISIBILITY and then RELEVANCE.
And the idea that there should continue to exist a playoff system that holds an OPEN-ENTRANT SLOT SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU becomes LUDICROUS.
It would be like holding open an at-large berth in today’s playoffs for one of the ACADEMIES.
Football scheduling COULD ALSO BE A PROBLEM as, depending on how conferences schedule internally, ND may not be able to put together schedules that are neither too strong nor too weak in relation to its then talent pool which could evolve appreciably in a world of locked-in conference play and playoffs.
ND would not only have to play the right amount of premier teams -- those teams' schedules and willingness to play ND permitting -- but also have the ability to WIN THOSE GAMES. To me, it would require almost MIRACULOUS NEEDLE THREADING. Whereas if it's in a conference, it puts it in drive and GOES.
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I'm sure it's causing something of an IDENTITY CRISIS. Just as it is with some here.
ND hasn't been FIRST AMONG EQUALS since FRANK LEAHY, though some still stubbornly ignore seven decades of evidence to the contrary. To paraphrase Madeleine Albright, many still see ND as the "ONE INDISPENSABLE" CFB program. And INDEPENDENCE as proof of it.
What's now happening must be EXTREMELY DISCONCERTING to those STEEPED in the MYSTIQUE ANGLE.
There's no perfect solution, but what you're suggesting here sounds reasonable. There are other options as well.
I have enjoyed the history and tradition of ND's independence as much as anyone, but it is delusional to think that what is happening right now won't force ND's hand to join a conference, and way sooner than later. I hope Swarbrick doesn't overplay his hand.
Worth more in what sense?
Does it cover the deficit between $100 million and $18 million? How do you monetize the WORTH you refer to? Or are you referring to some kind of INTANGIBLE value?
As for needing the money, yes, ND has money, but it isn't necessarily there to be spent on its football program. No one uses their capital budget to cover operational expenses, and I'd bet that ND runs itself based on various operating budgets, most of which are expected to make a profit, so as to keep adding to the OVERALL CAPITAL HAUL.
And I'd very surprised if ND ever agreed to pump ENDOWMENT MONEY into football, even if it were allowed to do so.
I don't have all the facts here, but I suspect ND is happier making around $50 million in profit per year from football, rather than having to SUBSIDIZE IT.
I'm not suggesting this now, but I did bring it up several years ago.
The ALL ACADMEMIC LEAGUE (AAL)
ND
NW
Army
Navy
AF
Vanderbilt
BC
Rice
Duke
Stanford
Ironically, one of the most eligible members for such a league would be USC which sometimes ranks ahead of ND in COLLEGE ACADEMIC RANKINGS.
It's my understanding ND has always wanted to finish the season on the west coast, so that thr coaches can spend the following week recruiting the west coast kids.
If thr Pac12 implodes though, then Stanford may become an increasingly undesirable opponent to play and ND may have to consider other options. Tough to foresee what will happen.
Impossible to tell, really.
The sport is undergoing a facelift where certain parameters and practices observed by ND in recent decades may disappear.
For better or worse, our society doesn't just make money anymore, it makes money off of making money off of making money for as long as that CONGA LINE will stretch.
In other words, exponential money has now come to CFB.
ALL BETS ARE OFF.
