Notre Dame won’t be joining the Big Ten any time soon. It is time for the Big Ten to stop waiting.
Sports Business Journal reported Notre Dame “should expect around $60 million from a new TV contract” which would be a substantial increase from the $25 million the school gets from NBC through 2025. NBC and Notre Dame are expected to keep that partnership running while the network goes in business with the Big Ten.
This is the part where the Big Ten and commissioner Kevin Warren should throw up deuces and say goodbye to Notre Dame for good. Seriously, no more open invitations for the Irish, and no more Big Ten opponents either.
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Whatever happens with the College Football Playoff expansion and potential for super conferences in the next decade, Notre Dame shouldn’t get to be a part of it as a member of the Big Ten. Give the SEC a call next time. Ask Brian Kelly for advice on Southern accents. That’s the hard line Warren and the Big Ten should take.
Of course, NBC is not going to let that Big Ten freeze happen. The allure of adding Notre Dame to the Big Ten will always still be there. The idea recirculated when USC – the Irish’s historical rival – left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten along with UCLA on June 30. The appeal for the Irish to join a conference, specifically, the Big Ten, is a regional play in a newly-minted national conference. Big Ten Network analyst Joshua Perry knows what Notre Dame brings.
“They’re going to add a ridiculous fan-base,” Perry told Sporting News at Big Ten Media Days. “That’s where all this stuff starts. You want to make sure you can get the most viewership, but you talk about history, which is where a lot of this goes, too. The Big Ten is a traditional conference when you look at the brands that are aligned and the history of these brands. You get academics, which is important to the Big Ten. You get Notre Dame-Michigan. You get Ohio State-Notre Dame. You get USC-Notre Dame. You get Notre Dame-Purdue, which isn’t a huge game to a lot of people but there is a lot you can celebrate there.”
Why wouldn’t Notre Dame want to celebrate all that? Seriously, the Big Ten has a new media rights deal that is worth $8 billion over seven years. The Irish would be able to join a conference that has superior brand power with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska and USC.
That’s not enough? That’s why if the Irish don’t come to the conference now, the Big Ten should cut off scheduling the Irish for the foreseeable future. Show Notre Dame what they can lose.
With new coach Marcus Freeman, the Irish are finally getting serious about a national recruiting turf war with Ohio State, who has dominated the Rust Belt in the 21st century. The Sept. 3 matchup at The Shoe could easily be the most-watched game of the year, and it will be the same in the comeback game in South Bend in 2023. This has always had the potential to be the best rivalry in college football. Don’t give Notre Dame the recruiting spotlight.
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The Big Ten could cut off any hope of a renewal of the Michigan rivalry – Notre Dame’s fraternal twin. That game drew huge ratings every September and produced several unforgettable moments from Rocket Ismail to Denard Robinson. Freeman vs. Jim Harbaugh? Don’t let it happen.
That’s not all the Big Ten could shut off. Michigan State and Purdue. Never again. Then, they could tell USC not to play Notre Dame anymore. Up next? Stanford, who has been mentioned as a candidate to join the Big Ten if it continues to venture along the West Coast. Warren can’t let the Irish continue to brush off potential membership; let alone use the Big Ten expansion to leverage their own TV deal.
Isn’t that kind of what happened? In fact, the Big Ten will likely be encouraged to go the other way and work with Notre Dame. Per the SBJ report: “Notre Dame would remain independent if it agrees to a new rights deal. But its association with NBC, and NBC’s new association with the Big Ten — make it likely that the Fighting Irish would add more Big Ten games to its schedule.”
NBC is going to encourage the Big Ten and Notre Dame to play nice – and play on the big stage every once in a while. They’ll use those Ohio State-Notre Dame ratings from this year’s game as proof of concept.
Notre Dame’s future schedule hints that is exactly the case. There is the comeback game with Ohio State in 2023. The Irish have a five-game contract with Purdue from 2024-28 and the rescheduled matchup at Lambeau Field against Wisconsin in 2026, which was canceled because of COVID-19. There is also Michigan State in 2026-27, Indiana in 2030-31 and Michigan in 2033-34.
You have to hand it to Notre Dame and athletic director Jack Swarbrick at this point. The Irish watched the SEC take Oklahoma and Texas out of the Big 12 and the Big Ten take USC and UCLA out of the Pac-12, and they didn’t panic. Notre Dame still gets everything it needs – and then some.
The Irish still have an annual five-game agreement with the ACC through 2036, and as long as that agreement holds, the conference has credibility at No. 3 in the pecking order. Miami, Florida State and Clemson can stay put, and Notre Dame still enjoys the benefits from the basketball-first conference.
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Notre Dame keeps that TV deal, which, when coupled with NBC, could push its annual take-home number to $75 million, and they get a high-viewership window. The Irish get to keep their traditional schedule, with five ACC games, the Navy game, USC, Stanford and a rotation of opponents that keeps the schedule national. The Irish don’t have to share power with Ohio State and Michigan at the Big Ten table either. They saw exactly how that power struggle went with Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska in the Big 12. None of those schools will be in that conference soon.
The last part is great, too. The last College Football Playoff expansion plan made it possible for Notre Dame to get in the CFP without playing in a conference championship game. The catch, of course, was that the Irish would not get a first-round bye. If the 12-team playoff becomes a reality, then chances are that will stay the same. Why would the Irish want anything else at this point?
Yeah, Notre Dame looks good, at least through a grant of rights deal with the ACC that runs through 2035-36. Perhaps at that point, the idea of the Irish joining a conference will become a serious topic again – and you know which conference they are going to get linked to first.
Will Notre Dame ever take that offer seriously?
Just go back to the end of the 20th century for the answer. When the Big Ten and Jim Delany reached out to the Irish about becoming the 12th member, the Notre Dame board of trustees rejected the offer. The New York Times reported Delany said Irish would not be considered again.
Charles Lennon, then the director of Notre Dame’s alumni association told the Times: “Our brand name is something special. We’d rather be one of one than one of 12.”
Or one of 14, 16, 20 or 24. It doesn’t matter who the Big Ten adds next. Notre Dame has shown they are independent and don’t want that relationship.
Why would the Big Ten ever wait for that call again?
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