When are they finally going to come to their senses and join most of their traditional/regional rivals in the B1G?
Read on.
Quote: Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua sent a definitive message on the Fighting Irish’s future in the college football landscape: joining a conference isn’t on the table because of how attractive it is to be a college football independent.
“We are now in as good of a position as we’ve ever been in the modern era of college football to be an independent,” Bevacqua told ESPN (h/t College Football HQ). “You see all the conference realignment, you see everything that’s happened, I think our position as being independent in football quite frankly in certainly more unique than ever, but also more valuable than ever.”
Notre Dame tried to join the Big 10 over 120 years ago and was told that they would never let Catholics in their conference, so Notre Dame had to ask around the country to get teams to schedule them.
So that’s why they have always gone out of their way to avoid the Big 10.
Notre Dame will NEVER join the BIG…They have a long memory and they dont forgive and they dont forget…and they continue to demonstrate it with comments like the above from their AD…They dont care about money…They have never cared about money…GOOD for them, i admire them…
Oh, I’m sure they care about money. They’ve just determined that the current set-up benefits them more than joining a football conference.
They get $50MM per year from NBC, $17MM from the ACC and will get roughly $18MM annually from the CFP. This is close to what the B10 would pay, and it has no strings or conference obligations. There are probably other revenue streams, as well.
Notre Dame isn’t making some kind of principled sacrifice.
5 Likes
WheelerBoy
(Stick it in your pipe and smoke it!)
6
It’s better this way. Better for us that the P2 does not get even stronger. I think it’s better for us that the ACC stays alive - even after they have their cream skimed off. We need more counter weight against the P2.
I’ve heard some of the talking heads say that as long as ND wants to remain an independent in football, and needs a conference landing spot for its sports other than hockey (such as their #1 ranked and recent national champion men’s lacrosse team, which also has six trips to the final four and three finals appearances in that sport), the ACC will remain viable.
ESPN is currently paying just north of $50 million for SEC schools.
Big 12 and ACC Schools will be in the $40 million range.
But to answer your questions YES!..they are looking to create a College Landscape version of NFL coverage but with BROAD Geographic coverage and they are closer to filling all of the spots with 1) Large Flagship Schools spread out geographically or 2) Strategic Growth Brands to cover the map (similar to what the pro sports leagues did with expansion)
To get to 24- The B1G needs to add 6 more
-Florida State
-North Carolina
-Virginia
-Clemson/Colorado
-Kansas
-One of Houston, Texas Tech, TCU
To get to 24, the SEC needs to add 8 more
-North Carolina State
-Virginia Tech
-Clemson/ Colorado
-Utah
-Colorado
-Arizona or Arizona State
-Two of Miami/PITT/ Louisville/ Cincinnati/ Georgia Tech/Duke
(2) 12 school regional divisions in each conference
P2 Independents
Notre Dame
BYU
If they include those 50, there will BE NO ARGUMENTS for those left out and there will be ENOUGH BROAD GEOGRAPHIC INTEREST to maintain viewership.
The current P2 # is NOT big enough to capture the attention of the whole country.
I’m afraid we will get left out our viewership and attendance just doesn’t cut it, im afraid TT will get picked over us, they support their programs financially and attendance wise
By 2030, both the SEC and B1G members are projected to make close to 90 million dollars each…
Regardless, the SEC has already stated that they have no intention or incentive to be a national conference. They are one of the highest earning conferences just in their region alone.
Adding Arizona to the SEC does nothing to benefit the other SEC members
