I make Notre Dame refuse my offer, then go after Clemson, UNC, Virginia, Florida State 1st tier offers, then VA Tech, Miami, NC State & GA Tech as plan B.
Geographically, ND belongs in B10 and I hope that’s where they land. The rest of those teams will strengthen the SEC as bigger cash cow, especially adding VA and NC TVs, plus the ones in south FL with Miami.
Next tier maybe Baylor and OK State, but neither of those moves the needle for me.
If you check today’s rumor mill, he may not have waited for ND before launching that offensive.
The main reason I’d like ND in the SEC is to keep them out of the B1G. Probably ain’t gonna happen though.
It’s almost dizzying watching the landscape change in college sports. The wide open portal, NIL and now realignment talk. Every day new things blow up. Entertaining to say the least.
One thing about the ACC grant of rights: Those rights belong to ESPN. So do the SEC rights. Methinks the Worldwide Leader could get somebody moved from one to the other if they wished.
If all Notre Dame wanted was to be in the toughest conference in the country, where they’d being playing against teams with passionate fan bases almost every week, they’d join the SEC. The money really is not the issue when the other option is the Big Ten.
But Notre Dame culturally would stick out like a sore thumb in the SEC, where they would not even fit in as well as Mizzou. Between the two conferences my money would be on the Big Ten.
They could also decide to be the big bull in the ACC and save that conference (and maybe give themselves an easier path to the playoffs than Big Ten/SEC), but that seems a lot less likely.
Agreed. Culturally ND doesn’t fit. But they don’t really fit either in the B1G, which is about to be 14 state schools and two highly secular private schools (both started out Methodist and moved on). The Domers are not secular. They’re full blown Catholic, from Touchdown Jesus on down.
Yep…plug and play in new conference where we’ll give you more money to get your butts kicked in football by GA, Bama, etc.
Notre Dame is a geographical and cultural fit for the BIG10. Not either for the SEC. I expect them to go to the Big 10 eventually.
Geographical, yes, cultural, no. Just because they’re also Midwestern doesn’t mean they’re like the other 16 schools.
My guess is that ND will leave money on the table and remain independent until they have no choice, because that’s what they do. And what would give them no choice is if the revamped CFP format has no pathway for ND to get in.
It’s a pretty interesting question as to whether ND is going to have join a conference.
The TV types are certainly going to say: The CFP package is worth (large amount of money) more if Notre Dame is included, and will also tell ND that if you are in the deal it’s worth X more bucks a year to you. The question then becomes would the Power Two/Three Conferences let Notre Dame participate in the CFP as an independent, or would it leave a lot of money on the table by not letting anybody outside the Power Two/Three participate?
A secondary question would be whether leaving ND out(or any more general arrangement that keeps everyone out but the SEC/BIg Ten) makes the national championship more mythical than real. TV money and interest in those games would be high, but at the end of the day does the CFP look more like the Rose Bowl on steroids, and if so, what’s the eventual impact on our programs?
For Notre Dame it’s basically a question of what do we need to remain a national profile program. Secondarily, even if a conference affiliation is not vital, is the money just too good to pass up?
Found a story by a Notre Dame beat writer that details the three things that would get them into a conference (it’s paywall so I won’t link):
Notre Dame is already hurting financially; the $15M they get from NBC isn’t enough. Is somebody gonna offer more money when the NBC deal runs out in 2025? Questionable. What if NBC gets in on the Big Ten media package and doesn’t want to re-sign with ND?
Superconferences may well go to 10 league games, leaving ND with major scheduling issues (they can’t play Stanford and Navy six times each). Which could lead NBC to say “sorry, but we’re not paying you to play Western Michigan”.
Superconferences could easily lock an independent ND out of the playoffs; Sankey tells Kevin Warren “we’ll take four of yours, four of ours and everybody else can lump it.” This is less likely because Sankey doesn’t want to push them into the B1G if they’re not already going, but the possibility is not zero, especially since Sankey is still ticked that the ACC and Pac 12 shot down the 12-team plan.
ND is probably a better fit in the Pac12, er Pac10, due to academics. There are enough schools that are private and/or elite academically to field an interesting conference, especially if the ACC implodes and Duke and Wake need a home (heck, Miami as well).
Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal, Wake, Duke, ND, Kansas, Iowa State, Utah, Colorado, Texas Tech, Zona, AState…that’s is the most ungodly collection of 14 schools but they all have some things in common: either, elite academics or solid academics at a private school. Tech and Arizona are probably the weak links in this list.
Which conference has the path of least resistance? That is the one I expect Notre Dame will eventually be forced to choose, probably the ACC.
I can’t stand ND and would like for them to wither away to obscurity where they belong.
You may be right, but money may force them onto a different path. If they’re giving up $50 million or more a year to be in the ACC… That might be all the resistance they need.
If the ACC lands Notre Dame football, it will almost certainly force ESPN back to the table for a new TV contract.
Which also breaks the grant of rights so if anyone wants out, that’s the time.
Aloha Matt,
Most strongly agree.
UA…Campus of Champions
Notre Dame in the ACC (maybe coupled with the current members cancelling the grant of rights or modifying it to re-negotiate media rights) would fit ND pretty well. They would have some nearby neighbors, like Pittsburg, Louisville, UVA and Va Tech, several fellow private schools (including their co-religionists up at Boston College) another “elite” program in Clemson, and several more good football schools.
The money would be better and they would be less likely to end up as just another face in the crowd-which might very well happen in the Big Ten or the SEC.
This makes a lot of sense for ND. Who knows what kind of deal they could help foster that would make one leg of 3-4 workable conferences possible. This ACC with ND a full participant in all sports could become viable. Four sixteen team super conferences look more appealing to me than a confederation of 20-24 teams with little cohesiveness.