Notre Dame football...
 

Okay...this is something that has bugged me forever and I'd like to hear some opinions on this.

Can someone please explain to me how Notre Dame has a unilateral TV contract with NBC? I do not understand this. I have asked, but nobody seems to be able to give me a logical legal answer how they were able to do this and still maintain membership in the NCAA, presumably a VOLUNTEER organization. I'm tellin' ya right now, If I were an AD at a school on their schedule, I would organize the other ADs playing them and DEMAND EQUAL SHARE OF THE TV REVENUE. If they refuse, then they throw the year away. The impotent NCAA needs to somehow get invovled, IMO.

Seriously, how is this fair?

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

I do know this is part of the reason ND refuses to join a football conference, they don't want ot share their revenues. However, this NBC contract is coming to an end, and with the recent woes of the program, it does not seem like it will be renewed, hence the recent talk of ND maybe joining the ACC.

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

I believe NBC renewed the contract already, but may be remembering wrong.

Anyway, I think the answer is that TV contracts are controlled by conferences - i.e. the SEC has a deal with CBS for Saturday afternoon games - and since ND is not in a conference as a football team (yet were able to weasel their way into the Big East in all other sports), they basically control their own TV schedules.

Their deal started maybe 10-15 years ago, so if it was against NCAA rules or anything, somebody would have complained by now, but with the way TV arrangements are now handled, their deal is perfectly fine.

That's how I understand it anyway.

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

My experience is that the less the NCAA is involved, the better off everyone is.

My guess is that each of the teams that trek to ND during a given year get a decent paycheck.

(In NCAA-speak, it's called a "game guarantee".)

For the bigger rivals, like USC, they probably don't get a guarantee. Instead, they get a return visit from the Irish where they sell out their own stadium.

Add in the fact that a game at ND means national tv for the visitors, and it's a pretty sweet package that the Irish can offer.

That's why they pretty much get to dictate who they play and where they play them.

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

Notre Dame in the ACC makes absolutely no sense, especially when the conference in their own back yard -- the Big10 -- has an odd number of members.

Why would ND want to be a part of the ACC and snub the more logical Big10? What does it stand to gain by playing such nobodys (to them at least) as Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia? ND has a history with each Big10 insititution, possibly with the exception of Iowa. The only reason that I can think that ND doesn't want to join the Big10 is because the school doesn't want to dip into recruiting wars in the Midwest with other conference schools. That and the fact that ND wouldn't be big fish in the Big10 -- that prestigious distinction has always and will always belong to Ohio State and Michigan (regardless of records).

Also, ND consistently plays Michigan, MSU, Purdue and Northwestern and frequently loses to at least two of those schools a year. And let's not forget the two-year ND/OSU series in the mid-90s, when the Buckeyes embarassed the Irish in both games. Perhaps ND figures they have a better chance to compete in the ACC.

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

I am suprised that good old Myles Brand hasn't tried to take on Notre Dame's exclusive contract but then again he won't take on coach K's Amex deal either so what can you really expect from him. He was president at Indiana when I was there and from meeting him, I don't think he has a thought in his head.

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

Truer words were never spoken.

Re: Notre Dame football...
 

Because ND likes to associate themselves with the east coast. They have a lot of alumni in the east coast. I am not sure the ACC is the best choice. A Big East with Virginia Tech, BC, and Miami would have been better for them, but thats not the case anymore. I agree, I think the Big 10 is better for them, but I am biased because I'm a Purdue grad. But also I am grad student at ND, and the feeling I get here is that they aren't joining a conference anytime soon, and if they were I doubt it would be a the big 10.

Also, the NBC contract was renewed last year, so this whole conference thing isn't going to be an issue for a couple more years