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You’ll Pry Notre Dame’s Independence Out Of Its Cold, Dead Hands

Jun 17, 2009, 9:00 PM UTC

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Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was momentarily thrilled andâ†µfrightened by thisâ†µClay Travis post yesterday on the financial imperatives that willâ†µsoon strike down Notre Dame’s independence: â†µâ†µâ‡¥In 2008, NBC ponied up an extension to the Fighting Irish televisionâ†µâ‡¥contract. USA Today reported that the current contract paidâ†µâ‡¥Notre Dame in the neighborhood of $9 million per year. ... Why’sâ†µâ‡¥thatâ†µâ‡¥number important? Because in 2008, every school in the Big Ten willâ†µâ‡¥clear north of $15 million from the conference, a number that will onlyâ†µâ‡¥increase in years to come. â†µâ‡¥Everyâ†µâ‡¥school in the SEC will bank, conservatively, $17 million.â†µâ†µâ†µTravis then adds in ND’s Big East take to get to $11 million, takesâ†µthose numbers, adds two and two, and comes back to every Midwesternâ†µcollege football fan’s tantalizing, repulsive dream: Notre Dame joiningâ†µthe Big Ten and dropping the cash-filled nuclear bomb that would be aâ†µBig Ten Championship Game.â†µ

â†µâ†µI’m not sure if I’m happy or sad to debunk this idea. Notre Dameâ†µjoining the Big Ten is the psychological equivalent of making out withâ†µyour super-hot cousin: intriguing but ultimately gross. But debunk Iâ†µmust.â†µ

â†µ

â†µTravis' claim is based on the idea that Notre Dame's footballâ†µcontract isn't going to increase in value much when they extend it.â†µThough we have no solid numbers, this is wrong for two main reasons:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Notre Dame signed the extension through 2010 in â†µâ‡¥Januaryâ†µâ‡¥of 2004. Since then sports rights fees of all varieties have gone â†µâ‡¥inexorablyâ†µâ‡¥upwards at a paceâ†µâ‡¥far higher than that of inflation.
â†µâ‡¥Notre Dame’s new contract contains a lot of daft neutral-siteâ†µâ‡¥matchups against teams like Washington State in places like Texas so NDâ†µâ‡¥can get the television money from an eighth home game.

â†µâ†µâ†µWith ND banking another few million from their ancillary sports underâ†µtheir Big East contract, it won’t take an unreasonable increase in theâ†µtelevision contract -- which should go up 14% just because of the extraâ†µgame -- without taking into account the big jump any sports-rights contractâ†µcan expect after five years in stasis in this environment -- for Notre Dameâ†µto approximately keep pace with the Joneses.â†µ

â†µâ†µWill they start falling behind? Eh, it’s possible. But it won’t beâ†µenough to shake them from their cherished independence. They’ve alreadyâ†µgot enough money to pay premium dollars to a coach; they don’t have anâ†µinterest in major renovations to the stadium or swankier practiceâ†µfacilities and prefer to sell their campus and academics to recruits.â†µFalling slightly behind Florida or Ohio State in the number of goldâ†µtoilets available isn’t going to be anything more than a minor hindranceâ†µto them, if it even happens. â†µ

â†µâ†µAfter all, what’s the worst that could happen? They could be mediocreâ†µfor 15 years? That’s already happened, and Notre Dame is no closer toâ†µjoining the Big Ten than they were in 1993.â†µ

â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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