Notre Dame Could Follow USC, UCLA And Dollar Signs To Big Ten

SportsMoney Notre Dame Could Follow USC, UCLA And Dollar Signs To Big Ten Terence Moore Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I deliver my thoughts on all things sports New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Jul 1, 2022, 06:00am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin SOUTH BEND, IN – APRIL 23: Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman points down field .

. . [+] during the Notre Dame Blue-Gold Spring Football Game on April 23, 2022 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN.

(Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Yeah, yeah, yeah. Southern Cal and UCLA are off to the Big Ten, but speaking as somebody who was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, home of the University of Notre Dame, here’s all that matters: Will the Fighting Irish keep Knute Rockne’s ghost happy by staying independent? Yes. Uh .

. . maybe.

Actually, when it comes to that question, I’m hearing the Notre Dame Victory March as a funeral dirge after Southern Cal and UCLA spent Thursday moving college football closer to just two super conferences. They’ll leave as powerhouses in the Pac-12, and they’ll form a 16-member Big Ten as early as 2024 to match the size of the SEC after Texas and Oklahoma bolt the Big 12 for the 2025 season. Remember 2025.

That’s a huge year for the Irish regarding what they’ll do now while keeping their future in mind. For instance: Courtesy of 2025, along with those actions of Southern Cal and UCLA (and Texas and Oklahoma), Irish officials have at least their big toes out the door of Notre Dame Stadium in the direction of, say, the Big Ten. MORE FOR YOU WWE Extreme Rules 2021 Results: Winners, News And Notes As Roman Reigns Beats The Demon The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2021: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo Reclaims Top Spot From PSG’s Lionel Messi The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The San Francisco 49ers It’s about the money, which is why the Irish are contemplating whether to join a conference for the first time ever on a full-time basis despite the legendary Rockne as coach making an independent status as famous for Notre Dame during the 1920s as George (The Gipper) Gipp and the Four Horsemen.

Speaking of the money, Notre Dame is the only college football program in history to have a national television network broadcast all of its home games, which NBC has done at $15 million per year for the past three decades. That contract expires after (all together now) the 2025 season. If the Irish joined, say, the Big Ten, they would lose the significant eyes of the peacock folks, but they would sit on the verge of the Big Ten getting a $1 billion TV contract from Fox.

According to ESPN, each Big Ten school (as in Notre Dame, too) would pocket anywhere between $80 million and $100 million. It’s always about the money. As shown in this picture with his squad, Notre Dame University football coach Knute Rockne discusses .

. . [+] fundamentals with his players, South Bend, Indiana, 1910s.

(Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images) Getty Images If you’re not me or Rockne’s ghost (as in, we don’t get this part of the story), 2025 for Notre Dame also is about national championships. The Irish have won 11 of them, but their last one came in 1988, when current Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was two years old. So, if you’re not me or Rockne’s ghost, here’s how 2025 and Notre Dame joining one of those two super conference supposedly puts the Irish closer to a 12th national championship: The College Football Playoff (CFP) contract will expire after that 2025 season.

Then the number of CFP teams will remain at four, jump to 12, or CFP officials could satisfy the eternal wishes of Mississippi State coach Mike Leach by exploding the field t0 somewhere between whatever and 64. If you’re not me or Rockne’s ghost, you somehow believe any of those scenarios involving the CFP’s next contract would help Notre Dame as a member of, say, the Big Ten reach the tournament better than remaining as an independent, and that’s because — well, I haven’t a clue. Here’s what I know: With the Irish in the Big Ten, they’d have to compete with a slew of other heavyweights for one of the two slots in the conference title game.

No such worries as an independent. Here’s something else I know: Everybody wants to schedule Notre Dame (always good for a packed house on national television, which translates into massive paydays for everybody), and that wouldn’t change for the Irish as an independent, even with super conferences around them. Despite the Irish operating as the only prominent independent during this era of heavy realignment of conferences, they reached the title game of the Bowl Championship Series after the 2012 season, and they’ve made the CFP in two of the last four years.

That independent status hasn’t bothered Notre Dame’s recruiting , not with Freeman signing an epidemic of studs throughout his roster to rank among the elite of the elites in the nation. For Notre Dame, that leaves the money thing — the big money thing — as a reason to join a super conference. Which makes me wonder: Did I mention the big toes of Irish officials were out the door of Notre Dame Stadium in the direction of, say, the Big Ten? I meant to say one of their legs.

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