Interesting comments from ND AD regarding media rights and conference expansion

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ricejacket

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Reading between the lines can't say it sounds good for ND joining the ACC:


Swarbrick suggested Notre Dame could enter into a new media rights deal early. He was also clear that NBC entering into business with the Big Ten was a positive for Notre Dame. As The Athletic reported months ago, Notre Dame was supportive of NBC adding college football inventory. It is unclear how much that change would boost the revenue available to Notre Dame in a future NBC contract.

“The more broadcasters, major networks, we keep involved in college football, the better it is for everybody. Because they’re invested. They want to promote the game,” Swarbrick said. “They want additional properties. So, I think it was a brilliant strategy by commissioner (Kevin) Warren. I think it played out marvelously for him. The timing could not have been better, and I think when they finally announce the number, it will be a pretty amazing one.”

“But it’s also perfect for Notre Dame. We need NBC to have more college football to more effectively promote our games and to talk about our games and to have NBC be seen in that light. So that was great for us that they got a big piece of this.”

If Swarbrick made any suggestion of conference affiliation benefitting Notre Dame, it was a nod toward geography, a factor that would seem to benefit the Big Ten, even as it expands to Los Angeles.

“It’s so hard for our kids to travel the way they do,” he said. “When you’re going to Tallahassee, and you start with a bus trip to Midway, and then you connect once along the way before you get there, and then you’re on a bus trying to get to campus, it’s probably 18, 16 hours that you’ve been involved in traveling. That’s tough to be a pre-med major, or a finance major and do that. So, we’re always looking for ways to make the scheduling easier. But it’s media, it’s CFP and it’s our Olympic sports.”
 
It's hard to imagine ND joining any conference other than the Big X. Anyone who thinks ND would join the ACC as a full time member either has an oversized estimate of the ACC's stature or an undersized estimate of ND's, in my opinion.
 
Here's the issue though- Notre Dame would lose it's appeal as being an independent. I mean, that is what sets them apart from everyone else. They join the Big Ten, they'll just be another Big Ten team, nothing special anymore. I just think they will make a clause wherever they eventually land that says they get control over their schedule and other things.
 
thegtstunner08 said:
Here's the issue though- Notre Dame would lose it's appeal as being an independent. I mean, that is what sets them apart from everyone else. They join the Big Ten, they'll just be another Big Ten team, nothing special anymore. I just think they will make a clause wherever they eventually land that says they get control over their schedule and other things.
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If NBC makes it more lucrative to join the Big 10, since they have the Big 10 package now, along with providing an easier path to the playoffs, they'll join.
 
ricejacket said:
Reading between the lines can't say it sounds good for ND joining the ACC:


Swarbrick suggested Notre Dame could enter into a new media rights deal early. He was also clear that NBC entering into business with the Big Ten was a positive for Notre Dame. As The Athletic reported months ago, Notre Dame was supportive of NBC adding college football inventory. It is unclear how much that change would boost the revenue available to Notre Dame in a future NBC contract.

“The more broadcasters, major networks, we keep involved in college football, the better it is for everybody. Because they’re invested. They want to promote the game,” Swarbrick said. “They want additional properties. So, I think it was a brilliant strategy by commissioner (Kevin) Warren. I think it played out marvelously for him. The timing could not have been better, and I think when they finally announce the number, it will be a pretty amazing one.”

“But it’s also perfect for Notre Dame. We need NBC to have more college football to more effectively promote our games and to talk about our games and to have NBC be seen in that light. So that was great for us that they got a big piece of this.”

If Swarbrick made any suggestion of conference affiliation benefitting Notre Dame, it was a nod toward geography, a factor that would seem to benefit the Big Ten, even as it expands to Los Angeles.

“It’s so hard for our kids to travel the way they do,” he said. “When you’re going to Tallahassee, and you start with a bus trip to Midway, and then you connect once along the way before you get there, and then you’re on a bus trying to get to campus, it’s probably 18, 16 hours that you’ve been involved in traveling. That’s tough to be a pre-med major, or a finance major and do that. So, we’re always looking for ways to make the scheduling easier. But it’s media, it’s CFP and it’s our Olympic sports.”
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Why not just drive 15 hours to Tallahassee on a single mode of transportation, which would allow kids to sleep or work on studies without having such a broken trip?
 
txsting said:
Why not just drive 15 hours to Tallahassee on a single mode of transportation, which would allow kids to sleep or work on studies without having such a broken trip?
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I would think charter flights would work too. Then all they would have to do would be to drive to Midway and fly directly to Tallahassee, or wherever.
 
txsting said:
Why not just drive 15 hours to Tallahassee on a single mode of transportation, which would allow kids to sleep or work on studies without having such a broken trip?
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That's a great question. I wonder if it's more tolerable to have some of the travel broken up by waiting in the airports as opposed to on a cramped bus the whole time?

Supersize that order mutt said:
I would think charter flights would work too. Then all they would have to do would be to drive to Midway and fly directly to Tallahassee, or wherever.
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I bet football does, but other sports don't have the budget. He specifically references pre-med majors, finance majors, and Olympic sports later on, so he wasn't talking just about football.
 
ricejacket said:
If NBC makes it more lucrative to join the Big 10, since they have the Big 10 package now, along with providing an easier path to the playoffs, they'll join.
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Right, I think they will eventually be put into a position where they won't have a choice.
 
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andrew said:
That's a great question. I wonder if it's more tolerable to have some of the travel broken up by waiting in the airports as opposed to on a cramped bus the whole time?



I bet football does, but other sports don't have the budget. He specifically references pre-med majors, finance majors, and Olympic sports later on, so he wasn't talking just about football.
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I do not see how travel in the Big 10 is better than in the ACC. There are challenges either way.
 
This is a fairly significant reason why GT has a shot at an invite over better football teams.
 
BrentwoodJacket said:
I do not see how travel in the Big 10 is better than in the ACC. There are challenges either way.
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What? You’re telling me that traveling to NW, Purdue, Indiana, tOSU, Michigan, Michigan State, PSU, Wisconsin, etc is the same as GT, FSU, Miami, BC, Cuse, UNC, Duke, Wake, etc? Multiple games in the B1G is an easy car / bus ride for the team minus every ACC game is a plane ride.
 
thegtstunner08 said:
Here's the issue though- Notre Dame would lose it's appeal as being an independent. I mean, that is what sets them apart from everyone else. They join the Big Ten, they'll just be another Big Ten team, nothing special anymore. I just think they will make a clause wherever they eventually land that says they get control over their schedule and other things.
Click to expand...

Being Independent doesn't set Notre Dame apart near as much as being the Catholic Flagship and having a long football history. None of that changes by joining a conference.
 
aeromech said:
Being Independent doesn't set Notre Dame apart near as much as being the Catholic Flagship and having a long football history. None of that changes by joining a conference.
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Sure, they still have that history and tradition. I'm not debating that. I'm just saying they will lose a lot of that... Gold Shine if you will, if they join a conference because it is what has set them apart forever.
 
aeromech said:
Being Independent doesn't set Notre Dame apart near as much as being the Catholic Flagship and having a long football history. None of that changes by joining a conference.
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The independence and Catholicism are intertwined.
 
thegtstunner08 said:
Sure, they still have that history and tradition. I'm not debating that. I'm just saying they will lose a lot of that... Gold Shine if you will, if they join a conference because it is what has set them apart forever.
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I don' t think it was being independent as much as it was the ability to play a nationwide schedule. If CFB goes to 2-3 mega-conferences they can join a conference and still play the nationwide schedule, in fact they may have to join a conference to do so.
 
aeromech said:
You'll have to explain that one to me. You can't be Catholic and in a conference?
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ND was sort of the embodiment of a response to Protestant establishment within academia (most of the ivys have Protestant connections). There was (is) a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment which is a lot of the basis for the independence.
 
savbandjacket said:
ND was sort of the embodiment of a response to Protestant establishment within academia (most of the ivys have Protestant connections). There was (is) a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment which is a lot of the basis for the independence.
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That was what though, 100 years ago? It was sometime before Wake Forest went from Deacons to Demon Deacons and the Trinity College "Methodists" became the Duke "Blue Devils". There aren't many schools left at the FBS level that are viewed as Christian, much less protestant. Baylor maybe? I don't think anyone confuses SMU as a Christian school anymore despite the school having Methodist in the name. Is there a Protestant school in the B1G or SEC??
 
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