Changes are in the air for many major college football teams. So far, Notre Dame has not done anything and if they do (or do not) join a football conference has implications to the rest of the Conferences.
What should they do?..(please wait for the poll choices, my fingers only type so fast)
Run to the Big Ten. Failing that, the Big East.
yep, thats my answer.
Stay independent in football, and join the Atlantic 10 for basketball, as most of its members don’t play D1 football and it is a good geographic fit. Potential Big East Hoops refugees Marquette and DePaul would probably be interested in joining too.
Another vote for this.
They play Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan regularly. The Big 10,11,12,13,14 makes the most sense.
The Big 10 makes the most traditional sense, as well as geographic. Big 10 teams are all over their schedule.
They’d probably have to lose the Navy game, which would be a shame.
The question would be: can ND keep their individual TV deal as part of the Big 10?
College sports should have different set ups just like pro sports do. Some cities/areas (Denver or Dallas, for example) have all or most of NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, Coast Guard (j/k) while other places have just a couple or one (like OKC only having NBA).
Then, schools like Kansas can be in a major basketball only conference and drop its football program to a AAA style conference. Nortre Dame could be in a major league style football league and forget its pitiful basketball program.
And a playoff/tournament system would handle each different sport.
OU, Texas, UCLA, Miami, Ohio, etc… would likely be in the major style leagues/conferences for all their sports programs.
It’ll never happen, and I really don’t even know what I’m talking about, but I do like to spout off about it all.
College athletics can really get confusing. Or, I can forget about all their money issues myself and simply enjoy what I pick and choose to watch.
Another vote for Notre Dame to the Big 10. It’s good for both sides.
Why would they want to? NBC gets them 9 million Spacebucks a year. The Big Ten Network pays each school 22 million a year.
Big Ten.
Money, geography, several existing rivalries. It makes the most sense for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.
Of course, for Notre Dame to go to the Big Ten is a step down in their pride. They asked to be in the conference 100 years ago and were shut down because they were too homely. They went out, found confidence on their own, and became NOTRE DAME.
The Big Ten, realizing their mistake finally asked them to come back in the late '90s. Feeling empowered, and a little bitter, Notre Dame turned them down. They’re an independent school; they don’t belong to any man, I mean, conference.
Now the Big Ten went out and started earning more money (Big Ten Network). Realizing money alone wouldn’t be enough to woo them back, Big Ten decided to upset the community of conferences by flexing their muscle hoping Notre Dame will run to them for safety. They don’t want to appear to be too aggressive, so they’re going slow. Their playing the waiting game, patiently waiting for the other conferences to make mistakes.
Is this a romantic comedy where the Big Ten is truly repentant of their past sins and now trying to show they are the true love of Notre Dame? Or is this a thriller where they are a possessive brat, angered by their spurned advances in the '90s, manipulating those around them in order force Notre Dame into their hands? Tune in next week in “So the football turns.”
I’m totally cool if the Big Ten makes it known that they wouldn’t mind Notre Dame in, but I don’t think they should actively pursue Notre Dame. There are now bigger fish out there that can be had.
I don’t think ND will ever give up the Navy game. There is a long tradition there, and Navy helped ND during a very rough time. I read about this somewhere, but I’m now going to see if I can locate the article or book since I’ve referenced it twice in these conference threads.
Here is an article that explains some of the ND/Navy relationship
They should have joined the Big East in football a long time ago. They’ve been stealing our bowl bids for years.
Even though I’m a Penn State alum/fan, and the best game I ever saw live was a Penn State-Notre Dame game back in the 80’s, I’m still not convinced that ND is right for the Big Ten.
First off, the Big Ten prides itself on being the only D-I conference where all the members are also members of the Association of American Universities. Recent entrant Nebraska, and rumored entrants Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Maryland are also members–but Notre Dame isn’t. No knock on ND’s academic skills, but as far as research institutions go it’s a major distinction, and the Big Ten would have to think long and hard about going back on their long-standing history.
Second, Notre Dame has that huge TV deal with NBC. They’re not going back on it. And they’re the only team that can have it, because, despite their recent woes, they’re still the team with the largest fan base. Of course I can’t remember the cite, but I recall a poll a couple years back that simply asked fans around the US “what’s your favorite college football team?”, and ND topped it by a significant margin.
Lastly, the alumni don’t want it. I know a few of them, and they want ND to continue to play their old rivals. If they were cut to three or four non-conference games a year…well, they have to keep USC and Navy, but the alumni also want to see ND to continue to play Boston College, Pittsburgh, maybe throw in Air Force and Stanford in there too. So the alumni aren’t going to be happy.
All in all, I think it’s best for Notre Dame if they stay where they are. Simply comparing upside with downside on joining the Big Ten: the potential upside is they might make a bit more money with the Big Ten Network over their NBC deal, and it’s more secure. Potential downside is they become a second-tier Big Ten school unable to break through against even teams like Wisconsin and Illinois, and eventually fade from national recognition. I can hear the priests choking on their morning coffee all the way from here on that possibility.
I’ve known that ND’s research capacity has been below similarly ranked schools, since it has such a strong focus on the undergraduate population versus its graduate programs. What are some of the benchmarks they’d need to hit? It was announced today that research has surpassed the $100 million mark. For a school without a medical program, that has to be decent, right?
Well, their football team would fit in well in the MAC…