Notre Dame & NBC Extend TV Deal thru 2015

Today the announcement came that Notre Dame Football will continue to have its home games exclusively televised by NBC through 2015. The current deal expired in 2010. As of right now, there are no internet articles available since the press release occurred about 45 minutes ago. But here is a link to the official press release document that I received via email.

Some people suggested that NBC would not renew the deal unless Notre Dame starts winning, especially considering this past season. Obviously those skeptics were wrong. Extending a deal like this is great for the school and the fans for lots of reasons. Here are the most important reasons why this deal is good for Notre Dame, in order of importance:

1. Leverage with the BCS, and other conferences - Most of the major conferences resent Notre Dame's unique independence in football. Should the Irish lose their exclusive television deal, many would argue this would weaken their position at the bargaining table of the college football world. Most conferences and athletic directors know that Notre Dame is good for college football, thus the reason for giving them the special, unique clause in the BCS contracts. A weakened Notre Dame might give the BCS and college AD's the ability to force Notre Dame into a conference to be in competition for BCS or other bowl games. Keeping a strong program, both on the field but especially financially, will give us the freedom to remain independent, and likely be a part of any new BCS or college playoff systems.



2. Exposure for recruiting - How many coaches can tell someone's family that their son will be on national TV guaranteed 8 times a year, no matter what the opponent? (note: the deal with NBC is for 8 games a year - 7 home games, and then 1 neutral site game like San Antonio in 2009 vs Washington State - this is all a part of the new scheuling trend of 7-4-1 home/road/neutral). Most years all 12 games are on national tv, including ABC, CBS, or ESPN for road games. Since we recruit nationally, TV is important to bridge the distance gap we face when recruiting in Florida, California, etc., because parents and family can watch their son play on nearly any given weekend with ease.



3. Availability to fans - this is very important, and even more so for Notre Dame than any other school. Notre Dame's national fanbase negates any regional telecasts or regional networks, like the Big 10 and other conferences have/are attempting to creat. Since I live in Tennessee (aka SEC country), having the Irish fixed to NBC is great news, as SEC teams would likely replace the Irish if it were the local networks choice or regional broadcasts. Having a national network broadcast at least 8 games makes it so much easier to watch and follow the Irish, no matter where you are.



4. Financial security - tied closely to #1 reason above, the NBC contract means guaranteed revenue. This allows our entire athletic department to budget and plan better, knowing what TV revenue we will have through the year 2015. In a time when all the major conferences are scrambling to get their own TV network for sports (i.e. the Big Ten Network), Notre Dame continues to carve out its TV spot like the rest of the BCS conferences. The purposes of Big 10 Network and Notre Dame's NBC TV deal are the same - to control your own TV rights, guaranteeing yourself the proper exposure. The success of the Big 10 Network and the Notre Dame deal with NBC will continue to push all conferences to gain a further TV prescence than just the big games.

Obviously this is extra surprising given the horrendous 2007 season, the losingest in ND history at 3 wins and 9 losses. Word is that things are looking up for the 2008 Irish, mostly because of a) its summer b) the schedule is 2-3 games easier and c) those true freshman cant get any worse, so they have to be better in 2008 right? Lets go Irish fans, drink the Kool-Aid with me . . .