Notre Dame Football: 100 Years of Independence
...and if a team from a conference makes it to a bowl games, they share the money they make with the other school in their conference. Notre Dame Football does not have to do this. Being an independent, any money made by Notre Dame Football from bowls or television is kept by Notre Dame. For instance, according to an article posted on usatoday.com, Notre Dame possesses a lucrative contract with exclusive rights to broadcast on NBC. This means that Notre Dame games are the only college football games broadcast on NBC and the station pays Notre Dame an annual payment of nine million dollars to do so. Notre Dame possesses other contracts as an independent as well. All contracts Notre Dame Football has are contracts that are normally made with entire conferences. Different conferences make contracts with different bowls to be eligible to play in them. Notre Dame Football has its own contract with the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, to be eligible to play for the national championship. Notre Dame also has a separate contract with the Big East Conference, which makes them eligible to play in non-BCS bowl games like the Gator Bowl, San Francisco, Insight.com, and Continental Tire Bowls. With all these contracts already in place, there is no reason Notre Dame Football even needs to consider joining a conference. According to an article on espn.com, it was stated that “The contracts that Notre Dame has with the Big East actually helps the Big East earn better bowl bids.” A skeptic on geocities.com says that it is just, “Another example of favoritism,” after a ruling was passed in 2002 that allowed Notre Dame to count it’s preseason bowl game as a non-exempt game. This means that the preseason bowl game that Notre Dame Football plays in can be counted as a regular season game and, if won, counts towards their record. This is controversial because Notre Dame, since having its own BCS contract, can become eligible for a BCS bowl after nine regular season wins. Many people feel that Notre Dame remains independent because they are given all these privileges with contracts and things of that nature. It is thought that Notre Dame Football is “favored” in the BCS, and receives these privileges because they bring in a large crowd and many television viewers. And what does this mean to the BCS… but a lot more money if Notre Dame is in a bowl, rather than someone maybe more deserving. I can see why some people might feel that it would be better, for all, if Notre Dame and its only other independent comrade Navy joined athletic conferences to make everything uniform through out the league. A team that generates as much revenue and fan base as Notre Dame could completely revive a dying conference like the Big East, or make an already strong Big Ten or ACC that much stronger. It was said by a writer in USA Today that although it might not bring too many added benefits to Notre Da...