Just about every college athletics conference has wanted Notre Dame to join them for decades. But with the amount of money being poured in to them through media deals, Notre Dame might finally be willing to accept one – unless they get the right independent deal.
Last week Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported that Notre Dame would be willing to stay independent in exchange for $75 million per year. Per Awful Announcing, that would be six times what NBC currently pays them.
But Dodd also pointed out that NBC would need some sort of conference tie-in to make such a deal possible. The Big 12 is currently an option.
College football fans aren’t convinced that such a deal will come to fruition. Some believe that Notre Dame is being too arrogant with their money demands, while others think that they can still get more by fully joining a major conference.
Notre Dame’s football program has remained proudly (and stubbornly) independent for the entirety of its existence. They did briefly join the ACC in the COVID-19-affected 2020 season, but have never fully committed their program to the conference.
The Fighting Irish football program is highly lucrative, but on its own, maybe not as lucrative as they may think it is.
Will any network stump up the cash to keep Notre Dame independent? Or will Notre Dame’s financial needs demand that they join a conference?
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