Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Soon, spring practice will start and people who follow college
football will have something, anything to talk about other than
conference realignment. But today is not that day. Today is the day when
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick talks at length about
the shifting sands that D-I's last major independent finds itself dealing
with, and drops this
ND-fan-panic-inducing quote:
"You each could invent a scenario that would force our hand. It's not hard to do."
Of course, he also said this virtually simultaneously:
"While we're paying attention [to realignment], we're trying like heck to maintain our football independence. It's good for college football and it's great for Notre Dame. That's our goal."
But if it makes Irish ears bleed, it leads.
I'm having a hard time envisioning a scenario that forces Notre Dame into a conference, actually. I've broached the idea that the Big East would defensively boot the Irish, leaving Notre Dame's other sports homeless and choosing between the Big Ten-which is an attractive place to land but would insist on those gold helmet guys coming along-and CUSA or the Missouri Valley or something else, which would consign all but a few ND sports to hellish mid-majordom. (Niche sports like hockey and lacrosse don't operate along the same conference lines as most other sports do.)
But I sort of agree with "Frank The Tank," a man who has dedicated every waking moment to conference realignment the past couple months, when he says that's not happening:
The other Big East Catholics absolutely fall all over themselves to be associated with the nation's preeminent Catholic sports program, so that's 7 votes against kicking out ND right there. Pitt has a longstanding relationship with Notre Dame for football which it isn't going to mess with - I would imagine that ND would easily go back to playing Penn State annually and drop its games with Pitt if the Panthers ever supported kicking ND out. Syracuse and Rutgers are also holding out hope for Big Ten invites. Since any kicking out of Notre Dame could possibly nudge the Irish into the Big Ten and close off that 12th conference spot forever, SU and RU aren't going to want to do anything to ND, either. Those are 10 schools right there that will automatically support Notre Dame, which means that ND will be in the BE as long as there is the current hybrid structure.
That's too certain to me. The Catholic stuff is mostly bluster. If Georgetown is faced with the potential loss of primary rivals Pitt or Syracuse, it would have a ton of motivation to give the Irish the heave-ho. Various other Catholic schools are going to have to make the same evaluation, and since they don't have football their quick calculus for their bottom lines will be slanted towards the true basketball powers in the league. The calculus may end up sticking with ND. It may not.
But he's right that a team angling for a Big Ten invite won't vote to kick out ND, and it may or may not be in the interest of other football members to keep ND in. The Big East's bowl options are skimpy enough right now and that's with the possibility that ND will land in one of them propping up their value.
So what's the other scenario that forces ND into a conference? The BCS could yank Notre Dame's special privilege to BCS bowls, but they can't take away the school's ability to get in altogether without facing a lawsuit they will lose like whoah. And given the way the BCS has fallen all over itself to take plainly undeserving ND teams whenever qualified, taking away that bonus access is a threat without teeth. I don't see the scenario out there without something truly epic going down.
Swarbrick, then, thinks something epic could go down:
"I think seismic is a possibility," he said. "I don't know where the spectrum falls out. You have such an interesting media environment here. It's having such an impact on people. You have two conferences who have separated themselves economically. And you have all the other conferences lined up in successive years for broadcast negotiations. That's a tough situation for everyone in that position. The bar has been set so high, and the media market is so tepid, that it creates tension."
He added: "I've been in and around this business for 29 years now. This is as unstable as I've seen it."
After all this, the Big Ten will add the University of Toronto and nothing will happen to anyone else. Book it.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
13 comments
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"I’m having a hard time envisioning a scenario that forces Notre Dame into a conference, actually"
DITTO…..
by markmaymustdie on Mar 9, 2010 6:01 PM EST reply actions
I highly doubt ND gives up its current status, but I can see two scenerios where it could happen. First, is NBC. If they decide that competing with the other networks for Saturday football is no longer financially feasible, they may not renew the contract. The other is the BE needs to add another football team, but they are already a 16 team basketball conference. If they add Memphis, for example, they would need to drop ND from the other sports in order to make room for the newcomer. I doubt either situation happens, but they could eventually. Still highly doubtful.
by LSUSMCR on Mar 9, 2010 6:25 PM EST reply actions
The big thing right now is the recent creation of the Big East as a Lax conference- they wouldn’t lose one of their top teams in the conference- ND just knocked off Duke. The Big East is small but argues (somewhat effectively) that the quality outweighs the quantity (cuse, gtown, and NC). The Catholic stuff is pretty serious in terms of the "margin" sports- it was the Catholic school pipeline that gave ND such good teams in Lax and soccer in a region that’s not particularly known for those sports, and they still use it as a recruiting tool. So Georgetown and the Cuse would probably like to keep ND around, and the Catholic thing raises the other schools’ profile in the all-important DC pipeline.
by josephus on Mar 9, 2010 7:16 PM EST reply actions
There is a third Option in this whole thing. Notre Dame pitches to the Eastern Catholic Colleges it’s own conference, with the primany sport being Basketball. Now think of it this way.
Out of the Big East you get
Villanova
Marquette
Georgetown
Seton Hall
St Johns
Providence
DePaul
Add……From the A-10
Temple
Xavier
Dayton
St Bonaventure
Duquesne
Saint Joseph’s
La Salle
Fordham
With Notre Dame as the 16th team, you would have an all Catholic Conference, with a hell of a Basketball TV contract. all the Teams are competive in basketball. The rest of the sport programs would not suffer. and the TV market would go from Rhode Island to Wisconsin. Notre Dame would benefit from such a conference, knowing they can keep there independance in football, that most of us love to hate. If this confeence would come about, I wouldn’t be surprised if NBC doesn’t try to make a contract offer to show the big games on saturdays and sundays with ESPN showing the weekday match ups.
Now I know it’s a pipe dream but back when the ACC did the raids on the Big East, there was some talk about the Catholic School in the Big East taking their ball and starting their own conference because of the crap. Who saids that this couldn’t happen now.
by Buckspa on Mar 9, 2010 11:23 PM EST reply actions
No way ND is moving to a conference. Too much money for Notre Dame to lose.
by gehrig460 on Mar 10, 2010 12:18 AM EST reply actions
"No way ND is moving to a conference. Too much money for Notre Dame to lose."Ummmm….what?Moving to the Big 10 would increase their TV revenue, as their current contract pays less than the Big 10’s package.
by jdanovich on Mar 10, 2010 12:41 AM EST reply actions
Buckspa……
Genius comment. Do a blog on it.
BC might even join the mix and drop the ACC. Wow.
They could remain indy in FB with that deal. I mean the hoops would be in ALL of the major media areas. Holy Eucharist, Batman!
by Ark_Razor on Mar 10, 2010 2:52 AM EST reply actions
Outside of football, ND has little pull in college sports. Why would established teams in established conferences change because ND said so. No chance of that happening.
by LSUSMCR on Mar 10, 2010 8:10 AM EST reply actions
Who cares!!! My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He- is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at- A_ge_m_in_gle @ c.o.m a nice and free place for Younger- Women and Older Men, or Older Women and Younger Men, to- interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or- tell your friends.
by sexylori33 on Mar 10, 2010 9:14 AM EST reply actions
My sole purpose for stopping by this article was to say I could care less what Notre Dame does. I’m still puzzled as to how they keep getting these contracts with NBC. Do that many people actually CARE abt Notre Dome?!
by NikkiFree on Mar 10, 2010 9:49 AM EST reply actions
Buckspa—
Never going to happen, but what a fun mental exercise! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
by umich4life on Mar 10, 2010 11:30 AM EST reply actions
umich..
Don’t think it can’t happen.
Remember, the Big East started out as a Conference for Basketball as the primary focus. If you look at all the original members of the conference, it was all Eastern Independants Colleges. Seeing that the majorty of teams where going to come from conferneces to the Big Dance, they took note.
Ark_Razor..
I think I will do a blog on this one. Especially with the History of how the Big East started. Especially considering, Penn State try like hell to get the Big East to be a football conference in the 80’s and the Big East thumb their collected noses at JoePa. Thats why Penn State join the Big 10. Think about this, would of Miami, Virgina Tech and BC gone to the ACC with Penn State in the Big East? Interesting thought.
by Buckspa on Mar 10, 2010 5:40 PM EST reply actions
By definition, half of all conference teams, the bottom half, are losers. No advantage in joining a conference.
by Belloc on Mar 11, 2010 3:57 PM EST reply actions
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