Conventional wisdom is out the door, including ND to the Big Ten. Instead, Mickey Mouse will feast on the SEC, ACC, Big 12, the CFP, non-CFP bowls, and cap it off with grabbing Notre Dame. Disney owns “the show.”
Mickey Mouse has the Irish cornered. In Bill Conneley’s August ACC Preview, he wrote: “… because Notre Dame is sort of a member, we’ll preview the Fighting Irish here too.” This was not a typo. The Irish’s NBC deal ends after the 2029 season. Most people have assumed for years that the Big Ten is their final destination, but that ship has sailed.
The soon-to-be expanded CFP and the death of the ‘Notre Dame clause,’ guaranteeing them a spot if they finish in the Top 12 is over. Now the Irish are at the mercy of the committee for one of 19 at-large bids with no guarantees. On top of that, with conference title games gone, they’ve lost the edge of not having to play a 13th game.
If you look at ND’s future schedules, the jig is up. Their five-game ACC deal ends after the 2037 season, with their lone game after that coming in October 2038 against Clemson. They have no security beyond 2037.
The Big Ten has made it clear they will not take the Irish without basketball, which is tenth all time in Division I wins (little-known fact). But the Irish LOVE ACC basketball. But since the Big Ten won’t give them a football-only arrangement, and with the upcoming Big Ten/SEC football challenge, game opportunities have dried up for the long term.
The Dome won’t be as golden as it once was (graphic courtesy University of Notre Dame)
The thriller versus Miami this season was just a teaser for Notre Dame’s inevitable entry into the ACC in football. They have nowhere else to go. FOX, which owns 61% of Big Ten Network, will double down and pay Oregon and Washington their full shares come 2030, leaving no money left over to snag the Irish. Either way, the Big Ten is eating itself alive. UCLA and IU are on track for the title game, historical basketball powers flexing their football prowess while OSU has three losses.
ESPN owns the ACC, SEC, and most of the Big 12, plus the whole CFP now. The Irish will be theirs for the taking come 2030 negotiations. NBC already blew their wallet on the NBA recently and won’t pony up for a single team, even if it is Notre Dame.
Photo courtesy The Desk.net
But Disney will. They have endless cash and endless hunger for college football. They will buy out the last eight seasons of independent Notre Dame football on the condition that Notre Dame joins the ACC when the schedule dries up in 2038. The Irish have no choice.
ESPN controls the playoff and the selection committee. The ‘special relationship’ with NBC will wither away over the next four years because NBC has no leverage. To counter the Big Ten and SEC, ESPN will buy the full Big 12 package from Fox and create an ACC-Big 12 challenge, highlighted by BYU vs. Notre Dame, a budding rivalry that was a thriller itself this season. Combined with arch-rival Stanford being an ACC member, along with Boston College, the only other Catholic school in FBS, and ND is a natural ACC fit.
When will it happen? No later than 2038. Mark your calendars.
