For Friday’s “First Call,” we take a closer look at ACC football’s sudden addition of Notre Dame this year.
And we try to dispel some of the knee-jerk, negative reaction to it.
Although it’s totally understandable. I mean, c’mon. It’s Notre Dame.
Ugh.
On Wednesday, a torrent of anti-Notre Dame sentiment erupted among fans of ACC schools. That’s when it was announced the ACC was going to allow Notre Dame to be a one-year conference member for football because of the nationwide coronavirus-induced scheduling fiasco.
Notre Dame was on the verge of losing at least seven or eight games from its schedule because other conferences — including the ACC — wanted a “conference only” format for 2020 because of the pandemic. Doing so allows for more streamlined decision making in terms of testing, policy, procedures, cancellations and travel.
But, since the Fighting Irish annually play a partial ACC schedule (as an independent) anyway, Brian Kelly’s team was already slated to take on six ACC teams in 2020.
So, the ACC decided to go with a 10-game conference schedule, with each team allowed to schedule one non-conference game. Notre Dame has been adopted as a conference member for this year only. They are eligible for the ACC Championship Game and title.
That additional game and crown could clearly aid the Irish in a quest to make the college football playoff.
Notre Dame’s concession is that its coveted $15 million NBC television contract will be added to the conference media revenue pool and divided equally among all of the ACC member institutions. Plus, five of Notre Dame’s remaining six games have to be against ACC teams.
To me, that’s a good deal for both sides. Many on Twitter disagree.
Power 5 football should look like this moving forward.
BUT… Notre Dame largely getting a free pass without making a long term commitment to the league as a full member. What a joke. Eligibility for the ACC championship game this year is a slap in the face to regular members. https://t.co/EcTkOro1Tb
— πππππΌπ ππππΌπππ (@G17Esiason) July 29, 2020
This is a non-issue in the overall scope of 2020, but it’s garbage that Notre Dame will be ACC Championship eligible.
— elizabeth sanders lafleur (@eslafleur) July 29, 2020
Notre Dame playing a few more ACC games in empty stadiums doesn’t fix the conference’s money problems. Not even close. Who’s it hurting? Teams that don’t get to skip championship weekend for starters. They can continue on as they’d like, but no one needs to accommodate them.
— Kyle Bailey (@KyleBaileyClub) July 26, 2020
Notre Dame becoming eligible for the ACC Championship game would be one of the great college football injustices of our time.
This is ludicrous.
If, at the end of the season, we have Clemson vs. Notre Dame instead of UNC or VT or Miami…….. https://t.co/cmojkKFqTW
— John Bauman (@bauman_john) July 24, 2020
Would it? Would it really?
Please! It’s 2020. Everything is an anomaly. Is anything really real anymore?
With revenue plummeting for college athletic departments because of the college sports shutdown since March, raw dollars are more important than ever. Getting the NBC money out of Notre Dame is good even if it’s split 15 ways.
You may not like it as a fan of another ACC school, but there is a relationship between the folks in South Bend and the conference itself. What positive is there for the conference to tell a school in good standing for all of its other sports to “go kick rocks” at a time like this?
Would it “feel good” to leave Notre Dame football out in the cold for a year? Sure. But the conference looks at them as a partner for everything else and that supersedes spite.
Although I do enjoy spite in most cases concerning Notre Dame.
Plus, games against Notre Dame that aren’t on NBC will draw higher ratings for the ACC Network and ESPN than otherwise would have been the case. If the ACC had shut out the Irish, maybe athletic director Jack Swarbrick would’ve dropped their six scheduled ACC teams in 2020 as a retort and somehow linked on with SEC schools instead. Thus, that could’ve complicated the ACC’s already difficult re-scheduling process.
Avoiding that situation was smart. And perhaps not coincidentally, the SEC announced on Thursday it was capitulating to the coronavirus reality as well and going with a conference-only format, too.
A lot of the complaints seem to be about principle over practicality. “Don’t let Notre Dame push you around! Don’t let the Irish play for our championship.”
Also, critics point out that Notre Dame will still come out in the black on the conference membership end of things, even after the forfeiture of exclusive NBC rights. That’s because they’ll still be absorbing football revenue as full members of the ACC and maintaining their usual payout of the college football playoff money. The Associated Press reports that sum to be $3.19 million — even if they don’t get selected.
Fair. But here’s where ACC fans need to be pragmatic over principled.
If Notre Dame doesn’t join, there isn’t a single team in the ACC besides Clemson that has a shot at the College Football Playoff. Even if the likes of Pitt, Virginia Tech, Miami and North Carolina are as improved as some people think, it’s a pipe dream to suggest they’ll be 10-1 or 11-0 at the end of the regular season.
Clemson and Notre Dame play each other in the regular season. Would it shock you if the loser of that game won the other 10 games on its schedule? At least nine?
I’d bet on that.
That AP story points out “The ACC champion, or another ACC team if its champion is in the playoff, is guaranteed a spot in the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame normally has access to many of the ACC’s bowl tie-ins, but not the Orange Bowl. … Additionally, a conference receives $6 million for each team it places in the semifinals and $4 million for each team it places in non-semifinal New Year’s Six game.”
It’s tough to envision a scenario where both Clemson and Notre Dame are shut out of the College Football Playoff. It’s even harder to dream up one where both teams aren’t somehow included in the New Year’s Six.
That’s at least an extra $4 million coming to the ACC via Notre Dame’s full member presence. If those two teams split their two games and both wind up 11-1, maybe they both make the playoff, and a third ACC team jumps into the Orange Bowl for a total of $16 million.
Or, it’s even possible Clemson goes to the playoff, Notre Dame gets paired in a glamour matchup with another team in the Fiesta Bowl, and a third ACC team gets the Orange Bowl slot anyway.
However you slice it, the Irish could be good for another $4 million-$6 million for the conference in the form of bowl money.
Look, I get it. Unless you like Notre Dame, you hate Notre Dame. And the thought of Notre Dame finally being forced to join a conference while still benefiting in the end drives you crazy.
Me, too.
But ACC football is better off with this deal than it otherwise would’ve been.
You just can’t escape 2020. On any level.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Categories: Penn State | Pitt | Sports | Breakfast With Benz | WVU
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