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It's worth cost for Big Ten to throw cash at Notre Dame
Saturday, June 12, 2010 02:50 AM
By Rob Oller
Given its current football struggles, knocking Notre Dame off the line of scrimmage is no huge task.
Moving the Fighting Irish off their standard line of "We prefer to remain independent" is a different matter, one the Big Ten needs to accomplish if its expansion plans are to achieve the success originally intended.
Adding Nebraska yesterday was nice, but the "N" that matters most to Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is followed immediately by a "D." A TV network insider with ties to the Big Ten and Notre Dame said that adding the Cornhuskers was part of a ploy to force the Fighting Irish to finally throw in with the Big Ten.
"You have to ask yourself the question, if the Big Ten stops at Nebraska, what was this all about?" the source said. "If the Pac-10 gets major pieces like Texas and Oklahoma, you have to wonder if the Big Ten accomplished anything? That's why a lot of what the Big Ten has been doing was an attempt to isolate Notre Dame to the point where they'd have to come to the conference."
To which I say, applying pressure that amounts to "Join us now or regret it later" is not the right bait to catch one of the two biggest fish - Texas being the other - in the sea of change that is coming to college football.
A better way to convince Notre Dame to buy into conference affiliation is to buy Notre Dame into conference affiliation.
Forget shaking down the thunder; shake down the Fighting Irish. Bribe them ethically. Throwing honest money at the Golden Domers would work better than trying to muscle them by threatening exclusion if they resist. Fiercely independent people bristle at attempts to control them. And Notre Dame, as stuck in the past and shortsighted as it may be, thinks independence sets it apart from the crowd.
Tradition is paramount to ND, which still awaits the awakening of the echoes, refusing to consider they might bounce back with, "Your time has passed." Ultimately, what trumps Knute Rockne and Touchdown Jesus are Benjamin Franklins and a Holy Moses mountain of $100s. When money talks, tradition walks.
So my advice to the Big Ten is to cut a deal. The conference stands at 12. Call it the Big Dozen, or Big Doz for short (imagine the marketing possibilities, e.g. the Big Doz a lot for its student-athletes.).
Tempt Notre Dame to make it the Big Baker's Dozen by offering Notre Dame an equal share of the $19 million each conference school receives from its deals with the Big Ten Network and ABC/ESPN.
Now the sticky part. Notre Dame joins the conference in all sports except football, at least initially. For the next three seasons, or until 2015 if you really want to sweeten the pot, the Irish remain independent in football, plus get both a slice of the conference TV money pie while also getting to keep the $15 million it makes off its deal with NBC, which runs through 2015 but likely could be shortened.
Fighting Irish football would join the conference no later than 2015, giving the school time to prepare for its loss of independence. The conference would then add a 14th school - I vote for Boston College, which would draw the Boston market and add a natural rivalry to entice Notre Dame - and be done with expansion. No need to add Rutgers, Maryland or Missouri if Notre Dame is already on board.
Why bend over backward for Notre Dame, which has rejected previous overtures? Because despite the football program's downturn, the school's brand remains highly marketable, especially in the eyes of the Big Ten Network, which instantly would gain viewers in every market.
Notre Dame's seven home games and an off-site game last season averaged more viewers than ESPN's weekly schedule (3.2 million to 2.87 million), but fewer than ABC's (6.1 million) or CBS's (7.0 million). The Irish are not what they once were, but they remain a potent TV draw.
There also is the issue of sustainable interest. Expansion, in the words of Delany, is being made with the long term in mind, so cutting Notre Dame in on conference TV money is worth the investment of having the school for the next 50 years.
"Without question, the two big prizes in the whole expansion sweepstakes are Notre Dame and Texas," the TV source said. "If the Big Ten could bring in either one of those teams, it would enhance the football profile of the conference and would drive value for the Big Ten Network and other network partners it might have."
The Big Dozen should not be shortsighted in its efforts to land Notre Dame football, no matter the short-term cost or outcry from member schools and their fans. Greed is good, as long as the color of money is blue and gold.
Rob Oller is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.
roller@dispatch.com
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"Throw cash at Notre Dame" piece in Columbus Dispatch
