Notre Dame has always been proudly independent in the world of college football. That has worked well for the Fighting Irish for a long time, but now that the Big Ten and the SEC have signed massive rights deals with their respective TV partners, there is some re-evaluation happening in South Bend.
The school’s current TV contract with NBC is set to expire at the end of the 2024 season. Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reports that it is looking for a substantial raise on its next deal.
Currently, NBC pays about $22 million per year to carry Notre Dame’s home football games. The school also receives about $11 million per year as a member of the ACC for all other sports.
Notre Dame wants its annual media rights revenue to be closer to $75 million per year. With the ACC’s TV rights locked in at ESPN through 2036, the only way to achieve that quickly is for the school to significantly raise the asking price for football, its single most valuable property.
That would not bring Notre Dame in line with Big Ten schools. That conference’s new media rights deal will pay the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, and USC nearly $90 million per year. The goal is to significantly close the gap though.
Notre Dame will have a new athletic director in 2024. Pete Bevacqua left NBC earlier this month. He will spend a year working as a special assistant to the school’s president before taking over for Jack Swarbrick, who is set to retire.
Bringing a former TV in to negotiate the next media rights deal is a smart move by a school looking to get more money out of TV partners. Bringing in a former executive from the network that has the first right of refusal may be even smarter.
