Apparently, Notre Dame has recently made “overtures” to the Big Ten and the ACC about conference membership in all sports. I’m not sure if I believe these stories, insofar as I can’t believe that Notre Dame would be so stupid as to proposition the ACC but not the Big East. I mean, (1) the ACC already has 12 members, (2) splitting TV money 13 ways would just be too much, and (3) the ACC is simply too geographically distant from northern Indiana.
But let’s take these stories seriously for a moment. FoxSports.com/The Sporting News has two interesting pieces on Notre Dame’s dilemma today: one by PSB favorite Matt Hayes and one by Mike DeCourcy and Tom Dienhart. Both pieces dismiss Notre Dame joining the ACC out of hand, just as I did. Hayes makes an interesting point that Notre Dame had a lot more bargaining power before the ACC invited Boston College to become its 12th member. Really, the Irish should have played the Big Ten, the Big East, and the ACC against each other two or three months ago. Now it is too late, and the Irish must choose between freedom and money.
Let’s rob DeCourcy and Dienhart’s format and list the advantages to Notre Dame of joining each league separately. And please let me know if you think I overlooked one.
WHY NOTRE DAME SHOULD JOIN THE BIG EAST
–Notre Dame would automatically become the leader of the Big East Conference. As such, it could call many of the shots. In the Big Ten, the Irish would always be third chair fiddle to Ohio State and Michigan.
–As DeCourcy and Dienhart point out, Notre Dame could use the Big East to rebuild its football program the same way that Miami did. Even a mediocre Notre Dame team would be an automatic favorite to win the Big East’s BCS bowl bid. The exposure gained by these quasi-automatic BCS bowl appearances would help the Irish recruit better.
–The Big East would have no problem whatsoever with Notre Dame keeping its TV money.
–The Big East would have no problem with the Irish limiting their number of conference opponents each year so that Notre Dame could keep as many out-of-conference “national” opponents (e.g., USC, Purdue, Navy) on the schedule as possible. As DeCourcy and Dienhart note, “If Notre Dame suggests the Big Easters play on one foot, with no helmets, it probably can get that passed.”
–Notre Dame already belongs to the Big East in every sport but football.
–There are already several other Catholic institutions in the Big East (DePaul, Georgetown, Seton Hall, etc…).
–The Big East is a better hoops conference (hey, it was one of Miami’s reasons for originally joining).
–DeCourcy and Dienhart suggest that joining the Big East would give Notre Dame a wider geographic exposure than joining the Big Ten. However, I don’t buy their logic here. Both leagues are both Midwestern and Eastern (thanks to Penn State).
WHY NOTRE DAME SHOULD JOIN THE BIG TEN
–Money, stupid. The Big Ten is the strongest, richest conference in America. It currently has the biggest TV contract of any conference. This contract would only get bigger with Notre Dame in the mix.
–Notre Dame currently plays more Big Ten football teams than teams from any other athletic conference, including the Big East. Notre Dame has long-standing rivalries with Purdue, Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State, and especially Michigan. That’s almost half the Big Ten right there.
–Geography. South Bend, Indiana is almost the geographical center of the Big Ten’s turf. Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan, and Michigan State are all an easy drive from Notre Dame. The Big East (which is admittedly so scattered as to not really have a “turf” to begin with) is still primarily a Northeastern conference.
–The Big East Conference’s stock isn’t exactly growing these days. Does Notre Dame really want to join a group of leftovers who weren’t good enough for the ACC?
–As DeCourcy and Dienhart note, playing a national football schedule has never really helped Notre Dame anyways, so why not just join a regional conference? So what if the Irish’s schedule would be largely limited to Big Ten teams? That didn’t stop both Ohio State and Michigan from winning national titles in the past six years.
So what do I think will happen? I think that the most probable futures would be (ranked from most probable to least probable)…
1. Notre Dame stays an independent. I think that the Irish and especially their fans are far too proud of their historically independent tradition to give it up, even at the cost of financial solvency.
2. Notre Dame joins the Big East. It’s the easiest conference to join, since they’ll bend over backwards to get the Irish on board.
3. Notre Dame joins the Big Ten. Yeah, the Irish know that joining the Big Ten would be in their best long-term interest. And I knew that it was in my best long-term interest to keep my pants on in high school too. Maintaining as much of that independent tradition as they can now means more to the Irish than financial solvency twenty years down the road.
4. Chas makes a decent pick against the spread, relative to my picks anyways.
Personally, I’m still rooting for the Irish to stay independent and slowly slide into irrelevancy as their profits dwindle. Then, I’m hoping that the Big Ten invites Pitt to join. Hey, I can dream.
Hail to Dave Barry’s blog, easily the funniest on the web.
