I was talking about a national TV contract, national recruiting (both athletic and academic) and playing games nationwide.

Its reach as a school and a football program is nationwide. It certainly is not Purdue or Indiana or Northwestern. (or Virginia or North Carolina or Georgia Tech).

No, I don't think that the ND will cause the ACC Network to have a "national footprint" or get the higher rate nationwide.

If that were the case, especially without it being a football member, then ND should get three full shares of the ACC Network profits, not just one. :)

My post was a reaction to the post that sort of mocked the idea that Notre Dame considers itself a "national school".

It does think it is the national, Catholic university in this country.

One big attraction to ND for joining the ACC (besides keeping football independent) is that it allowed ND exposure outside of the Midwest, unlike the Big Ten.

It doesn't ever want its football program to be "regionalized", which is one big reason it stays independent.

From a New York Times article from last November:

"Today, Notre Dame barnstorms relentlessly. Its five-games-a-season deal with the Atlantic Coast Conference provides a steady stream of games in the recruiting-rich Mid-Atlantic and South. Its annual series with Southern California and Stanford mean one game in California every year. In future home-and-homes, the Irish will travel to Georgia, Alabama and Texas A&M. This weekend’s game is a part of the Shamrock Series, which has also taken the team to San Antonio, Boston and Chicago.

“We have been in nine of the 10 largest markets in the United States during my time here,” Swarbrick said. (The odd city out is Houston.)

Most college football independents joined conferences decades ago. Notre Dame has remained leagueless, allowing it to sign its own television deal, with NBC. That, Swarbrick said, “allows all our home games to be broadcast on a national basis, not regionalized.”

Notre Dame also tries to peddle academic excellence. It sacrifices some players bound for the Alabamas and Ohio States — whom it most likely was not getting anyway — but gains a distinguishing selling point.

Certain high school players “are looking at Notre Dame, Stanford, Northwestern,” said Joe Casamento, the coach at St. John’s College High School outside Washington. Two of his players have gone to Notre Dame recently. “It’s more about who goes there and what kind of alumni do you have, the opportunities — what that school can do for you after college.”

Notre Dame’s recruiting classes have consistently ranked in the top 15 nationally. This season’s roster has players from 28 states and the District of Columbia."




[Post edited by TerryD at 08/16/2019 08:48AM]