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Tailgate Guru

Joined: 01/05/2001 Posts: 9457
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How relevant will Notre Dame be in 20 years?


This question is not intended as a knock on Notre Dame, or even a criticism of ND's stance as an independent.

I just wonder if anyone - fans, television, media or anyone else - will look at Notre Dame in 2036 the same way they look at Notre Dame today. And in turn, whether that perception will influence the direction Notre Dame takes with its football program.

Notre Dame is a huge brand, no doubt. But I think it is false to say that Notre Dame's football brand is as strong today as it was in the 1980s, when it won its last national championship. And it is certainly not as strong as it was before the NCAA lost control and televised college football began to proliferate in the early 1980s.

The success of Notre Dame football has dropped dramatically since the early 1990s. Although Notre Dame has a really good season now and then and still usually gets the benefit of the doubt when big-time bowl bids are on the line, I don't believe many people still think of Notre Dame in the same way that they think of Ohio State, Alabama and even some of the brand-name schools that have slipped a notch, like Penn State.

Notre Dame is a relatively small school, particularly as compared to the giants of the Big Ten and some other schools. That won't change. Its alumni are passionate and comparatively wealthy. But how long will the non-alum ND fans continue in the same numbers if ND cannot compete for championships? Do Catholic kids still grow up wanting to go to ND even if they may end up at State U or a less selective Catholic or Jesuit school like, say, St. Joe's or Dayton? Are there as many Catholic kids today as there were in the 1960s? I don't know the answers to all these questions but I suspect some of the answers do not favor ND's future as a marketable, independent football "power."

I do not believe Notre Dame really wants to cut corners or lower standards in a way that would make it genuinely competitive with the upper echelon of college football.

Notre Dame today is not the Notre Dame of 1988 and it surely is not the Notre Dame of the 1960s.

I just wonder if, by 2036, folks will look at Notre Dame in much the same way as they look at Army and Navy now -- as a long-ago power from a respected institution that has glorious tradition and remains competitive at some level, but is no longer a real threat to compete for national championships. So, "yawn."

How long can ND football continue to thrive as little more than a gold-helmeted infomercial to things that Leahy and Rockne and Parseghian and Holtz did, but that college students were not alive to witness?

[Post edited by Tailgate Guru at 05/11/2017 12:33PM]

(In response to this post by Will Stewart)

Posted: 05/11/2017 at 12:33PM



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Current Thread:
 
  
ACC, ND announce future football Irish-ACC matchups (link) -- Will Stewart  05/11/2017 10:12AM
  Sure, but why is this a surprise? -- TerryD 05/12/2017 10:32AM
  Re: Sure, but why is this a surprise? -- Millpoint 05/12/2017 12:33PM
  Holy cow, this thread blew up. Glad I put it here. -- Will Stewart  05/11/2017 9:53PM
  How relevant will Notre Dame be in 20 years? -- Tailgate Guru 05/11/2017 12:33PM
  How relevant will VT be? -- Mr. Touchdown 05/11/2017 8:14PM
  Valid question - there are no sure things -- Tailgate Guru 05/11/2017 10:54PM
  I can live with that -- TerryD 05/11/2017 1:03PM
  That is not good enough for ND -- TerryD 05/11/2017 2:09PM
  I don't see any concessions at all. -- HOO86 05/11/2017 2:14PM
  Missed my point, I think -- TerryD 05/11/2017 2:29PM
  Ah. Ok. -- HOO86 05/11/2017 3:00PM
  But taking Navy to help entice Notre Dame is foolish -- Tailgate Guru 05/11/2017 3:10PM
  Respect your view . . . but what's the argument . . . -- Tailgate Guru 05/11/2017 1:10PM
  Not saying there is any argument -- TerryD 05/11/2017 1:15PM
  Re: How relevant will Notre Dame be in 20 years? -- Old Line Hokie 05/11/2017 12:47PM
  Good observation ** -- Tailgate Guru 05/11/2017 12:52PM
  From 1953-64, ND sucked very badly -- TerryD 05/11/2017 1:09PM
  Hope and faith are not arguments -- Tailgate Guru 05/11/2017 1:32PM
  I told you, I make no arguments -- TerryD 05/11/2017 1:52PM
  For the Labor Day games, I wonder how much of say Notre -- VTHokie2000 05/11/2017 11:23AM
  WRT the open dates, I would assume Notre Dame provides -- VTHokie2000 05/11/2017 12:09PM
  ND has always done well at the negotiating table -- TerryD 05/11/2017 11:58AM
  Re: ND has always done well at the negotiating table -- SoCloseHokie 05/11/2017 2:56PM
  They ain't planning to join. -- chuckd4vt 05/11/2017 10:49AM
  ND never planned to join the ACC in football -- TerryD 05/11/2017 11:40AM
  I said "never planned" -- TerryD 05/11/2017 12:09PM
  The networks and the bowls won't let that happen -- TerryD 05/11/2017 11:56AM
  Re: The networks and the bowls won't let that happen -- SoCloseHokie 05/11/2017 4:22PM
  Actually they are hedging on both sides. -- HOO86 05/11/2017 11:32AM

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