Nobody knows whether or not Notre Dame will join the Big Ten. But the decision clearly weighs heavily on the Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of the university.
A possible reshuffling of college sports’ biggest conferences has placed Notre Dame in a difficult spot, Father Jenkins (left) said during a visit to The Chronicle on Tuesday. To enter the Big Ten would be to join a prestigious league with some of the nation’s most celebrated research universities. To stay put would allow Notre Dame to maintain its unique national reputation in sports, particularly in football.
“It’s like musical chairs,” Father Jenkins said. “You don’t want to be left standing when everybody else has a seat.”
Alumni are not enthused about seeing the Irish become the next member of the Big Ten, he said. A big part of Notre Dame’s storied history in college football has been its national presence: Starting with a dramatic victory over Army, back in 1913, the Irish have gone on to build a national brand—albeit marred by inconsistent play in recent years—before sellout crowds from Yankee Stadium to the Rose Bowl.
“I would worry that joining the Big Ten would regionalize us,” Father Jenkins said. “If we were regionalized, we wouldn’t be playing in those areas.”
The hushed nature of the expansion discussions, he said, has created an unusual climate in college sports: “The current uncertainty around the number and the timing creates greater tensions and greater stress.”
(Photo by Matt Cashore, University of Notre Dame.)
11 Responses to To Join, or Not to Join?
lcrandal - May 4, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Football and basketball would not necessarily benefit from joining a conference, but many of the non-revenue sports would do so. But I wonder, is the real deal here that Notre Dame’s lucrative solo TV deal with NBC is about to end?
dkbrown - May 4, 2010 at 8:53 pm
To clarify: Notre Dame’s contract with NBC extends through the 2015 season.Dennis BrownChief SpokesmanUniversity of Notre Dame
kcissna - May 5, 2010 at 7:53 am
To clarify further: Every Notre Dame sport except football already is in a conference, the Big East.
david_brown - May 5, 2010 at 10:54 am
To clarify further: Big Ten member schools individually receive far more from the Big Ten Network for football than Notre Dame receives for their exclusive NBC football contract. That “lucrative” Notre Dame TV deal isn’t so lucrative any more, at least not relative to the Big Ten payout.
lcw357 - May 5, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Well, I am not sure where you got your information, David, but I just looked it up and what I could find is that from the Big Ten Network each individual school is making $8 million per year while Notre Dame is making $9 million per year just for football that does not include the amount of money they make from the Big East for other sports. That is the information I could find, if it is incorrect I would like to see the real statistics.
johnfarley - May 5, 2010 at 2:07 pm
If you look at Notre Dame’s record vs. Michigan State and Michigan since the mid-1990s, you’ll see the real reason a lot of the alumni don’t want to be in the Big 10.
maddogfan - May 6, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Adding Notre Dame does nothing for the Big 10. In fact it maybe a detraction.If we are looking for market penetration the best way to go is with and get AAU members is Syracuse to the east and Missouri and Nebraska to the West. Those are three virgin states and we should get the numbers to exponentialy increase that TV revenue stream.I would personally like to add Boston College although they don’t have AAU status, But my like is they are tough and they are competitive more so then Rutgers.Having lived in NJ I was never impressed with Rutgers football programs. If they lose Schiano that program will nose dive faster then a submarine opening the hatches
doubletriangle - May 7, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Each school in the Big Ten received 22 million in revenue from the BigTen network. So 22 million in comparison to Notre Dame’s 9 million is a vast difference. That money could be used to help with any financial difficulties Notre Dame might be facing.
ferentzfever - May 7, 2010 at 1:00 pm
@doubleMy sources tell me that the BTN distributed 66 million to each school. However, the Big Ten also distributes all other revenues (including TV contracts such as ABC and CBS) equally between the schools, which equates to roughly 22 million per school.http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/92558764.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc8LDyiUiacyKUUrhttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/353856-big-ten-revenue-sharing-are-michigan-ohio-st-getting-fair-share
brian_adams - May 8, 2010 at 7:10 am
I have always known Notre Dame alumni to make the argument that academics are more important to Notre Dame than football… why is there so much resentment to joining the collegial academic environment of the Big 10? Has this simply been an argument that “academics for football players is more important than football”? I am amazed that the new argument is that the students of Notre Dame should be denied the massive academic benefits of joining the Big 10 in order to protect the “individuality” of football. The academic benefits go beyond the obvious research opportunities. For example, linguists in the Big 10 may pursue any language not offered by their own university at any of the other Big 10 universities, at the cost of in-state tuition. The academic opportunities run much deeper in the Big 10 versus what is possible for a single institution. And for those who are (secretly) more worried about football than academics: don’t worry, football teams don’t lose national relevance just because they are in the Big 10. As it turns out, there are a few Big 10 teams who carry equal (if not greater) national appeal to Notre Dame’s.It is time for Notre Dame to put the good of all its students ahead of the unsubstantiated concerns that a move to the Big 10 would make 85 scholarship athletes less relevant on the national stage.
ericja24 - May 10, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Each Big Ten School gets $22m in tv revenue, compared to ND’s $15m from NBC…so even the likes of Indiana and Purdue make more money than ND, off tv revenue. ND needs to put it’s “independence” arrogance aside, and join a conf….they’ve pretty much become irrelevant anyways, so it may help them.