Anyone heard anything recently about when ND is joining the ACC? Are they going to try to get out of the Big East for the 2013-14 season? I know 2014-15 is supposed to begin their 5 games per year vs the ACC deal.

ND will not be joining the ACC. Ever.

They have already secured a tie in with the Orange Bowl (with the ACC's help) and the ACC will be supplying teams they need to fill their schedule now that the BE has been watered down so terribly.

Their appearance in the Natty has returned their brand to prominence ON the field.

They are currently negotiating a renewal of their TV contract with NBC.

Basketball as well as all their non revenue sports are already in the ACC.

They have what they need moving forward.

They don't need to join the ACC in football.

I wasn't referring to football, but in general. The rest of their sports is coming in.

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--- jimmydaheel wrote:

ND will not be joining the ACC. Ever.

They have already secured a tie in with the Orange Bowl (with the ACC's help) and the ACC will be supplying teams they need to fill their schedule now that the BE has been watered down so terribly.

Their appearance in the Natty has returned their brand to prominence ON the field.

They are currently negotiating a renewal of their TV contract with NBC.

Basketball as well as all their non revenue sports are already in the ACC.

They have what they need moving forward.

They don't need to join the ACC in football.

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Yeah, getting blown out really showcased their resurgence.

You are probably right, but we'll see how it all shakes out when they don't get into the Bowl Playoff due to not having a Conference Championship under their belt. If they lose one game during the regular season, no way they will ever likely make it to the Championship game. A Conference Championship for them would give them an extra game to move up, etc.

So, rather than say never...I'll just take a wait and see approach. I have a feeling their high mindedness is going to get met with a big bag of bricks before long though.

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--- jimmydaheel wrote:

Their appearance in the Natty has returned their brand to prominence ON the field.

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Notre Dame will be frozen out of the new 4 team playoff system unless they join a conference. The rest of the college football world is sick and tired of the special rules the BCS put in place just for Notre Dame. That mistake isn't going to be repeated again.

So I wouldn't be so sure they will never join the ACC in football. In fact I think this deal where they play 5 ACC schools a year in football is just phase 1 to get the ND fan base ready for the eventual move to full membership.

^ and it's much easier to go from 5 ACC games to 8 games than from 0 to 8.

I do see the logic in this but it will take years to come to fruition. Another interesting consequence of this is how the Big12 will be treated moving forward with only 10 teams and no championship game. I wouldn't be shocked if they got a little pressure to add that game. But to do that, they would have to expand to 12.

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--- unc4life wrote:

Notre Dame will be frozen out of the new 4 team playoff system unless they join a conference. The rest of the college football world is sick and tired of the special rules the BCS put in place just for Notre Dame. That mistake isn't going to be repeated again.

So I wouldn't be so sure they will never join the ACC in football. In fact I think this deal where they play 5 ACC schools a year in football is just phase 1 to get the ND fan base ready for the eventual move to full membership.

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Sawbrick out poker faced Swofford really well

The ACC had ND by the shorties b/c no other conference was as complete a fit for them

As the move to 16 teams across per conference took shape ND was going to be locked out of a solid FB schedule and/or the 4 team playoff

the ACC caved and gave them their independence lifeline

Swofford got played and what should've taken 5 years will now take 15-20+

Nah. Notre Dame has never been forced to play one conference 5 times every year until now and it happens to be against the ACC. Even if ND never joins full-time it's still a good deal for the ACC. This will increase the TV revenue (and you don't have to share with ND football). The bowl tie-ins will probably improve. And most importantly it significantly increases the leagues exposure. This will be 5 additional games per year that the ACC will be on a major network. That's 5 more than now.

IF Notre Dame joins the ACC as a full member, it won't be until they get frozen out of the playoff in some way, i.e. you must be a conference champion, runner-up, or highest ranked non-championship game participant to be considered for the playoff.

If the playoff makes that rule today, Notre Dame joins the ACC fully tomorrow.

Yep. Both Swofford and Swarbrick know this. So when the rule comes down it will be easier for the fans to swallow.

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--- NCU08 wrote:

IF Notre Dame joins the ACC as a full member, it won't be until they get frozen out of the playoff in some way, i.e. you must be a conference champion, runner-up, or highest ranked non-championship game participant to be considered for the playoff.

If the playoff makes that rule today, Notre Dame joins the ACC fully tomorrow.

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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

Nah. Notre Dame has never been forced to play one conference 5 times every year until now and it happens to be against the ACC. Even if ND never joins full-time it's still a good deal for the ACC. This will increase the TV revenue (and you don't have to share with ND football). The bowl tie-ins will probably improve. And most importantly it significantly increases the leagues exposure. This will be 5 additional games per year that the ACC will be on a major network. That's 5 more than now.

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Has anybody ever seen these bowl tie-ins and this increased revenue, or did you just hear about it on Facebook?

Actually there are already reports out that adding Notre Dame will increase the payout per school by 2-3 million. Second, it increases the number of sellouts for each school when ND is a home game (lets be serious ND sells out everywhere they go). ACC is already working on the bowl line-up for 2014 onward. Some of the bowls will improve because you can dangle the ND carrot. Four, when the ACC plays ND in the Orange Bowl the league gets over 40 million for that game when it only gets 27.5 million to play the SEC/Big10 matchup. Finally, I will say it again, TV EXPOSURE. Nothing is more valuable to a program (or league for that matter) than TV exposure. That's 5 games every year on a national network (ABC, NBC, ESPN) that doesn't exist today.

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--- therabidrev wrote:



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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

Nah. Notre Dame has never been forced to play one conference 5 times every year until now and it happens to be against the ACC. Even if ND never joins full-time it's still a good deal for the ACC. This will increase the TV revenue (and you don't have to share with ND football). The bowl tie-ins will probably improve. And most importantly it significantly increases the leagues exposure. This will be 5 additional games per year that the ACC will be on a major network. That's 5 more than now.

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Has anybody ever seen these bowl tie-ins and this increased revenue, or did you just hear about it on Facebook?

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This was probably put into motion because they saw how the playoff system was going to play out.

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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

Yep. Both Swofford and Swarbrick know this. So when the rule comes down it will be easier for the fans to swallow.

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--- NCU08 wrote:

IF Notre Dame joins the ACC as a full member, it won't be until they get frozen out of the playoff in some way, i.e. you must be a conference champion, runner-up, or highest ranked non-championship game participant to be considered for the playoff.

If the playoff makes that rule today, Notre Dame joins the ACC fully tomorrow.

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Exactly!

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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

Nah. Notre Dame has never been forced to play one conference 5 times every year until now and it happens to be against the ACC. Even if ND never joins full-time it's still a good deal for the ACC. This will increase the TV revenue (and you don't have to share with ND football). The bowl tie-ins will probably improve. And most importantly it significantly increases the leagues exposure. This will be 5 additional games per year that the ACC will be on a major network. That's 5 more than now.

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If this setup with 4 super conferences; each having 16 teams ever happens; ND will be frozen out of the 4 team playoff if they stay independent!!!! Like I said earlier; the big football schools are sick and tired of making special rules for ND.

Even if we stay at 5 super conferences; the rule NCU08 describes or something like it will be made. The ND free ride is over once the BCS expires.

The fact the ACC setup up this 5 game deal with ND doesn't give them a lifeline to say independent. If anything it gives them the ability to get their fan base acclimated to ACC football before they become a full time member.

Even if everything above is wrong; it still means 5 more guaranteed nationally televised games each year for the ACC. That's real money coming into the league.

The BE was never able to force ND to play 5 of their teams each year as a condition for letting ND join their league in all other sports. Swafford did not get played on this one.

Remember ND had to cancel their series with Michigan so that they could play 5 ACC schools each year instead of just 4.

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--- NCU08 wrote:

IF Notre Dame joins the ACC as a full member, it won't be until they get frozen out of the playoff in some way, i.e. you must be a conference champion, runner-up, or highest ranked non-championship game participant to be considered for the playoff.

If the playoff makes that rule today, Notre Dame joins the ACC fully tomorrow.

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This is a bit off the subject but does anybody else have the sense that improved football in the ACC will help draw Notre Dame?

It seems to me that stronger programs (do I dare say SEC equivalents?)in Chapel Hill and at Florida St, Clemson, Miami, Pgh, UVa etc will help draw the ND fan base into a more accomodating position.

Notre Dame is never going to get "frozen out" of a playoff system. They bring TV ratings, and guess who controls the playoff?

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--- ChancellorHouse wrote:

This is a bit off the subject but does anybody else have the sense that improved football in the ACC will help draw Notre Dame?

It seems to me that stronger programs (do I dare say SEC equivalents?)in Chapel Hill and at Florida St, Clemson, Miami, Pgh, UVa etc will help draw the ND fan base into a more accomodating position.

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I have always thought that the argument that "schools want to go to the greatest football league" had its shortcomings. I know that they would want to be in a league that plays big boy football enough to get a seat at the table, but if it is insanely tough, that would make it less desirable. There are plenty of good to very good programs in the ACC. Of course, the SEC has never had a program leave and every other league has except B1G and PAC. But they were likely due to money concerns...

If you think ND brings five TV games to the ACC, you haven't been paying attention to ND's recent schedule OR the terms of the ACC/ND agreement. The ND home games are on NBC and the ACC doesn't share any of that revenue. So ND brings two or three road games to ACC schools and if you include Pitt and Syracuse, that is not an increase over recent schedules.

Also, it will be hard to freeze ND out of the BCS when they have a seat at the table AND a complicite partner (Swofford) at the table with them.

As mentioned above, they also have a partner in the form of the broadcasters. They want ratings and ND provides them.

Believe me, I WISH the ACC had the leverage in the relationship. But reality says they don't.,

I agree with jimmy on his take on what ND football brings. If you include Pitt, Notre Dame has played ACC teams 29 times in the regular season in the last 10 seasons. Going to five regular season games just amounts to two more games per season based on that baseline, or from ESPN's perspective, one more game (at an ACC venue) for its deal. Of course, the contract does LOCK Notre Dame into that kind of schedule and it doesn't prevent them from playing more.

I knew we weren't getting ND full time, and I personally wanted to get them on the hook for SIX games each season and toss the carrot of being eligible for the ACCCG (they would need to go 6-0) but I thought this was about as good as Swofford was going to get considering that the ACC was not in a position of power (thanks Miami and Florida State). I have heard that is still on the bargaining table, but we will see. Let's not pretend the Notre Dame is going to save us but it definitely helps...ESPECIALLY if an ACCCN is in the works as there is no other brand like Notre Dame's that would bolster the appeal of such a network and the kind of content (and viewership) that a third tier network would require to be successful.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:



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--- ChancellorHouse wrote:

This is a bit off the subject but does anybody else have the sense that improved football in the ACC will help draw Notre Dame?

It seems to me that stronger programs (do I dare say SEC equivalents?)in Chapel Hill and at Florida St, Clemson, Miami, Pgh, UVa etc will help draw the ND fan base into a more accomodating position.

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I have always thought that the argument that "schools want to go to the greatest football league" had its shortcomings. I know that they would want to be in a league that plays big boy football enough to get a seat at the table, but if it is insanely tough, that would make it less desirable. There are plenty of good to very good programs in the ACC. Of course, the SEC has never had a program leave and every other league has except B1G and PAC. But they were likely due to money concerns...

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My thinking was more concerned with "the fan base" which admittedly is on the margins when Notre Dame considers joining a league. Schools may not want the greatest football league but I would think fans and TV do.

It just seems common sense to believe that Notre Dame vs a top 10 (and ACC team) on a more regular basis would bring increased "branding" for the ACC and less resistance from ND fans that ACC competition is a 2nd tier game on the schedule.

They won't be frozen out. They sit on the committee just like the rest on the BCS conf.. They have full representation. I don't see them being left out. They are the most powerful name in college FB whether we like it or not.

The 5 games that ND brings is for TV exposure. Go look at the number of games the ACC is on a national network. There are only a few per year. ND automatically adds 5. I understand they played Pitt every year, but guess what, Pitt wasn't in the ACC. The only ACC school ND played on a regular basis was BC. Now that deal will be rotated to the other schools. When was the last time UNC played on ABC or NBC or primetime ESPN (not including Thrs night).

^even if you remove Pitt from the equation, ND has still played 21 regular season games against ACC schools in the last decade. Moving from 2.1 to 5.0 games peer year only gives ESPN an extra 1.5 games per season. It is not like it is a huge increase. That being said, NBC WILL be paying a lot more for the seven ND home games that they get in light of last year. My guess is that will be in the $40-50MM range meaning each game is valued at about $6-7MM per game meaning ND's addition to the deal with ESPN should be about $10-12MM just for football.

Now take away BC from that 21 and what do you end up with?

This isn't just about ESPN. This is also about ABC and it's also about PRIMETIME. I can guarantee you, the first time ND heads to Tallahassee that game will not be on ESPN. It will be at 8:00 PM on ABC If some of the other schools get better (Miami, Clem, VT, UNC)then those games will be in primetime as well. There's more excitement around a conference when you get to have more primetime games. Ask the SEC, they can tell you all about it.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

^even if you remove Pitt from the equation, ND has still played 21 regular season games against ACC schools in the last decade. Moving from 2.1 to 5.0 games peer year only gives ESPN an extra 1.5 games per season. It is not like it is a huge increase. That being said, NBC WILL be paying a lot more for the seven ND home games that they get in light of last year. My guess is that will be in the $40-50MM range meaning each game is valued at about $6-7MM per game meaning ND's addition to the deal with ESPN should be about $10-12MM just for football.

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Do you seriously believe that when Southern Cal visits ND and plays on NBC; they are doing it for free and ND keeps all the money?

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--- jimmydaheel wrote:

If you think ND brings five TV games to the ACC, you haven't been paying attention to ND's recent schedule OR the terms of the ACC/ND agreement. The ND home games are on NBC and the ACC doesn't share any of that revenue. So ND brings two or three road games to ACC schools and if you include Pitt and Syracuse, that is not an increase over recent schedules.

Also, it will be hard to freeze ND out of the BCS when they have a seat at the table AND a complicite partner (Swofford) at the table with them.

As mentioned above, they also have a partner in the form of the broadcasters. They want ratings and ND provides them.

Believe me, I WISH the ACC had the leverage in the relationship. But reality says they don't.,

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BC has been in the ACC so I see no reason why that would be excluded from the number.

Although the rotating style of scheduling play in the ACC will mean primetime games against FSU and Clemson and VT, but it will also mean games with Wake Forest and BC. The ESPN family of networks (is that better?) is not going to put all ND gams on at 8:00 on ABC or even ESPN. That being said, the rotation will be better than having the requisite Pitt/ND and BC/ND games every season. I will be happy to see one game each season where ND plays VT, Miami, FSU, or Clemson and that is guaranteed. Of course, if the game is a Notre Dame home game, ESPN/ABC will see none of that action.


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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

Now take away BC from that 21 and what do you end up with?

This isn't just about ESPN. This is also about ABC and it's also about PRIMETIME. I can guarantee you, the first time ND heads to Tallahassee that game will not be on ESPN. It will be at 8:00 PM on ABC If some of the other schools get better (Miami, Clem, VT, UNC)then those games will be in primetime as well. There's more excitement around a conference when you get to have more primetime games. Ask the SEC, they can tell you all about it.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

^even if you remove Pitt from the equation, ND has still played 21 regular season games against ACC schools in the last decade. Moving from 2.1 to 5.0 games peer year only gives ESPN an extra 1.5 games per season. It is not like it is a huge increase. That being said, NBC WILL be paying a lot more for the seven ND home games that they get in light of last year. My guess is that will be in the $40-50MM range meaning each game is valued at about $6-7MM per game meaning ND's addition to the deal with ESPN should be about $10-12MM just for football.

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The ND 5-game rotation is going to look something like this:

2014: Miami, @ dook, GT, @ UVa, BC
2015: @ UNC, Louisville, @ Pitt, VT, @ FSU
2016: Wake Forest, @ Clemson, NC State, @ Syracuse, dook
2017: @ Miami, UVa, @ GT, Pitt, @ Louisville
2018: UNC, @ VT, FSU, @ Wake Forest, Clemson
2019: @ NC State, Syracuse, @ dook, Miami, @ UVa
2020: BC, @ UNC, Louisville, @ Pitt, VT

...and so on. Using this proposed schedule (which is probably as good as any guess), you can roughly see what ESPN/ABC "gets" with the deal as currently proposed:

2014: ND @ dook, ND @ UVa
2015: ND @ UNC, ND @ Pitt, ND @ FSU
2016: ND @ Clemson, ND @ Syracuse
2017: ND @ Miami, ND @ GT, ND @ Louisville
2018: ND @ VT, ND @ Wake Forest
2019: ND @ NCSU, ND @ dook, ND @ UVa
2020: ND @ UNC, ND @ Pitt

There are a few primetime games sprinkled in there, but definitely ot every year. In year's past, ESPN/ABC at least got ND @ either Pitt or BC. So let's not get carried away with how much ND is going to change the deal. It is something though.

No, all of them won't be at 8:00 but the game against a terrible BC team this year was at 8 and on ABC.

ND Schedule 2012 (excluding Navy because the game was in Ireland)
3:30 against Purdue - NBC
8:00 Michigan State - ABC
7:30 Michigan - NBC
7:30 Miami - NBC
3:30 Stanford - NBC
3:30 BYU - NBC
8:00 Oklahoma - ABC
3:30 Pitt - NBC
8:00 BC - ABC
3:30 Wake Forest - NBC
8:00 USC - ABC

Against ND, you are either going to play at 3:30 which is the prime afternoon slot on Saturday or you're playing at night. Notice that they either played on NBC (contractual agreement) or ABC. ND is too much of a draw for college football which is why so many conferences wanted them to join. So looking at this schedule, ND played 3 future ACC teams. You have to remove two from this list and add two. Say they decided to play VT and UNC this year to make it 5. Those games will either be on NBC or ABC.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

BC has been in the ACC so I see no reason why that would be excluded from the number.

Although the rotating style of scheduling play in the ACC will mean primetime games against FSU and Clemson and VT, but it will also mean games with Wake Forest and BC. The ESPN family of networks (is that better?) is not going to put all ND gams on at 8:00 on ABC or even ESPN. That being said, the rotation will be better than having the requisite Pitt/ND and BC/ND games every season. I will be happy to see one game each season where ND plays VT, Miami, FSU, or Clemson and that is guaranteed. Of course, if the game is a Notre Dame home game, ESPN/ABC will see none of that action.


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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

Now take away BC from that 21 and what do you end up with?

This isn't just about ESPN. This is also about ABC and it's also about PRIMETIME. I can guarantee you, the first time ND heads to Tallahassee that game will not be on ESPN. It will be at 8:00 PM on ABC If some of the other schools get better (Miami, Clem, VT, UNC)then those games will be in primetime as well. There's more excitement around a conference when you get to have more primetime games. Ask the SEC, they can tell you all about it.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

^even if you remove Pitt from the equation, ND has still played 21 regular season games against ACC schools in the last decade. Moving from 2.1 to 5.0 games peer year only gives ESPN an extra 1.5 games per season. It is not like it is a huge increase. That being said, NBC WILL be paying a lot more for the seven ND home games that they get in light of last year. My guess is that will be in the $40-50MM range meaning each game is valued at about $6-7MM per game meaning ND's addition to the deal with ESPN should be about $10-12MM just for football.

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Don't you think that had something to do with how ND's season was going up to that point (note that ND was 9-0 and ranked in the top 3 or 4 at that point). I would guarantee you that very few if any of the games @ a 3-6 BC team since 1994 have been on primetime ABC.

I think we're getting away from the point that I was originally making though and that is that the mandated 5 games against ACC teams doesn't do a WHOLE helluva lot for the ESPN family of networks' content. Regardless of whether the games will be in primetime or not, it's really only on average 1.-1.5 more games per season that they didn't already own the rights to (ESPN owned the right to BE home football games so the Pitt games were already owned by ESPN). Becausse of these numbers, I thought it would made a BIG difference to try to get ND to commit to just one more ACC game which would firmly guarantee three games each season for ND. It's not much, but it's something more and it's one more step to ND playing a full ACC schedule.

How many games per year does the ACC play at night and on a major network now? Not many. FSU is probably the only team in the ACC that can command primetime. That's what I'm driving at here. It doesn't matter if ND is down or not, they are still the biggest draw in college football and ESPN will want to maximize the eyeballs as much as possible. And those eyeballs will be on ACC teams and more ACC teams playing in prime TV slots. Great for exposure. Great for recruiting.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

Don't you think that had something to do with how ND's season was going up to that point (note that ND was 9-0 and ranked in the top 3 or 4 at that point). I would guarantee you that very few if any of the games @ a 3-6 BC team since 1994 have been on primetime ABC.

I think we're getting away from the point that I was originally making though and that is that the mandated 5 games against ACC teams doesn't do a WHOLE helluva lot for the ESPN family of networks' content. Regardless of whether the games will be in primetime or not, it's really only on average 1.-1.5 more games per season that they didn't already own the rights to (ESPN owned the right to BE home football games so the Pitt games were already owned by ESPN). Becausse of these numbers, I thought it would made a BIG difference to try to get ND to commit to just one more ACC game which would firmly guarantee three games each season for ND. It's not much, but it's something more and it's one more step to ND playing a full ACC schedule.

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I'm still gonna laugh when the playoff is expanded to 8 teams and all the conferences are all messed up because they were planning for a 4 team playoff.

I agree that ND is a big draw and can command primetime viewership. I'm just cautioning you to understand what the difference will be before and after they come aboard. The games that they play @ ACC sites are the only ones that ESPN/ABC will have rights to and that will only be increasing by one or two games per year. And it's not like the selection of games will be VERY different than the games that ESPN/ABC has had in the past. How much do you think that is really worth to ESPN? It's non-zero, but it's not $5MM per season per team or anything huge like that.

It IS something, but I honestly think the all-sports addition to ESPN's content will add more to the ACC media deal than the extra ND football game that they will get each year. Understand that ND isn't bringing FIVE new games for ESPN to air. ESPN only gets half of those (the ones AT ACC sites). And note that ESPN already had the rights to a lot of those matchups before this deal.

ETA: And it absolutely matters if Notre Dame is down or not as it pertains to what we are discussing (whether games would be in primetime or not which is really what you are focusing on more than anything else).

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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

How many games per year does the ACC play at night and on a major network now? Not many. FSU is probably the only team in the ACC that can command primetime. That's what I'm driving at here. It doesn't matter if ND is down or not, they are still the biggest draw in college football and ESPN will want to maximize the eyeballs as much as possible. And those eyeballs will be on ACC teams and more ACC teams playing in prime TV slots. Great for exposure. Great for recruiting.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

Don't you think that had something to do with how ND's season was going up to that point (note that ND was 9-0 and ranked in the top 3 or 4 at that point). I would guarantee you that very few if any of the games @ a 3-6 BC team since 1994 have been on primetime ABC.

I think we're getting away from the point that I was originally making though and that is that the mandated 5 games against ACC teams doesn't do a WHOLE helluva lot for the ESPN family of networks' content. Regardless of whether the games will be in primetime or not, it's really only on average 1.-1.5 more games per season that they didn't already own the rights to (ESPN owned the right to BE home football games so the Pitt games were already owned by ESPN). Becausse of these numbers, I thought it would made a BIG difference to try to get ND to commit to just one more ACC game which would firmly guarantee three games each season for ND. It's not much, but it's something more and it's one more step to ND playing a full ACC schedule.

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Yes I understand that but the premise behind my argument was TV exposure. We all love ESPN/ABC, etc. But half of the games will be on NBC as well...major network...eyeballs.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

I agree that ND is a big draw and can command primetime viewership. I'm just cautioning you to understand what the difference will be before and after they come aboard. The games that they play @ ACC sites are the only ones that ESPN/ABC will have rights to and that will only be increasing by one or two games per year. And it's not like the selection of games will be VERY different than the games that ESPN/ABC has had in the past. How much do you think that is really worth to ESPN? It's non-zero, but it's not $5MM per season per team or anything huge like that.

It IS something, but I honestly think the all-sports addition to ESPN's content will add more to the ACC media deal than the extra ND football game that they will get each year. Understand that ND isn't bringing FIVE new games for ESPN to air. ESPN only gets half of those (the ones AT ACC sites). And note that ESPN already had the rights to a lot of those matchups before this deal.

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--- yallreadyforthis wrote:

How many games per year does the ACC play at night and on a major network now? Not many. FSU is probably the only team in the ACC that can command primetime. That's what I'm driving at here. It doesn't matter if ND is down or not, they are still the biggest draw in college football and ESPN will want to maximize the eyeballs as much as possible. And those eyeballs will be on ACC teams and more ACC teams playing in prime TV slots. Great for exposure. Great for recruiting.

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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

Don't you think that had something to do with how ND's season was going up to that point (note that ND was 9-0 and ranked in the top 3 or 4 at that point). I would guarantee you that very few if any of the games @ a 3-6 BC team since 1994 have been on primetime ABC.

I think we're getting away from the point that I was originally making though and that is that the mandated 5 games against ACC teams doesn't do a WHOLE helluva lot for the ESPN family of networks' content. Regardless of whether the games will be in primetime or not, it's really only on average 1.-1.5 more games per season that they didn't already own the rights to (ESPN owned the right to BE home football games so the Pitt games were already owned by ESPN). Becausse of these numbers, I thought it would made a BIG difference to try to get ND to commit to just one more ACC game which would firmly guarantee three games each season for ND. It's not much, but it's something more and it's one more step to ND playing a full ACC schedule.

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^Yeah, we get exposure, but we don't get one dime for football games at Notre Dame stadium. You're right though, that is a different angle. Not really what the ACC needs now as that is more of a thing that would help long-term. The ACC needs to survive. It needs content to sell to ESPN or someone else. Increasing exposure is nice and all, but again, the addition of Notre Dame to a five game ACC schedule only increase the number of NBC games showing ACC teams one game per season. It's not extremely compelling, but I guess there is some value in seeing an ACC team play on NBC one more time each year.

To your question about ACC primetime games on a major network, an ACC team played a regular season game in primetime (7 PM or later) and on a major network (ESPN family, NBC, etc.) 13 times. Five of those were Thursday night games, one was on a Monday (VT/GT), and one was on a Friday (State/Tennessee). Two of the six Saturday night games involved ND, one against Miami, one against BC. The games against Wake and Pitt were NOT primetime viewings.

espn.go.com/college-football/c...oast-conference

1. ND almost always plays BC in primetime.
2. Not counting Thurs night games. That's not college football day. That's Saturday.
3. Not counting Labor day games either (State-Tenn, Clemson-Auburn, VT-GT). That's a holiday. I'm just talking about normal week in and week out Saturday games.
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--- CornbreadandCollards wrote:

To your question about ACC primetime games on a major network, an ACC team played a regular season in primetime (7 PM or later) and on a major network (ESPN family, NBC, etc.) 13 times. Five of those were Thursday night games, one was on a Monday (VT/GT), and one was on a Friday (State/Tennessee). Two of the six Saturday night games involved ND.

espn.go.com/college-football/c...oast-conference

Of the other three games that ND played against ACC opponents, only the Miami game was shown in primetime (i.e. the BC game (when ND was 9-0) was the only other one in primetime.

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ND went 8-5 last year and played at Wake Forest at 8:00 on a Saturday night. They don't have to be 9-0 to get the primetime slots.

And some of those other nights games weren't even on ESPN or ABC. Dook-UNC was on ESPNU. FSU-NC State/Clem-Dook were on ESPN2