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SEC losing ground for Notre Dame to surprise conference

By Andrew Hughes

The SEC appears to be losing ground in its hopes of landing Notre Dame and a surprise conference has emerged as a potential landing spot Mandatory Credit: Arizona Republic
The SEC appears to be losing ground in its hopes of landing Notre Dame and a surprise conference has emerged as a potential landing spot Mandatory Credit: Arizona Republic /
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SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said at SEC Media Days that the conference “knows who we are and is confident in our collective strengths” while touting that the Texas and Oklahoma additions a year ago “keep the SEC in contiguous states, which supports a reasonable geography among like-minded universities.”

That statement sounds all well and good, but it’d hold up like a paper roof during a rainstorm if Notre Dame ever came calling. The Fighting Irish are the most sought-after independent school and could be looking to relinquish that status in the name of massive TV contract earnings that’d come along with assimilating to one of the Power Five conferences.

The Big Ten was long thought to be the primary competitor to the Southeastern Conference for Notre Dame, but there appears to be a somewhat surprising frontrunner for the Fighting Irish right now in the Big 12.

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd pointed out the financials between ND and its broadcast partner NBC that seem to push the school in the direction of a conference, and dropped a bombshell that the Big 12 is the frontrunner pushing to corral not only the South Bend, Indiana market, but a crucial national market for ‘America’s Team’:

"“Notre Dame would remain independent if it can earn at least $75 million annually in media rights revenue from current broadcast partner NBC, sources told CBS Sports. The Fighting Irish’s deal with the network is set to expire in 2025. For NBC to feel comfortable raising Notre Dame’s valuation to such a level, it is seeking “shoulder programming” from a Power Five conference to enhance its college football coverage.When such a move had been speculated previously, the Big Ten was the conference mentioned most often as a target. However, the Big 12 has emerged as a strong option to fill NBC’s shoulder programming needs.”"

The SEC’s TV contracts with ESPN and CBS make a move for Notre Dame unlikely

Because of NBC’s push to supplement its Fighting Irish coverage with more from the college football world, the Big 12 becomes an obvious landing spot since it doesn’t have massive TV contracts with multiple networks like the SEC does.

CBS and ESPN both rely on the Southeastern Conference heavily, so losing any coverage to NBC would ruffle the feathers of the conference’s already-existing broadcast partners. That doesn’t sound like the smartest move even for the NCAA’s most important subsidiary.

For all we know, Commissioner Greg Sankey’s comments at SEC Media Days have been his explanation to the public for why they won’t get the Indiana-based blue blood. Or perhaps they were never in the running like the Big 12 is now.

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