Notre Dame to the Big Ten rumor has legs due to key connection

Notre Dame football can be making its way to the Big Ten sooner than later due to the conference's connection with NBC, the Fighting Irish's official broadcast partner.

Sportskeeda's Vincent Pensabene relayed that Notre Dame joining a conference could be in the works soon.

"(Notre Dame) feels like they could have gotten more (than $22 million annually), and the process of Notre Dame joining the conference could be in the works," Pensabene prefaced before saying, "They are locked into a deal with NBC until 2029, but if they join a conference with NBC as a media rights holder, this could happen soon."

Geographically and with the NBC deal in mind, the Big Ten is the logical next step for the Fighting Irish, but there's been a strange rumor about Notre Dame going south.

Notre Dame football joining SEC floated for some reason

The Fighting Irish were floated for the SEC by CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd, which would make for some great football but would make no sense geographically and potentially end Notre Dame's current rivalry with USC.

"SEC is done for now," Dodd said on his Inside ND Sports: Notre Dame football podcast. "If the SEC does anything, it will be ND or UNC is what I'm told."

UNC makes sense given North Carolina is a culturally southern city with easier travel to SEC teams than going to Central New York or, in a 2024 ACC, Dallas or the Bay Area. Traveling from South Bend, Indiana doesn't track.

Forget the drives and flights. Notre Dame isn't going to be on ABC given their long-held history with NBC Universal. The University of Notre Dame is big on history. Joining the SEC would be embracing radical change.

Joining the Big Ten would change a lot too, but it'd change less since rivalries would be kept.