Brady Quinn is convinced that the Big Ten is going to continue expanding, but the former Notre Dame star quarterback thinks that his alma mater might be eyeing an affiliation with the conference so as to maintain its independence.
Appearing on CBS Sports on Thursday, Quinn talked about the significance of the Big Ten’s new media rights deal with FOX, CBS and NBC. Quinn did pump the brakes on the idea that the Big Ten might expand more, saying that while it is likely to happen there must be value in what the additions would bring from a media market perspective as well as on the field.
“Once you get up to 16 teams, you’re now looking at saying, this is the piece of the pie we all give, based on our TV rights. You start adding in teams that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re generating more revenue, right?” Quinn told Jeremy St. Louis in his appearance on CBS Sports HQ.
“Some of the teams we’re adding might not bring that type of viewerships you need to help CBS or NBC or FOX be able to make the advertising revenue with having those teams on in those time slots. So we all think like more is better to make the pie bigger, it doesn’t. It actually probably diminishes that pie to some degree, depending on who they bring in.”
As for expansion itself, Quinn thinks that we possibly could see more expansion from the Big Ten and the SEC. The big chip out there is, of course, Notre Dame.
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Proudly independent, Notre Dame is the big piece to the puzzle that is coveted by the Big Ten and the SEC as well as the ACC.
Notre Dame, given their huge national following as well as their strong history on the playing field, would be a home run addition for any Power Five conference. Notre Dame currently has a football media rights deal with NBC.
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Quinn, perhaps hinting at what might happen, thinks his alma mater could end up linking arms with the Big Ten but not necessarily joining the conference.
“So I don’t necessarily know that we’re gonna see expansion. I think we might see some partnerships,” Quinn said.
“You know, we might see for example, Notre Dame if they opt to stay independent, you might see them decide to play X amount of games versus some of those Big Ten opponents, because now you’ve got the independent deal with NBC, for example, – if that was to live on, but you get that partnership with CBS with FOX now currently, with those Big Ten media rights.”
His thoughts about the Big Ten and Notre Dame football sounds eerily similar to the Fighting Irish’s current affiliation with the ACC.
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Quinn is one of the most successful quarterbacks in Notre Dame’s long and storied history. In 2006, he won the Maxwell Award as the nation’s top college football player and was a first-round selection, No. 22 overall, in the 2007 NFL draft.
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