Seemingly everyone has a take on what the Big Ten welcoming USC and UCLA means for college football in general. One pressing issue is the long-term future of Notre Dame’s coveted independence. With the Big Ten and SEC on their way to becoming the sport’s two super-conferences, now might be the time for the Irish to consider how they will be able to stay competitive both on and off the field in the distant future. At least that’s what Pete Sampson, the Irish’s beat writer for The Athletic, says.
In a piece available only to subscribers, Sampson mentions Notre Dame’s effort to keep expenses from piling up and how it hasn’t been so easy in recent years. It appears the best path forward is the Irish finally joining the Big Ten, the conference that famously snubbed it multiple times when many of today’s great-grandparents were being born. With the ACC being left behind the changing landscape of college football, it makes less sense for the Irish to have a long-term relationship there.
Sampson concludes his piece with the following:
“For everything that changed Thursday, the reasons for Notre Dame to join a conference really have not. The school needs access to the national championship. It needs a home for its Olympic sports. It needs a broadcast partner. USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten doesn’t change all of those realities today. But it might threaten all three a year from now if big-time college football gets its own version of the AFC (Big Ten) and NFC (SEC), leaving the rest of the sport in an awkward in-between.
The question for (Jack) Swarbrick now is how far he can see ahead in the fog of realignment war. Because as much as Notre Dame values its independence, the cost-benefit analysis of that expense may be changing.
No, Notre Dame doesn’t need to run from the ACC today. But it needs to start plotting its next course, whether it takes it or not.”
Sometimes, traditions must go by the wayside to keep up with the times, even if it’s Notre Dame’s independence.
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