Background
The Big East dodged a major bullet this year after ND finished 6-6 and was unable to take the Sun Bowl. Had that event happened, a 7-5 Notre Dame team would have bumped out a 9-3 Pitt team who beat them at Notre Dame. Add in the fact that Notre Dame was 0-2 against the Big East this season and you would have had a major uproar in the media and among Big East fans. Unfortunately, the conference is not going to dodge this mess every time it comes up and at some point, Notre Dame will begin taking Big East bowls games. After the last mess, it is clear that the conference must find some way of fixing the Notre Dame/bowl game issue.
In addition, there is also the issue of Notre Dame “offering” to schedule Big East teams. The terms of this agreement are summarized below:
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/24/Sports...yday.shtml
Notre Dame has made a commitment to play three Big East teams each year starting in 2011 and had extended an open invitation to all eight conference programs to play in South Bend
Part of the problem with this deal is that Notre Dame refuses to schedule Big East teams (i.e. member of its own conference) as equals. UConn signed a six game series with none of the games at home. Rutgers refused a similar deal with Notre Dame because Notre Dame refused to play at Rutger's stadium. In addition to the agreements being on Notre Dame's terms, the problem also arises that some teams (USF, Louisville, Cincy) are unable to get a fair shake from Notre Dame in terms of schedule. For these programs. one-and-dones at Notre Dame stadium are the only offer Notre Dame is willing to give. As a result, the Big East-Notre Dame agreement represents little more than the Big East helping Notre Dame maintain its east coast exposure with little in return.
What I'd do as commish
If I was the commish of the conference, I would use a three stage approach to deal with the Notre Dame issue. Because the basketball schools will fight like hell if an “all-in or all-out” ultimatum is given to the Domers and because splitting is not preferable at this time (see
http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=323512), this proposal is the best solution to the current problem in my opinion.
Stage 1
Unlike 2003, Big East football is on much sturdier footing. Attendance for the most of the Big East bowl games is improving each year. The perception of Big East football in the national media is light years ahead of where it was 5 years ago. In addition, the Big East is winning BCS games and has secured its position in the BCS. In summary, the conference is in a much better position now than it was five years ago and as a result, it should use this new found strength to pressure Notre Dame.
First, Notre Dame would be required to schedule three ‘home-and-homes’ per year to be included in any post season Big East deals. The core requirements of this agreement would be as follows:
- Notre Dame would schedule three Big East teams per season. Notre Dame would be required to schedule these teams to a “home and home” agreement. Schools would be permitted to sign “home-home-neutral” agreements with Notre Dame if they so chose; however, the neutral site game would not be eligible to count towards the three “home-and-home” game requirement. “One-and-dones” agreements would also not satisfy this requirement.
- Notre Dame would be required to rotate scheduling and would not be allowed to reschedule a team until all Big East teams have been played home-and-home games with the Domers. This prevents the Irish from refusing to fairly schedule teams like Cincy, Louisville, USF, etc.
Second, the “within one” clause would be applied to all Big East bowl contracts. Notre Dame would be eligible for all Big East bowl games but would be required to be within one win of the Big East team they were replacing.
Failure to agree to these requirements would result in Notre Dame be removed from all Big East bowl agreements. If the Domers chose this path, they will find out the hard way how difficult it is in today's world to regularly gain minor bowl deals without having a conference affiliation. Unless you want to become a Navy and make regular appearances in the Poinsettia bowl, Notre Dame is losing its bargaining chip each year with the Big East football schools.
Stage 2
If the Big East continues to improve and reliance on Notre Dame for bowl contracts weakens further, I would implement stage two of my plan.
First, Notre Dame would be required to schedule four ‘home-and-homes’ per year to be included in any post season Big East deals. The core requirements of this agreement would be as follows:
- Notre Dame would schedule four Big East teams per season. Notre Dame would be required to schedule these teams to a “home and home” agreement. Schools would be permitted to sign “home-home-neutral” agreements with Notre Dame if they so chose; however, the neutral site game would not be eligible to count towards the three “home-and-home” game requirement. “One-and-dones” agreements would also not satisfy this requirement.
- Notre Dame would be required to rotate scheduling and would not be allowed to reschedule a team until all Big East teams have been played home-and-home games with the Domers. This prevents the Irish from refusing to fairly schedule teams like Cincy, Louisville, USF, etc.
Second, the “within one” clause would be applied to all Big East bowl contracts. Notre Dame would be eligible for all Big East bowl games but would be required to be within one win of the Big East team they were replacing.
Third, Notre Dame would be required to share a portion of its independent football revenue with the Big East conference. A 60/40 Notre/Big East split would be the starting point for revenue sharing.
Failure to agree to these requirements would result in Notre Dame be removed from all Big East bowl agreements and receiving a post-season ban on Big East tournaments. This would put the Domers in a tough position. They could accept the deal and retain access to bowl games, the Big East tournament, etc. They could also choose to reject the deal and lose bowl tie-ins, big east tournament position, etc. Ultimately, the Domers would have to decide to stay in the Big East but miss out on all post-season activities or leave the conference and move all others sports to a lower tier conference.
Stage 3
Stage three would basically be an increasing version of Stage 2. So long as the Big East continues to excel on the field and decides to stick together for basketball, I would applied increase pressure on Notre Dame to play more big East teams and share more of its NBC contract with the Big East. Eventually, Notre Dame may choose to leave, the conference may split apart, or the Domer may eventually join the Big East for football.