(05-15-2021 08:37 PM)OdinFrigg Wrote:  

(05-13-2021 12:00 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(05-13-2021 07:03 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(05-12-2021 08:38 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(05-12-2021 08:31 PM)TerryD Wrote:  All true.

ND would hot be where it is and wield the power it does if all of the power brokers did not want it to be so.

That is real power, is it not, to have all others with power want you to have power?

ND has never claimed to represent any other football independents.

That is their job.

Except that their power is derived from network desires, not those of their peers.

And conference commissioners and college presidents.

Otherwise, it would not be so.

P.S. You have posted on numerous occasions that the only real power in college football are the networks, have you not?

If so, its a good world to be in when the networks love you and want you to have power and influence, no?

1. Commissioners are sports rights contract attorneys. The would be neither hot or cold on Notre Dame.

2. Athletic directors would be a bit more guarded as to their status.

3. College presidents would only see another academic institution and most see sports as a backburner issue, appropriately.

4. Networks love any school which can deliver ratings. That is the largess that Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, and Texas carry, and a few others when their team gets hot. They love Notre Dame because now it is the only brand that can rally interest in the Northeast as all past contenders of that region are fading brands, and Penn State still has a cloud obscuring the program.

That is why you have a seat at the table with the P5. Should athletics ever become separate to academics in governance then your status and disproportionate representation becomes more of an issue, but with the network (ESPN) backing the committee decisions for the P5 and essentially covering the selection committee you are fine for now.

If there ends up being 4X16, or 4X18, or 5x15 or however the set-up, in the effort to design equivalency in numbers, a symmetrical structure, reasonable pathways, and accommodation for all that satisfy the criteria, I don't see a convincing rationale to render an exception for one Independent. If such is a preferential must, then the ACC needs to relinquish their play-off spot to Notre Dame in the years subjective judgment determines ND is superior to the ACC conference champion. There, that's the special rule. Let's see how long the ACC accepts such.

If we have a breakaway upper tier, which I think NIL will make likely, and for hoops, Notre Dame of course would be most welcomed, but within the structure which may or may not have conferences reflected and if so grouped regionally. NIL so completely destroys the organizing principle of the NCAA's amateurism that I don't see how it can be avoided.