https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/...72dc33a2e7

"The importance of conference money—which also includes winnings from bowl games, including the College Football Playoff and the NCAA basketball tournament—couldn’t be on clearer display in our ranking: The SEC and the Big Ten dominate our list, combining for 17 of the 25 most valuable teams. No other conference has more than three teams in the top 25.


Perhaps it’s surprising, then, that independent Notre Dame ranks eighth, with average annual revenue of $120 million. The lack of conference-level revenue doesn’t hold the Irish back, however, since Notre Dame has one of the nation’s biggest fan bases. That’s allowed the team to cash in on an NBC broadcasting deal reportedly worth $15 million annually. In addition, revenues from Notre Dame’s football ticket lottery are not reflected here—that money goes straight to the university and thus doesn’t land on the athletic department’s books—so the Irish’s performance is all the more impressive. Only four teams are more profitable."

About what you’d expect as far as how it’s SEC, B1G and a few from each other P conference plus ND

and yeah, that’s your break away conference if such a thing ever happened plus a handful of basketball blue bloods like UNC, DUKE, KU, UCLA etc

So the Big 12, ACC, and PAC 12 make up 36 of the 65 P5 schools, over half, but collectively only put 7 schools on the top 25 list

I believe new Texas Tech football HC Matt Wells will get Tech on the right side of the W/L column and return to the Forbes top 25.

The haters can laugh for a year but we will back. We barely missed the cut with a sub par football program over the last 9 years.

(09-12-2019 03:27 PM)TerryD Wrote:  "The importance of conference money—which also includes winnings from bowl games, including the College Football Playoff and the NCAA basketball tournament—couldn’t be on clearer display in our ranking: The SEC and the Big Ten dominate our list, combining for 17 of the 25 most valuable teams. No other conference has more than three teams in the top 25.


Perhaps it’s surprising, then, that independent Notre Dame ranks eighth, with average annual revenue of $120 million. The lack of conference-level revenue doesn’t hold the Irish back, however, since Notre Dame has one of the nation’s biggest fan bases. That’s allowed the team to cash in on an NBC broadcasting deal reportedly worth $15 million annually. In addition, revenues from Notre Dame’s football ticket lottery are not reflected here—that money goes straight to the university and thus doesn’t land on the athletic department’s books—so the Irish’s performance is all the more impressive. Only four teams are more profitable."

Really, to anyone with even a smidge of knowledge of college football, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising that Notre Dame is very high on a list of most football revenue and profits.

(09-12-2019 06:46 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-12-2019 03:27 PM)TerryD Wrote:  "The importance of conference money—which also includes winnings from bowl games, including the College Football Playoff and the NCAA basketball tournament—couldn’t be on clearer display in our ranking: The SEC and the Big Ten dominate our list, combining for 17 of the 25 most valuable teams. No other conference has more than three teams in the top 25.


Perhaps it’s surprising, then, that independent Notre Dame ranks eighth, with average annual revenue of $120 million. The lack of conference-level revenue doesn’t hold the Irish back, however, since Notre Dame has one of the nation’s biggest fan bases. That’s allowed the team to cash in on an NBC broadcasting deal reportedly worth $15 million annually. In addition, revenues from Notre Dame’s football ticket lottery are not reflected here—that money goes straight to the university and thus doesn’t land on the athletic department’s books—so the Irish’s performance is all the more impressive. Only four teams are more profitable."

Really, to anyone with even a smidge of knowledge of college football, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising that Notre Dame is very high on a list of most football revenue and profits.

I guess that my point was that, even in this day/age of big TV contracts for the Big Ten and the SEC (and all of the talk about revenue disparity between conferences), ND still maintains a high revenue/high profit model as a football independent.

Money is not and will not be something that forces ND football into a conference.

Even with high conference payouts for full members of the Big Ten and SEC, among others, only four schools make more of a profit than ND, and that is without ND football ticket lottery revenues (donations to get priority access to football tickets) being counted (which means ND is even more profitable than shown in the article).

(09-13-2019 09:08 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(09-12-2019 06:46 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-12-2019 03:27 PM)TerryD Wrote:  "The importance of conference money—which also includes winnings from bowl games, including the College Football Playoff and the NCAA basketball tournament—couldn’t be on clearer display in our ranking: The SEC and the Big Ten dominate our list, combining for 17 of the 25 most valuable teams. No other conference has more than three teams in the top 25.


Perhaps it’s surprising, then, that independent Notre Dame ranks eighth, with average annual revenue of $120 million. The lack of conference-level revenue doesn’t hold the Irish back, however, since Notre Dame has one of the nation’s biggest fan bases. That’s allowed the team to cash in on an NBC broadcasting deal reportedly worth $15 million annually. In addition, revenues from Notre Dame’s football ticket lottery are not reflected here—that money goes straight to the university and thus doesn’t land on the athletic department’s books—so the Irish’s performance is all the more impressive. Only four teams are more profitable."

Really, to anyone with even a smidge of knowledge of college football, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising that Notre Dame is very high on a list of most football revenue and profits.

I guess that my point was that, even in this day/age of big TV contracts for the Big Ten and the SEC (and all of the talk about revenue disparity between conferences), ND still maintains a high revenue/high profit model as a football independent.

Money is not and will not be something that forces ND football into a conference.

Even with high conference payouts for full members of the Big Ten and SEC, among others, only four schools make more of a profit than ND, and that is without ND football ticket lottery revenues (donations to get priority access to football tickets) being counted (which means ND is even more profitable than shown in the article).

I agree. In fact, if anything, even independent ND probably has more head-space to grow revenue than even the B1G and SEC do, as they are basically now getting the peak value for their media deals.

In contrast, if ND really is still getting $15m a year from NBC, I think that is undervalued, and if ND really wanted to maximize their value could negotiate a new deal with someone for at least $10m a year more. Even the ND stadium, at 80,000 capacity, is under-sized by major P5 standards.

But given the fact that college football attendance is on the decline, I think 80,000 is right about where you would want to be if you're Notre Dame.

I think one problem that ND has is that these numbers they're using are 3 year averages. So ACC network not included at all, and the Big Ten only has 1 year of data incorporated with the new TV deals.

Notre Dame is doing just fine. Those that believe otherwise, or those that believe they will be forced to join a conference fully for football purposes, are just kidding themselves.

(09-13-2019 12:14 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Notre Dame is doing just fine. Those that believe otherwise, or those that believe they will be forced to join a conference fully for football purposes, are just kidding themselves.

If we get to a P4, I think it's very possible that ND would be forced to join a conference.

(09-13-2019 12:14 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Notre Dame is doing just fine. Those that believe otherwise, or those that believe they will be forced to join a conference fully for football purposes, are just kidding themselves.

I agree and as I said before, if there is a break away it will be those teams above absolutely with Notre Dame and a few deep blue blood basketballs. Absolutely no way ND would get left behind like other smaller/redundant brands.

(09-13-2019 12:35 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(09-13-2019 12:14 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Notre Dame is doing just fine. Those that believe otherwise, or those that believe they will be forced to join a conference fully for football purposes, are just kidding themselves.

If we get to a P4, I think it's very possible that ND would be forced to join a conference.

By whom?

The P4? If the P5 became the P4, that will have meant another consolidation occurred, and certain members of the considered power conferences were left out/behind. Notre Dame was not left behind before, and, frankly, they had their pick of any power conference to join for Olympic sports in 2012. If the CFP became a format where the P4 CCG had auto-bids, which is not likely for numerous reasons, then the CFP just becomes a four-team conference champion tournament. You think the SEC will sign-off on that format (and, thus, eliminating its annual opportunity to get two teams into the said playoff)? And, how about the P4 making an 8-team playoff? Aside from cutting out the bottom, and increasing the likelihood of middle teams moving toward the bottom of this new P4, would they not do wild card spots (which would not only be beneficial to Notre Dame but other schools as well)?

The NCAA? The NCAA enjoys Notre Dame being an independent. It is one of its most valuable and prestigious brands. The NCAA will somehow handcuff and handicap one of its biggest brands, in order to create a more aligned and perfected grouping within college football? Disregarding the annual rivalries with Navy, Stanford and USC (because those - in theory - would not be at threat of being removed), the NCAA would want to eliminate potential matchups Notre Dame is able to have among the likes of Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Arkansas, UCLA, Penn State, Texas A&M, Washington, etc.? While that would be a newfound and intelligent way to lose money (and interest) for the NCAA, that surely is not happening.

The networks? NBC has had a great working relationship with Notre Dame for years. They value Notre Dame's content, and Notre Dame values NBC's national reach and exposure.

At the end of the day, there is only one group that desires to see Notre Dame join a conference, and those are fans of other said conferences. Any conference adding Notre Dame would instantly add one of the strongest brands in college athletics, a national exposure that reaches fan interest and attendance all over the country. Many don't like the fact that Notre Dame Football is able to command its own TV deal on a national network, while owning a non-football membership in a P5 conference; well, they can get that special-type of deal because they can (and, arguably, because of years and years building up its brand on a national level).

I would argue that Notre Dame values its independence higher than its ability to compete for national championships on an annual basis (and it definitely strives to do that in all sports). Its ability to have an annual national schedule, while - at present - able to preserve its Olympic sports with other similar like-minded schools like Duke, North Carolina, Miami, Virginia, Georgia Tech and Florida State is an ideal set-up. Notre Dame will remain an independent for the indefinite future.

(09-13-2019 12:00 PM)stever20 Wrote:  I think one problem that ND has is that these numbers they're using are 3 year averages. So ACC network not included at all, and the Big Ten only has 1 year of data incorporated with the new TV deals.

ND doesn't have any problem with these numbers. It is right where it wants to be.

BTW, ND reduced the seating capacity of Notre Dame Stadium to just over 77,000 after the last renovation a couple of years ago when it added luxury boxes and a Jumbotron.