Notre Dame Football: Reasons for and against Irish finally joining a conference

Reason No. 3 not to join: Locked into a schedule

In very tangential terms, the biggest motivator for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to remain a football independent is financial. The Irish rake in close to $30 million between their NBC deal, their ACC take, and their bowl revenue — which they do not have to share.

They have invaded both the Pac-12 and ACC conferences and make scheduling a challenge for teams in both leagues. Even with the pandemic, Notre Dame won’t want for games this season — if there is a season. There are few schools with as sweet a deal as the Irish in college football.

Other than the money, the Irish have the freedom — well some freedom — to schedule who they want. Part of their agreement with the ACC is they have to play a partial conference schedule — five games — every season. Since the Irish usually play 12 games, that leaves seven games, they have the freedom to schedule.

They get to play their annual rivalry games against USC, Stanford, and Navy every season. All three of those games are crucial for recruiting. They’ve started a series of games with Georgia the last couple of years as well. If they are locked into an eight or nine-game schedule, that limits schedule freedom.

That’s what being an independent is all about as well: freedom.