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Irish eye safety net
By Jim Litke
The Associated Press
Going it alone is never easy.
So it's hard to blame Notre Dame for making another round of inquiries about
tying its future to this conference or that. Given the shifting alliances
and cutthroat deals being cut in college football, the people in charge at
South Bend would be irresponsible not to take a long look.
The security that a move to the ACC or Big Ten would bring is tempting.
There is strength in numbers - a valuable commodity when it's time to sit
across the bargaining table from the TV networks. The money would still be
good and the headaches considerably fewer.
But here's the catch: It would also drain most of the magic out of one of
the few remaining magical programs in sports.
Independence is what made the Irish. At the start of the last century, Notre
Dame became the focal point for a country fast filling up with immigrants
and just beginning to fall in love with sports.
The Irish rode the trains to both coasts and stopped off at any point in
between. They might be in Yankee Stadium one weekend, Soldier Field the
next, and the Coliseum the weekend after. In the days before television, a
cheap ticket and a subway ride - hence "subway alumni" - was usually all it
took to cheer, or boo, the Irish in person.
And for all the things that are different at the start of this century, it
would be a shame if Notre Dame lowered its profile now.
In 1999, when talk of joining the Big Ten actually was put to a vote of the
university's board of trustees, the late Dan Devine was asked how he'd cast
his ballot if he had one.
Devine had coached the Irish for five seasons, winning the national
championship in 1977. Nobody knew better what made Notre Dame special, or
how tough it was to keep it that way.
"When you grow up playing sports, you love the idea that a team would go any
place and play anybody at any time. That was what Notre Dame always stood
for," he said. "I don't think it should change now."
Nobody at Notre Dame is saying that it's about to change now, either. In a
statement Wednesday, athletic director Kevin White said there were no plans
to change a thing. "However," he added, "we are continuing to monitor the
landscape."
And anybody looking closely has reason to be nervous.
Conferences are devouring each other at a furious pace. As a result, the
next time some old rivals meet will be in a court instead of on a football
field.
What the conferences are doing is positioning themselves for the end of the
2005 season, when the TV deal that gives the Bowl Championship Series a
chokehold on the lucrative part of college football's postseason is up. So
is the exclusive, even more lucrative TV deal Notre Dame struck with NBC.
"In my heart of hearts," Gene Corrigan said, "I'd like to see them stay the
way they've been. But I'm not sure that things haven't changed significantly
enough that even a place like Notre Dame needs to look at things in a
different light."
Corrigan has a better perspective on Notre Dame's dilemma than almost
anybody else. He used to be the athletic director there, before becoming
commissioner of the ACC and president of the NCAA from 1995-97. Corrigan
knows how much clout Notre Dame still carries. What no one knows is how long
it will last.
Last year, though few noticed it and even fewer mentioned it, Notre Dame
lost its vote as a member of the BCS. The Irish no longer carried as much
weight as the six major conferences that are also BCS members.
Practically, it made no difference. The Irish still get special
consideration from the poll voters when they're good - and sometimes, even
when they're not. Their strength of schedule always gives them a chance to
contend for the national championship, and they get bowl invitations just
because of the size of the traveling party.
Yet Notre Dame is spending more and more every year to hold on to its
independence. Soon, even the Irish will have to take out a mortgage.
When a new TV deal is struck, nothing short of a playoff will break the
major conferences' grip on the national championship. And some of those
conferences are still smarting over Notre Dame having its own TV network.
The price of a seat at that table is only going to go up.
Two big college football independents chose the conference route a decade
ago. Florida State joined the ACC and has used it as a launching pad to
contend for the national championship every year.
Penn State slipped comfortably into the Big Ten. The move has benefited both
parties, but after some initial success in the conference, the Nittany Lions
haven't jumped back onto the national stage since.
What made Notre Dame football the thrilling high-wire act it became - and
remains - was that the Irish never used a net. It never required more nerve
than now.
Notre Dame also has provided so many of the game's best moments that it says
nothing good about the state of the sport that the school has started
pricing safety nets now.
Jim Litke is the national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write
to him at [email protected].
�2003 The Associated Press. Bonesville.net contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
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02.23.07 10:36 AM
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