- January 8th, 2019, 1:34 pm
#569233
This sounded kooky at first glance, but after digging a little - IF it is a $ maker, potential enhanced data point and limited hit on ND schedule flexibility then it is actually a good plan for ND. After evaluating a bit more - below is how it would make sense for all parties. ( I have edited this 3 times - ha ! )
Divisions ( as is forget bringing in heavyweights ) focused on bringing in UCONN and 1 more ( Ball State as author recommended )
UMass ( ND away game played at Foxborough where Umass used to play home games )
Ball State ( author suggestion, local IN team for ND - stadium size would be an issue )
Army. ( could elect to play bigger venues like they do often for major team )
ND
Liberty
NMSU
BYU
UCONN ( if they are currently considering Indy for FB team )
Conference Championship Game - Indianapolis ( Colts stadium - basically another home game and big additional revenue generator especially if a network picked up rights or NBC paid additional for anytime ND was in Champ Game )
ND takes Navy off schedule and replaces with currently a much better Army ( top 25 program )
Guarantee to play BYU in 13th game ( most likely ) which isn’t a terrible data point and could generate some additional TV revenue.
That leaves playing 2 bad SOS games ( they typically play 1 per year ) - is it worth it for ND to get the 13th game ? Financially 100% yes. Playoff Committee 13th data point - maybe maybe not.
ND Independence driver is $ - not necessarily scheduling flexibility - the only 2 constant non ACC games they have on schedule is Navy and USC. They eliminated Michigan. ND could insist on their conference games be played prior to ACC scheduled games ( rest of us would be playing in peak conference time when scheduling is tough ) Army for Navy is an upgrade/push - Ball State replaces their 1 weak Mac team or similar they schedule ( but is an in state foe every year )- that leaves 1 more game they have to shuffle. In 2022 ( by memory ) that would be swapping Purdue for UMASS . A downgrade but made up handsomely by BYU in Champ Game.
Rev Share - ND would obviously get Lions Share of Conference TV $. All other schools still win from a rev share ( Ball State would still make more than what they do in MAC ) prestige, SOS etc, etc.
Interesting that some of their fans are behind the quasi conference on the comment section of article... LU and all the other Indepenents would bend over backwards and give ND whatever concessions they wanted.