Notre Dame’s long-running relationship with NBC could be headed for a rough stretch after Comcast’s Monday announcement that it plans to spin off NBCUniversal.
The move opens the door for NBCUniversal - or pieces of it - to be sold, and that includes NBC, Peacock, the Universal movie studio and Sky, the European media arm. Notre Dame is tied directly into that picture because NBC holds the broadcast rights to the Fighting Irish, a setup that has helped keep the program independent and out of a conference.
Drew Lerner of Awful Announcing flagged the broader stakes soon after the news broke, writing that NBCUniversal’s split “will have huge implications for sports media.” That’s not an exaggeration. NBC’s sports portfolio is loaded, with rights to the NFL, NBA, Olympics, Kentucky Derby, PGA Tour and college football, along with Notre Dame football.
At first glance, the Irish would seem to be in a decent spot. Any buyer would likely view Notre Dame as one of the most attractive assets in the mix. But that doesn’t mean the road ahead is clean.
One concern is simple: money. If a new owner takes over the rights package, there’s no guarantee it will keep paying the same amount, or anywhere close to it, when the next deal comes up. If the buyer is squeezed financially, the price for Notre Dame’s home games could be the first place the pressure shows up.
And that’s where the long-term danger starts to get real. If the money on the table stalls out, or worse, goes backward, it could force Pete Bevacqua to reconsider the program’s setup and look harder at conference affiliation. In a college football world where cash drives everything, anything that makes it harder for Notre Dame to keep pace with the Power 4s would be a serious threat to the identity the school has protected for years.
Even if Notre Dame stays with NBC, there’s another wrinkle. NBC also has NFL rights, and if part of NBCU gets sold, the league would have the ability to reopen broadcast-rights negotiations. That could drive the price higher, and if NBC has to spend more to keep the NFL, it raises the question of whether that squeeze could spill over to South Bend.
Of course, there’s also a chance this barely touches Notre Dame at all. Whoever ends up with the rights should understand how valuable the Irish are. But even a smaller shift, like Notre Dame ending up on a streaming-only platform such as Amazon Video, would still be a clear negative for the program.
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