We have seen the wonderful world of college football change in many ways over the last several years. When the implementation of the transfer portal and the NIL landscape, roster turnover is at an all-time high. Then you throw in conference realignment, and it’s a constant conversation around change and projecting the next steps into the future.
Conference realignment talk continued this week when it was announced that Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Colorado State would be joining the Pac-12 beginning in 2026. This was first reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, which is obviously positive news for the recently depleted Pac-12 conference.
Those programs will join Oregon State and Washington State, the two holdovers from the conference we have all known and loved. This news is also further proof that nobody still has a firm grasp for what the future of college football is really going to look like. This also reaffirms something for me: Notre Dame football should maintain its independence as long as possible.
Changing Landscape
When you talk about conference realignment, we all know it’s about money and power. In regards to the latter, the initial thought around all the movement centered around two conferences, the SEC and Big Ten. We have seen schools like Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC, and USC and Oregon head to the Big Ten for this season. Obviously that’s some massive brands in college football.
People quickly assumed that these were the “super conferences” of the future in college football. Some even theorized that these two would basically become the two major conferences and national championships would be decided between the two, and solely those two. That also assumed that every other conference would just steadily fade until completely disbanded.
It’s still early on in the process but that fade doesn’t seem to be happening, for now anyway. There was a mad rush initially with a lot of folks advising schools to try to find their place in these conferences before it was too late. Obviously Notre Dame was one of the schools being talked about mostly.
As an independent, Notre Dame already had a curious journey to the top of college football. With not belonging to a conference, they were limited to 12 regular season games on their schedule. That was one of the big hindrances that people sighted. When the playoff conversations start, obviously a 13-game sample size as a conference championship participant could outweigh a 12-game one, at least in theory.
Despite the volatile landscape, Notre Dame has stood firmly to their independence. As some speculated, including myself, nobody had a firm grasp of just where this realignment stuff was going. It was all purely speculation, with some educated guessing and some aggressive conversations involved.
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What does Notre Dame really get out of it?
This latest move has proven that we aren’t even close to having a full understanding for what everything will ultimately look like, and the conferences outside of the SEC and Big Ten aren’t just going to go out without a fight. Things are far from over.
We have seen the Big 12 take action over the last year, bringing in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Arizona State, UCF, BYU, Houston and Cincinnati. ACC has also countered by adding SMU, Cal and Stanford to the fold. While they aren’t the most overly exciting additions in a vacuum, the key is that the conferences are fighting back. That includes the Pac-12 this week, which looked on the brink of extinction.
For Notre Dame, maintaining their independence continues to be the best course of action for them. Without a firm grasp of understanding for what the future can bring, rushing just makes for shallow decisions. There’s no need to be impulsive and go into a conference when things could change so rapidly.
From a monetary perspective, it also doesn’t make much sense. You want to join a conference so you can share the revenue, when you already have your own television deal and are one of the big brands in college football? Notre Dame is far from hurting for money, and in this monopoly, they control their wealth more than most programs.
The appeal of a conference championship also isn't nearly what people pretend like it is either. With the 12-team playoff format, the margin for error has grown so drastically. If Notre Dame goes 12-0 or 11-1 every year, they are guaranteed to make the field. There will also be some years where 10-2 would even be good enough to make the playoffs. You might not have the luxury of an automatic qualifier, but there’s no way of keeping you out if you deserve to be there.
As Notre Dame, you are also always going to have demand. This isn’t a single window of interest from conferences to want you to join. Despite the hatred that the brand brings, the Irish are incredibly valuable and conferences know that. Notre Dame is one of the biggest brands in all of college football, and conferences will always make room if they ever did concede.
The program also becomes more and more valuable the longer you delay joining a conference. Football is king in the United States, and the market will continue to increase. Quite simply, the longer Notre Dame holds strong with their independence, the most they will be worth to a prospective conference. Their value will continue to increase, especially with these conferences potentially bidding against one another.
One last underrated value for Notre Dame staying independent is the brand appeal and recruiting. I don’t know about you, but visiting the city of South Bend, Indiana outside of football season isn’t an overly desirable destination. The brand, and prestige, is why people come.
Getting that brand in front of as many fans is paramount for maintaining the uniqueness of Notre Dame football. With no conference allegiance, they are not regionally tied down. Notre Dame has complete control over scheduling. That allows them to play programs like Texas A&M, USC, East Coast schools, and others all over the country.
That allows for visibility. For a lot of prospective fans and recruits outside of the Midwest bubble, they aren’t overly informed or educated about the Irish program outside of the NBC contract and the golden helmets. Keeping them relevant and visible is huge for the growth of the program. Generating that interest is huge.
So the natural question must be asked again: What exactly does Notre Dame get out of joining a conference? The people who mainly want it are the Notre Dame haters that dislike the uniqueness of the program. For the sake of the program, being patient and maintaining their independence as long as possible is best for the continued growth of the Notre Dame brand.
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