Excellent write-up. Its funny looking back to remember just how few college games used to be on TV, when nowadays pretty much any big game will get some coverage on SOME channel.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 8:28 am | #

I can't believe some people still have their undies tied up in knots over our TV deal.
george zimmerman | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 8:41 am | #

We've come to expect every ND game to be on and are shocked, shocked when someone elects not to pick up an away game. I remember not listening for the ND score on Saturdays and the seeing the Lindsay Nelson "moving to further action in the 2nd quarter" re-telecasts on Sunday Morning.
Yeah, it's about money and NBC guarantees themselves an audience and the money the ratings bring if they have ND all the time....I will tell you I don't bother looking at many other games....Do you really want to see an Iowa/Nortwestern game.?
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 9:02 am | #

GREAT write up. A lot of research went into this. Best I have seen explaing the TV deals.
Sir John from DD | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 9:21 am | #

What is CFA? When I go to CFA.org, I get the Cat Fancier's Association. Can you put it in the article somewhere so I don't have the read the entire thing wondering what it is...
Joe from the YO | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 9:47 am | #

CFA stands for College Football Association. I put it in the post. You can also click the link to read the entire article to get more info, something I highly recommend.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 9:55 am | #

By the way, there is a media conference call later today between ND and NBC. Perhaps they will announce the extension of the current TV contract, currently set to expire in 2010.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 10:03 am | #

I hope so, Pat!

Great write up. Until now I thought other schools and conferences were just jealous that ND has it's own channel, but now I see that maybe they have a timy legitimate cry if there were some shady dealings with Fr. Beauchamp. Either way, I'm glad MY (our) school is on TV 90% or more of the time.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 10:07 am | #

I would have to say that the Big Ten denying its fans access to games by tying them up on the BTN, particularly those games of purportedly public institutions, has far surpassed any possible cause for criticism of ND on this one.
IndyTom | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 10:08 am | #

JoePa and his crazy, clueless comments. This coming from Penn State which now has TV deals with ABC, ESPN and has there own TV network!
The Butobi Brothers | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 10:38 am | #

To all the ND haters out there: sorry for partying.
KWH | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 10:42 am | #

I understand why people get pissed off about ND having its own network, but what people need to realize is, as noted in the article, ND is the only college sports team in the country with a truly national audience.

I mean, I know teams like UM and tOSU have huge fan bases (not as big as ND, but huge nontheless) but about 99% of those fans live in or right around Michigan and Ohio. Except for occasional alumni living out in California of something, who inevitably order special sports packages to watch em, nobody else cares.

With Notre Dame, on the other hand, you will find just as many Irish fans down in Texas, California, New York/New Jersey, and Florida as you will in northern Indiana and Chicago. And as one of the bigger fan bases of ANY sports team in this country, they demand coverage, and someone out there will make money giving it to them.

Far too many people mistaking believe that ND has a national fan base because they have national TV coverage. What they don't understand is that its the other way around.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 11:03 am | #

Another vault item: http://vault.sportsillustrated.c...151/1/ index.htm

"'I wear shoes,' said an exasperated Renaldo Turnbull, the Mountaineers' All-East linebacker. 'People in West Virginia wear shoes. We don't have wooden teeth.' In fact, Turnbull is from the Virgin Islands and is just one of 97 out-of-state athletes among the Mountaineers. Nehlen has shrewdly looked south—to the Miami area mostly—to find 'speed' and 'skill position' players. Read: black athletes. There were 18 players from Florida on the West Virginia squad, including four starters."

Read: black athletes? Think this guy got the Hornung treatment?
KWH | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 11:06 am | #

NBC just extended ND's contract to 2015. Who will be the first hack writer to say that ND has sold it's soul with this new deal.
The Butobi Brothers | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 12:16 pm | #

Domers,

If we "sold the soul" for football glory (blah blah), why was Holtz forced out?
ThE LoSt BoY | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 12:20 pm | #

How many times can we "sell our soul" for a TV contract or a new football coach? I figured once it's sold, it's sold, which according the sports pundits had to have happened decades ago. Would we get to "buy back our soul" if we turned down an extension? We already "donate" most of our BCS winnings by foregoing about $10 million we should receive. Is that at least a down payment for getting our soul back?

More seriously, I am glad that our contract paved the way for more football games on TV. There have been some great Thursday night games in the last few years -- now that the Big East has some decent teams.
JM | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 1:56 pm | #

I hate the idea of the "8th" home game/neutral site, but the article does say it will always be shown in primetime.

So, we got that goin' for us.
Which is nice.
GamecockTony | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 1:56 pm | #

Joe "Pa" really needs to retire...the sooner the better.
tednict | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 2:41 pm | #

Thank god for the TV contract. I live in Seattle, if I had to settle for Pac-10 games and whatever ESPN was showing, I'd go insane or move east.

As someone else said, why do people still have their undies in a bunch over this? All of college football has sold it's soul, shut up and watch the game.

Now that we've extended the contract again, can we PLEASE broadcast live on the internet and have the game available in it's entirety for viewing afterward? Some fans occasionally travel for work and go through extensive precautionary measures (including threatening friends and coworkers lives if they spill the beans) to make sure they don't find out what happened until they get home and watch it on DVR.

So I hear.
jaisn | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 2:48 pm | #

Joe Pa might spend more time keeping his players off the police blotter.
Dana Payne | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 2:49 pm | #

I for one, LOVE the NBC contract. Extend it to 2050, please! Nothing makes me savor the home game atmosphere like those momentum-killing TV timeouts. And when I watch from home, I'm always happy to knock out my day with 3+ hours of commercials, especially when I'm thinking about investment advice, a mortgage, or an ADT home security system.

Tom Hammonds and that dude who used to play for USC are the GREATEST press box duo in college football. Totally objective, they play it straight and never blow smoke up anyone's butt.

And let the record show Irish have been AWESOME on the gridiron ever since. All the 5-star recruits want to get on TV, and we have just steamrolled teams at home. Who win defend this ho-wse? The Fighting Irish...and NBC, that's who?
JH | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 3:34 pm | #

While is the deal with NBC is obviously good news, I can't help but get a bit upset about the confirmation that the offsite game will be considered a home game and will be an 8th game for NBC. That means we'll have four legitimate road games and we'll be seeing more games against the San Diego States since we won't have too many road games to offer. I hope that decision doesn't come back to bite us.
ND Alum | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 3:50 pm | #

but I guess there is a comment later in the article that tempers that a little bit -

"When the current contract expires in 2010, NBC will have televised 36 games over five years, due to the addition in several years of a seventh home game and/or an eighth off-site game."

So scratch some amount of my bitterness.
ND Alum | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 3:52 pm | #

JH,

I feel the same way about the TV timeouts and the ref with the orange glove.

I hope the new contract has some time limits built in (read: play this thing in the same time it takes to play a pro football game).

My guess is that, no, we will continue to bow toward NBC and its 4-hr marathons. And no, I will never sign up for Vonage, so stop trying to sell it to me every commercial break. And no, I don't plan on talking to Chuck anytime soon either.
Berger | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 3:54 pm | #

Reference the contract extention.
Any word on the announcers for 2008? Tom Hammond and Pat (U$C) Haden?
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 4:09 pm | #

Check this:

http://www.fannation.com/truth_a...mors/view/ 54555

OSU is going high tech....
DieselKnight | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 4:59 pm | #

For me, I don't mind the four hour games, I am just glad that I can watch all of the home games. Down here in Arkansas if it is not a home game I usually have to do ppv. (U.S.C. and E.S.P.I.N. games I get though) Wait that means I have to pay for about one a year. Guess us Irish fans are spoiled. I LOVE N.B.C., I vote extension throught the year 3000, I should be dead by then.
ARIrish | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 5:10 pm | #

Brad - re: "...about 99% of those fans live in or right around Michigan and Ohio..."

That may be true for OSU fans but go to any sports bars in Raleigh or NoCal on a Saturday in the fall and all you see is Michigan shirts. Are there any UM grads live in Michigan? Is there any one left in Michigan at all?

As far as the NBC deal, living in the south means I see less ND games per year now than I did before the deal. Get to see the home games but rarely is ND shown as a regional game here.
Old Fan | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 5:16 pm | #

I hope the new contract has some time limits built in (read: play this thing in the same time it takes to play a pro football game).

They are going to more of a pro-style format in terms of the play clock (ball must be snapped within 40 seconds from the end of the previous play; clock reverts to 25 after an incomplete pass or a time-out). That might help a bit. But I fully expect 3+ hour games this season.
DJ | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 5:58 pm | #

ND really revolutionized college football and if ND didn't get it first another program would have. The tone of this article is so funny, as everyone is shocked that a team would be on tv and make money from it. 18 years later we have multi million dollar coaches and the BCS. Oh and College football is on CBS ABC ESPN ESPN2 ESPN payperview, ESPNU, CSTV, FOX, TBS. We may have sold out souls for this deal but everyother team had no problem following suit
Gilligan28 | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 6:52 pm | #

Joe Pa's hypocrisy defies belief. He helped build a mega stadium complete with luxury boxes leased at obscene rates, There is commercial advertising all over Beaver Stadium and most of his games are now on TV. This is a guy who basically led the charge to have PSU join the Big Ten because he thought the Lions were going to dominate. Yea! Right. Look at his record against Michigan for starters.
lush | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 7:51 pm | #

The biggest indictment of Joe Paterno is what he has done the past 8 years. He is essentially holding the school he loves back in order to win his own personal pissing contest with Bobby Bowden.

Great job on this article and quite frankly, I've really enjoyed the whole series.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 8:38 pm | #

ND needs the NBC revenue more than ever as they now get screwed on BCS payout. $17M to all conference BCS particpants but $4.5M to ND as a second place finisher.

You get what you negotiate.

I didn't see an SI article lamenting ND got screwed by the greedy conferences and their presidents when it came to the new BCS deal.

SI = "Screw Irish"
PZ | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 8:56 pm | #

I hate those long commercial breaks, but they are why NBC can pay what it does for the rights to telecast the games, which goes into student financial aid. A fair trade off for ADT and Halls Fruit Breezer ads, I suppose.
Anon | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 9:44 pm | #

If Joe Pa were the head coach at ND in 1986 (his last NC) and peformed the way he has since then at PSU, would he have remained the coach at ND??
lush | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 11:04 pm | #

This is a guy who basically led the charge to have PSU join the Big Ten because he thought the Lions were going to dominate. Yea! Right. Look at his record against Michigan for starters.

That's the least of PSU's concerns. Before joining the Big 10, they were not even a top 50 school. Their academic reputation has grown tremendously since joining, as they are part of the academic consortium of the Big 10, plus U. of Chicago and UIC. They can endure JoePa's Ahab-like quest for the record if their academic prestige continues to improve.
DJ | Email | Homepage | 06.19.08 - 11:41 pm | #

DJ, that's the hardest thing I've read on this board in months. You must have a maple keyboard. And to top it off with a coinage like 'Ahab-like quest' - instant classic. Nice!
indy | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 12:03 am | #

You're far too kind, indy.

Make no mistake, JoePa has been an incredible figure in Penn State's history, analogous to Rockne in terms of building the football program and using at as a catalyst to increase the prestige of the university as a whole. If he stays "too long" as coach, and loses a few too many games, and gets the record anyway...well, good for him. It's all a walnut in the batter of eternity, anyway...
DJ | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 12:49 am | #

DJ


I must refer again to Murray Sperber's book SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER which is a riveting look at the rise of Notre Dame football and subsequently ND.

Intuitively , I feel the rise of major state universities such as PSU can be credited to the far greater costs of a private education.

One also cannot understate the largesse of state legislatures.

I would even conclude that based on so called ratings of so called national schools major state schools will outshine most private institutions.

Outside of the Ivys , Chicago, Northwestern,, Duke, ND , Vandy Stanford and say MIT the major state schools outshine most private institutions.

While football will be a factor, voting with the purse was decisive for the PSU's of the world.
Dana Payne | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 8:36 am | #

PS : Of course your big three military academies are also non private in funding.
Dana Payne | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 8:38 am | #

Anything for people to hate on ND. It just sounds like teams and other fans wish there teams had it like ND does. I love that know matter where I am I can see the Irish. Well there was that airforce game, but for most of the time its great. The only bad part is when we are bad the whole country can see it, I just can't wait till the Irish rule college football again.
In Weis We Trust!!!
stadiumdudenamedchip | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 9:37 am | #

Stadium Dude,


Speaking of everywhere, I remember seeing the 1990 Air Force game live while we were in Paris. It was broadcast in French.

Given the time difference it was an evening game ,so it didn't interfere with tourist time.
Dana Payne | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 12:24 pm | #

I always feel like a jerk complaining about the NBC game broadcasts, because I know I'm lucky that I get to watch my favorite team every week. That being said, they are horrible. The "Charles Schwab Conversation" segway is always so awkward it is physically painful. Hammond and Haden are, well, bad. And the only Vonage commercial that I even remotely enjoyed was the "Look honey! Dolphins!" one. Also, I hate the horrible canned 3-second "Victory March" sound they make at commercial breaks.

But at the end of the day, much of that money from NBC goes to scholarships for everyday, normal students. So I guess it's worth it.
Jade | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 12:47 pm | #

If NBC could just get rid of Hammond-eggs & Squeeky then all would be right with the world and this contract extension.

Why is it so hard for them to find 2 professionals to be in the booth for ND games? If they were that good, they would be involved with other sporting events (unless you count ice skating & demolition curling).

Why do networks even feel compelled to have knuckleheads in the booth droning on anyway? I'd be perfectly happy watching the game and stats sidebar with the stadium announcer used for the audio portion of the telecast.
Irish_Angst | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 1:05 pm | #

Mike & Mike should broadcast the games. I'm sure ESPN would never allow it, but damn that'd be sweet.
Domer Guy | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 1:23 pm | #

They could have Golic and Jacobsen do it. They'd last about 5 minutes before Golic throttled her and stuffed her horse face in a trash can.
JohnF | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 1:35 pm | #

Back in the day, I'd watch with the TV on mute and Tony Roberts blaring on the radio.

While NBC's corporate sponsors are busy icing the players and taking the home crowd out of the game, I like to nip out to do things like mow the lawn, build a new deck, or fly to Europe.
JH | Email | Homepage | 06.20.08 - 3:43 pm | #

I must refer again to Murray Sperber's book SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER which is a riveting look at the rise of Notre Dame football and subsequently ND.

Sperber's books are excellent.

Intuitively , I feel the rise of major state universities such as PSU can be credited to the far greater costs of a private education.

One also cannot understate the largesse of state legislatures.

There's a little more to it than that, I think. If, within the next 20 years we see Florida, Arizona/Arizona State, Colorado, and Nevada/UNLV crack the lists, you might have something there.
DJ | Email | Homepage | 06.22.08 - 2:14 pm | #

Actually Fla is # 49 according to US News and World Report. AZ was #96 and ASU was #124. UNLV? AS for admissions to football program, they most likely have low admissions.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 06.23.08 - 1:33 am | #