All Things Notre Dame - The Clashmore Mike Memorial Thread

[hack]

Hey I live in Ypsi now and it ain't so bad. None of that, please...

[Dr. Strangelove]

USC and Michigan last played a home-and-home (the only time actually) in 1957-58. I'd think it high time to make it happen again

[Clashmore Mike]

I thought the ACC just signed a TV deal? And in any event, the ACC is only going to get 3 ND games, at the most, per year for its TV deal (presumably, ND will play 2/3, 3/2 home/away split). The others go to NBC.

All correct. The ACC did just ink a deal in the last six months...apparently (re)negotiations are already in the works. As I understand it, this will be the ACC's payoff...of the entire ACC/ABC-ESPN contract, 80% is attributed to football, the remaining 20% is everything else. ND keeps the NBC deal, doesn't see a dime of the football $$$ from 80% of the ACC's TV contract, including any/all additional revenue they garner from the renegotiation. ND does get an equal share of the remaining 20% of the contract attributed to non-football sports.

It is a 3/2, 2/3, 3/2...split. ND will play each ACC team at least once every three years. The order will be determined by the ACC, apparently with a "gentlemen's agreement" that ND won't get saddled with the top programs (VT, FSU, Clemson, Miami) on any single given season. Also, ND may use it's current "Shamrock" series game to fulfill one of the ACC slot obligations...again, there is supposedly a "gentlemen's agreement" that ND will provide plenty of notice and get ACC input/approval before actually doing that.

[Clashmore Mike]

From a fairly reliable OSU insider...

Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue will announce shortly that they are dropping ND from their schedules....


Michigan will attempt to start scheduling USC....


Michigan State will attempt to start scheduling Va Tech....


Purdue is undecided, but Maryland could be a likely suitor.....


stay tuned.....


All disclaimers and such that go along with "insider" claims.

The State AD is quoted in the Detroit Free Press today as saying that Sparty intends to fulfill the current series. That deal runs through 2031, but takes three, two season breaks. There is also an AP story that has Brandon as saying that we would like to continue playing ND after the 2020 season (I thought our current deal with Michigan ran to 2031, with a couple of breaks also???).

The ND boards are all consistent, but apparently without any official source in saying that Navy, USC and Stanford are locks to be permanent fixtures on the schedule. The first two are givens, but I don't get and don't like Stanford as an inclusion. I'd much rather they concentrate on keeping one permanent Big Ten game...ideally Michigan or Michigan St.

Our most reliable board insider is saying that ND will continue to play two Big Ten teams per season, but will rotate the teams...

[*JD*]

Hey I live in Ypsi now and it ain't so bad. None of that, please...

You're living in Ypsitucky right now? It all depends on what part of Ypsi we're talking about, just like any city. I have a couple of friends that live out there and have nice neighborhoods.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Clash- Is there any sense that fans want/expect to play a full ACC schedule eventually? They are supposed to switch to a 9-game conf schedule once Cuse and Pitt join and that would make it basically impossible for ND to keep even the USC/Navy/Stanford games

[Dr. Strangelove]

Also, is Notre Dame contractually obligated to play these 5 games a year or is that also a handshake agreement? I seem to recall that ND had an informal agreement to play 3 Big East teams every year which fell by the wayside

[hack]

All the cool eccentric bits of a college town that Ann Arbor is now missing - I found them here! I like it here in several ways...

[lineygoblue]

Hack - I'll be working a football game in the Ypsilanti area on Friday night. I should just find a place to spend the night, because I have tickets for the UMass game on Saturday.

[Clashmore Mike]

Clash- Is there any sense that fans want/expect to play a full ACC schedule eventually? They are supposed to switch to a 9-game conf schedule once Cuse and Pitt join and that would make it basically impossible for ND to keep even the USC/Navy/Stanford games

I haven't heard or seen that anywhere, and it's not my understanding of it at all. Certainly not the impression of any ND fans...hell some of them are bitching about having to play five ACC teams, which I think is ridiculous to complain about.

My only real concern is the $50+ million opt-out penalty. If we were to be forced into a conference and/or some other dramatic change takes place in CFB, I'd like to think that we can re-evaluate...but then that's probably not fair to the ACC. Also, I understand that the $50+ million opt-out clause applies to all members and is effective immediately...which should quell the noise FSU & Clemson were making about jumping ship. I guess everyone is committed to making this work for everyone else...

[Clashmore Mike]

Also, is Notre Dame contractually obligated to play these 5 games a year or is that also a handshake agreement? I seem to recall that ND had an informal agreement to play 3 Big East teams every year which fell by the wayside

The five games in a contractual obligation. I believe that the requirement begins in 2015, but that Swarbrick intends to try for 2014. The only handshake/gentlemen part applies to ND not getting stuck with FSU, VT, Clemson, Miami, GT...etc all in the same season. Also that ND won't unilaterally decide to use the shamrock series with an ACC obligation unless both parties find it agreeable.

Note that the handshake/gentlemen stuff is from moderators on ND pay-sites...not from ND or Swarbrick...so though I generally trust it, I can't confirm it.

As far as the three Big East teams, I think it was a formal agreement as of ten years ago. It was generally fulfilled via fairly regular home/home games against Boston College and Pitt. Then we sprinkled some West Va., Syracuse, and UConn in periodically. Apparently that fell apart when everybody started jumping ship...don't really know much about it.

[lineygoblue]

No offense, Mike... but I've never been a fan of the yearly M vs ND series anyway. If it goes away now, I'd have no problem with it.

I could see Mich and ND agreeing to play each other every 5th and 6th year, home and home, but I think both schools would be better off scheduling others for the rest of the time.

[WM Wolverine]

I like the ND series (lots of Domer friends) but would like to see us play them for 2 years, a year off, etc.

[hack]

Hack - I'll be working a football game in the Ypsilanti area on Friday night. I should just find a place to spend the night, because I have tickets for the UMass game on Saturday.

Unfortunately we're outta town, but if you wanna break into our place I'm sure the cops won't notice... :smile:

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here's what boggles my mind and it should be a lesson in branding for Diamond Dave ......

The power that ND wields in negotiating to its advantage is astounding. In this deal with the ACC, ND gets to have it's cake and eat it too. IOW, they continue their lucrative contract with NBC, on their terms for football, join a conference for their other sports, getting a 20% cut in revenues from the ACC there, and assure themselves a place in a conference (the ACC - whihc I thinkn is a good place for them) should the landscape change a couple of years into the new play-off format that starts in 2014.

They are golden going forward.

How does ND do this considering their football team has been absent from the national championship discussion for two decades? Essentially football irrelevance. Teams like Boise and TCU want to know.

Well, there is ND football history but, my God, you have to go way back to latch on to that, farther than Michigan's past that it celebrates with its smattering of good teams in the era of modern CFB. Nonetheless, history is a good part of it.

But the powers to be at ND over the last decade or so, and particularly Jack Swarbuck, deserve a lot of credit for being able to polish a rotten apple. ND fans are loyal. Probably more so than fickele M fans and I suspect Swarbrick, et. al., have done a good job of keeping them loyal although I don't know many of the details.

Meanwhile Dave Brandon has gone a long way in pissing off the M fan base with his act that includes souring the brand with stupid uniform changes (just stay with the basics, please), the 2011 home schedule (which he readily dismisses to alums by writing us, "that won't home again.") and the crap fest that is the game day experience including giant score boards that lack a display for basic, in game football information, accelerating ticket prices along with $8 cokes that make it nearly impossible for a family of four to attend a game because the costs are just too high. Then, Dave goes out and schedules an early season game with Alabama at a neutral site at which he then allows the owner to reap huge profits by selling tickets starting at $125 each and going for as high as $285 face. Jerry gets millions, Michigan gets its usual payout for a home game and if I've got this right, somewhat less.

Anyway, IMO, Brandon is treading on thin ice with the fan base not really giving a shit what we might think, pushing on ahead with football as entertainment while obviously trying to remember M's terrific past history with corney half time films featuring M's past football glory. Vomit. M should be watching ND and that's a tough pill to swallow.