Where will Notre Dame land: Big Ten? SEC?
Paul Finebaum thinks that the Big Ten, and not the SEC, is the likely landing spot for Notre Dame should they join a conference.
The college football expansion war is likely to come down to which conference lands Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, because of their national fan base, are a huge draw and bring strong ratings.
(Which is why they want $75 million, reportedly, to stay independent).
The Big Ten and the SEC would be considered the favorites to land Notre Dame but the ACC would also likely be in the mix.
But it is the Big Ten and the SEC that are likely to pull in Notre Dame, given the strength of their media rights package.
An ESPN analyst and the most-connected reporter in the SEC, Finebaum recently joined Greg McElroy to discuss conference expansion. Finebaum went all-in on the rise of the Big Ten and the SEC as superpowers.
But he wasn’t as sold on the future of the ACC.
Check out what Paul Finebaum had to say about the Big Ten, the SEC, Notre Dame and conference expansion in his conversation with Greg McElroy!
Paul Finebaum on where he thinks Notre Dame lands...the Big Ten or the SEC?
“Notre Dame is a little more difficult because you just don’t know what they don’t think the same way we do. I think the SEC is a perfect landing spot for them. But there’s so much history…there’s the turn of the nose toward the academics, several schools down here that the Big Ten is a better marriage if they went somewhere.”
Paul Finebaum on the possibility of Notre Dame getting $75 million in a media rights deal
“They can’t get that in the ACC and…I mean I’m sure I’ve popped off in the past about the ACC but the ACC is in trouble because of the deal. I mean, we all have friends, maybe ourselves where you cut a contract and then you complain about it and ultimately you signed it. They signed that deal.
“And they’re dealing with powerful companies like ESPN and FOX and others and they’re as good as their product. And their product is it’s good football, don’t misunderstand me but outside of a handful of those schools you’re not going to get eyeballs over there versus what you’re about to see in the Big Ten and the SEC.”
Paul Finebaum on what programs hold value for the SEC
“Aside from Notre Dame, I think Clemson today is the most attractive but Greg I was on a show earlier with one of your friends. And he was arguing that SC (USC) because of Lincoln Riley and Miami because of (Mario) Cristobal, are so valuable. Neither one of them may be there in 10 years. You can’t just get a team based on the coach that you have. You have to look a little bit farther down the road and look how difficult has been to digest Oklahoma and Texas over the last 52 weeks – we’re still not even there yet. So you try it in Clemson or North Carolina or someone like that. So what you almost need is a big bang effect where the whole thing just blows up and it’s easier to grab than trying to go through the nuances of tortious interference.”
Paul Finebaum on tension with the Big Ten and the SEC
“Tthere’s a lot of tension and it’s Shakespearean and the history of it – we’ll save that for a book. But ultimately, I think they have to come together. And for the CFP to work, you are probably going to need the Big Ten, the SEC and one other component – Notre Dame to agree on something.
“You know a lot of people said that the SEC is going to play the Big Ten for the national championship. You want Notre Dame involved there. They are important. They’re not as important as they think they are. Nor are they as important as they used to be. But they’re still a major player.
Paul Finebaum on where he thinks Notre Dame will end up
“I think Notre Dame will end up in the Big Ten – if they if they go somewhere because it makes too much sense. And I don’t know what the history is with Knute Rockne and Fielding Yost and things that happened even before I was born. We’re talking 100 years ago, more than 100 years ago, but it is time.
“And I’d love them in the SEC but I don’t think they’re going to be able to convince the people that really matter at Notre Dame- and that’s the administration – that this is where they should be. It just – it would wreak to some people up there as just a pure money grab.
“Notre Dame even though everything it does football-wise is about money doesn’t want anybody else to know that.”
