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What the new ACC-ESPN network means for Notre Dame

By Greg Hadley

Mar 8, 2015; Greensboro, NC, USA; The ACC logo with balloons during the Championship game at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Notre Dame wins the ACC Womens
Mar 8, 2015; Greensboro, NC, USA; The ACC logo with balloons during the Championship game at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. Notre Dame wins the ACC Womens /
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ESPN and the ACC officially announced the launch of the ACC Network on Thursday, and that announcement carries some big implications for Notre Dame.

First of all, here are the basic details: The new ACC Network will unveil some digital components immediately this fall, with the actual channel debuting in 2019. The partnership runs for 20 years, through 2036.

Related Story: ACC Network to premier in 2019

Basically, almost every sporting event within the conference will be available only through ESPN, which said 600 events will be available online in 2016 and 450 events will be broadcast on television in 2019.

Ok, so what does all of this mean for Notre Dame? Let’s start with the most basic and move on to the slightly more complicated.

WatchND will likely contract

WatchND is Notre Dame’s digital platform where the school has broadcast most of its lower-tier (i.e. football and men’s basketball) sports. It’s also where the athletic administration produces some original content of its own.

Sports like baseball, softball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, volleyball and even women’s basketball were mainly seen through WatchND, which broadcasted most home games over the web. Right away, that should change, as the ACC Digital Network will likely start grabbing games and pulling them under the conference umbrella.

Men’s basketball will play 20 conference games per season

In conjunction with the unveiling of the new network, ACC commissioner John Swofford announced that the men’s basketball conference schedule will expand by two games for each team, from 18 to 20. That change won’t take place until the 2019-2020 season though.

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The consensus among pundits seem to be that this was a natural and smart decision for the conference. Most conferences are currently at 18 games, but with 15 teams in the ACC, there is currently barely enough contests to go around.

Not to mention, the ACC has very strong parity at the moment, with seven (would have been eight if not for Louisville’s postseason ban) teams in the NCAA tournament, almost all of whom could conceivably challenge for the conference title. Of course, there are a few punching bags at the bottom (here’s looking at you, Boston College), but that number is pretty small all things considered.

With a new network on the way and plenty of airtime to fill, the ACC needed more content, especially entertaining content, and this schedule bump is a natural fit for that. Notre Dame, meanwhile, will face a more daunting schedule than ever before, as the program’s nonconference slate in recent years has been a little, shall we say, less than formidable?

If Notre Dame football wishes to join a conference before 2036, it almost certainly will be the ACC

Alongside the announcement of the ACC Network came the news that the conference was extending its grant of rights through 2036, the length of its deal with ESPN.

Basically, here’s what that means.

What the hell is a grant of rights though, you may ask? Excellent question. It is an agreement put in place by the ACC back in 2013 after the conference was hit with the surprise exit of Maryland to the Big Ten. Rather than charge teams a $50 million exit fee as it had before, the league persuaded all its members to relinquish its TV rights to the conference.

Now, if a school were to exit the ACC, it would be forfeiting millions of dollars in television rights for the duration of the deal, which is to say, until 2036.

Currently, the Irish football program has a deal with NBC that lasts through the 2025 football season and is reportedly worth $15 million annually. That alone would make it unlikely for Notre Dame to jump into a conference any time soon, as no league would be willing to let that arrangement continue, and the Irish get to keep all that money themselves instead of sharing revenue with other schools..

But even if the university did, or did so after 2025, they would almost certainly have to join a conference in more than just football, and in doing so they would give up the TV rights for any of their other sports and be losing out on millions. That’s not likely to happen. So if the Irish do decide to take the plunge and join one of the Power 5, it will be the ACC.

So why should Notre Dame be OK with extending the grant of rights for 20 years then? Well, that’s thanks to an interesting quirk to the ACC Network agreement.

That unique arrangement makes leaving even less attractive, as the Irish would be leaving far more dollars on the table by walking away. It’s a big concession for the ACC to make, but ultimately it’s an effective one. After 2025, who knows if NBC will want to extend its deal with Notre Dame?

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Regardless of how some fans feel about it, the ACC and Notre Dame are becoming more and more intertwined. It started with five ACC football opponents per year, and now it seems as though nobody but the ACC can have the Irish if they ever make the jump to full conference play.

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