Notre Dame Football: Top Storylines vs Navy

Home Sellout Streak Ends

*Sighs in disappointed Notre Dame fan*

I guess things will always end eventually, and Notre Dame’s home sellout streak is no exception. Saturday’s game vs Navy will be the first time since Thanksgiving day in 1973 that an Irish football team will run out of the tunnel to a non-sold out crowd.

In case you’re counting, that’s 273 straight home sell out games, second to only Nebraska’s 373 straight sell outs, which is still active today.

Via the South Bend Tribute, Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said:

"For me it’s always been: What’s the stadium environment like? Are we creating a great environment for our team and for our student-athletes? That you can say it’s also sold out is sort of a byproduct of that. If my choice is [77,622] people in an environment that’s not really good versus 75,000 in a raucous environment, I’ll take the latter every time."

While the home sell out streak wasn’t high on Swarbrick’s list, it was a point of pride and emphasis for most Irish fans. Unfortunately, Swarbrick noted that the streak ending this week was seen a long time ago, as the combination of the holidays with three November home games would make it difficult to continue.

The fact that the streak is ending is certainly sad, but that just means it’s time to start a new one going forward.