Notre Dame Football: Comparing Program Revenue

Notre Dame is a blue blood of college football, but how does their program revenue compare to the other elites of the sport?

College football is an oligarchy, once you come to terms with that, it’s an incredibly enjoyable sport. Before you come to terms with that, it can be infuriating that the system is set up against you. That’s where campaigns like the American Athletic Conference’s “Power 6” comes from. They’re trying to break into the ranks of the elite.

If they are able to do so, they’d essentially be Jay Gatsby. Flashy and exciting, but not necessarily respected. Yes, you have to take them seriously, but that doesn’t mean you have to like them.

Notre Dame is on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Irish are as old, as old money comes. Notre Dame football is universally respected, often given benefit of the doubt, and always finds itself in the national conversation.

Here’s the thing, some old money families hold onto their money forever. They’re rich, and you don’t even know where their money came from. There are also families which claim to be upper class, but all they have is a name when in reality, they’re broke.

So, where does Notre Dame rank financially among the elites of college football?

First, know that among the Power 5 conferences, there are two conferences that have worlds more than anyone else. Those two conferences are the SEC and B1G 10.

In 2016, the B1G 10 signed a $2.64 billion media deal, which worked out to $440 million annually. That’s over $30 million per team every single year. Each school also gets to make its own individual rights deal. Michigan State is currently getting a deal worth $10 million annually. Meanwhile, Michigan’s current deal is worth $86 million over 12 years. That deal will be renegotiated soon.

From there, add in Michigan’s deal with Nike. That’s a contract worth $173.8 million through 2027, with room for bonuses and an extension to the deal. As it is, the deal is worth about $11.5 million annually.

In total, Michigan made $190 million in athletics for the 2019 season. That’s an insane number to compete with.

Notre Dame’s media revenue is structured a bit differently because they’re independent. Their current deal with NBC is only worth $15 million annually. That’s for seven home games a season. The Irish also get a portion of the ACC’s money. That portion is only $5.8 million. Notre Dame makes just under $21 million annually from its media deal.

As far as Notre Dame’s deal with Under Armour goes, they get $90 million over 10 seasons. 

Unlike Michigan, Notre Dame is a private institution. This makes it significantly harder to find any other specifics on the program’s revenue. However, Forbes ranks Notre Dame as the 7th most valuable program in the country, with $112 million in annual revenue.

Just ahead of Notre Dame were:

1. Texas A&M
2. Texas
3. Michigan
4. Alabama
5. Ohio State
6. Oklahoma

Now, it’s clear that a program’s value is not equal to its on-field success. Texas A&M is a perpetual good, but not a great program and Michigan can never beat Ohio State, but still, money helps.

When you have millions of dollars less than Texas A&M, you are liable to lose a coach to them. That’s what happened with Mike Elko, he took what is essentially a lateral move because it came with a pay raise.

It also helps with recruiting to be able to build and upgrade any facility that you need to, especially at a whim. Having top-notch facilities, the best coaches money can buy and the ability to be plastered all over the television and the internet is great for recruiting.

Because Notre Dame will always have this access due to being an elite program, they should always perform at that level. When you have top-10 money, everything else should be top 10 too.