Cashing In On Sports
Trading In The Echoes
By Guy Junker

I don't know if it woke up the echoes or not, but it certainly served as at least a small wake up call. When the annual BCS meetings concluded in April, Notre Dame was still an independent in football, although they are not being treated that way financially.

The days are gone when the Fighting Irish could take home $14 million dollars from an appearance in a BCS bowl game. With no conference affiliation, that's what they got under the old plan. Trouble for the Golden Domers was, in the seven years the system was in effect, they played in only one BCS game.

Under the new deal, Notre Dame trades in the chance for that leprechaun with the pot of gold for a more conservative guarantee. Kind of like selling high tech stocks to invest in mutual funds. Now the Irish can collect a maximum of $4.5 million for playing in a BCS game, $9.5 million less than was possible under the last agreement. But here's the sweet part. This time they do have the certainty of collecting roughly a million dollars a year for the seasons when they don't play in a BCS game. That's essentially the minimum share received by each BCS conference school that doesn't make a BCS bowl. So the answer to all who have been asking why Notre Dame is getting guaranteed money is explained by college football guru Beano Cook. "They are treating Notre Dame as their own conference."

The obvious question now is: Would Notre Dame be more likely to consider joining a conference now that these parameters have changed? The Big Ten has already tried and failed to woo them to become its twelfth member. Could it happen now? The answer from South Bend is a resounding "NO."

"We are further away than ever from something like that," says John Heisler, S.I.D. at Notre Dame. "We asked that question internally and instead we are reinventing our future football schedule."

That includes committing to more games with Big East and Big Ten teams as well as USC and Stanford. Heisler calls some of it "barnstorming." With a twelfth game being added to the schedule, the Irish plan to play one of their seven home games a year off campus, taking games to the south and southwest as well.

"I think staying independent is the right way to go," says Mike Golic. Now a national talk show host with ESPN Radio, Golic was a star defensive end for the Irish in the early 1980's. He remains active in, and supportive of, his Alma Mater. "Had they been cut out of the BCS mix altogether, that would have been different. But they watched how the formula changed, and it didn't change that much so they weighed their options and things are fine. Football will still benefit from this new deal."

While there is no longer a chance at the huge payday, there is a better shot at the medium payday because under the new plan, the Irish automatically qualify for a BCS Bowl with a top eight finish in the BCS standings. They had to be top six before.

"Nobody is going to cry for Notre Dame," says Golic. "They have money. They have plenty of mine. There are endowments and donations and TV money. But you have to keep up with the Jones's. When Notre Dame won its last national championship, today's seniors were just a year old. They don't know anything about it. They must resell the program."

It's true. Gone are the days when Notre Dame just sold itself on name alone. But with all the changes within and outside of the BCS, perhaps Golic summed it up best.

"Notre Dame is in a nice position, to stay in the position they are in."

Fans might want an improvement in that position in the polls, but the rest makes plenty of cents. And dollars.

Guy Junker co-hosts the "Junker & Crow Show" weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ESPN Radio 1250.