Irish Round Table

Comcast and NBC finally inked a deal. With Comcast now owning NBC, changes may be in store for Notre Dame football coverage.

In order for Comcast to compete with ESPN using Versus or, more likely, a re-branded NBC Sports Network, it will have to populate that cable channel with compelling live events.

And Notre Dame Football seems a likely place to start.

According to the Sports Business Journal , Comcast has its sights set on the Irish, in part because NBC’s current contract with Notre Dame contains a clause that allows for a certain number of games to “mitigate to cable.”

A quick glance at the 2010 schedule reveals a slate ripe with cable-caliber opponents: Western Michigan, Tulsa, Utah, and perhaps even a nostalgic, neutral-site date with Navy at Yankees Stadium.

Such reallocation to a cable channel would surely be perceived as a demotion and rankle a segment of the Notre Dame base, already disgruntled by ABC/ESPN’s oxymoronic coverage-map approach to national broadcasts.

Fighting Irish faithful routinely combat the perception of entitlement, but the one arrogance we can’t deny is the “right” to watch our team for free every Saturday during the fall.

That same insatiable appetite for blue and gold, despite an extended era of mediocrity, represents the potential exposure Comcast sees in Notre Dame football.

The opportunity to play six, and in recent years seven, home games on NBC has long been a selling point for Notre Dame recruits and their families. It also generates revenue for the University that makes a hefty financial buyout of Charlie Weis possible.

It would be too strong to state that the Comcast-NBC Universal merger threatens that competitive advantage in any significant way.

Because of popularity and independence, Notre Dame still has more access to broadcast television than any college football program.

However, in the context of a multi-billion dollar deal between media conglomerates, Notre Dame is a mere pawn.

Not only will this potentially impact what channel games will be on, but also the gameday production itself. We can most likely say goodbye to Hammond and Haden.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.