Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick Weighs in on Big Ten’s Deal With NBC

The athletic director noted that this proposed deal is “perfect” for the school.

With the Big Ten’s recent separation from its media rights deal with ESPN, the conference reportedly is signing a deal with NBC, Fox Sports and CBS.

The proposed plan consists of NBC having a primetime Big Ten game every week, while Fox will have the noon time slot and CBS will have the late afternoon game.

Notre Dame, who remains independent from any conference, currently has a media rights deal with NBC through 2025 as they get multiple primetime showings a season on the network. The rest of their season games are on Peacock. The school and NBC have had a media deal since 1991.

Notre Dame’s athletic director Jack Swarbrick was asked about the potential Big Ten and NBC deal on Wednesday, and he expressed that he thinks this proposed deal is “perfect” for Notre Dame.

“I think it’s great,” Swarbrick said, via Blue and Gold’s Ashton Pollard. “The more major broadcasters we keep involved in college football, the better it is for everybody because they’re invested, they want to promote the game, they want additional properties. I think it was a brilliant strategy by commissioner [Kevin] Warren. I think it played out marvelously for them. The timing could not have been better, and I think when they finally announce the number, it will be a pretty amazing one.“

“But it’s also perfect for Notre Dame. We need NBC to have more college football to more effectively promote our games, to talk about our games and to have NBC be seen in that light. So that was great for us that they got a big piece of this.”

Additionally, Swarbrick spoke about speculation regarding Notre Dame’s potential moves to join a conference. The speculation increased in recent months, especially after UCLA and USC made a shocking move to the Big Ten from the Pac-12. 

However, the athletic director noted that there are three aspects to occur that would cause Notre Dame to seriously consider joining a conference. These include if the school lost a broadcast partner, if the football program lost an opportunity to the College Football Playoff or if its Olympic sports were in jeopardy.

Swarbrick did not specify which conferences the school would look into.