Bowl chairmen are first and foremost businessmen.  They recognize Notre Dame will fill bowl seats, bring higher TV ratings and advertising revenue, fill hotels, and please corporate sponsors and community businessmen.  Bowl selections are all about generating revenue.

Last year, ESPN ran a poll of the most popular football teams regionally and nationally.  Notre Dame was the only team in the top five for all regions of the country and finished number one overall. 

TV ratings: Many people will watch a Notre Dame game and root for a loss.  Notre Dame has been to two Fiesta Bowls (2006 and 2001)—which rank first and third in Fiesta Bowl TV rankings, excluding national championship games.

The average TV rating for a Fiesta Bowl when ND participates is 11.8.   Without ND, the average Fiesta Bowl TV rating is 9.225.  The difference is approximately 2.7 million households.

Overall, the BCS has had the highest TV ratings in its history in 2005-06 when Notre Dame played.  Ratings tanked last year due to disinterest in uncompelling match ups. 

Notre Dame’s trip to the Sugar Bowl in 2007 was rated the third highest non-championship Sugar Bowl in TV ratings. 

Ticket demand: For the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame received over 45,000 ticket requests for 22,000 tickets.  Notre Dame has a national fan base that is willing to travel.

In comparison, for the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, West Virginia was allotted 17,500 tickets, but sold only 7,981 which included 1,345 guest tickets for coaches and family and two planeloads of band members.  The guest tickets were paid for by the university at $130 per ticket.

Economic Impact on the Community: New Orleans enjoyed an economic impact of $126.7 million from the 2007 Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and LSU.  Sixty percent of the game attendees stayed at local hotels with an average hotel stay of 2.46 nights.  With LSU playing in their home state, the vast majority of hotel night stays were due to Notre Dame fans for a revenue of $21.02 million.

The Sugar Bowl paid $9 million for ND and LSU, since each received $4.5 million. 

For all these economic impacts, Notre Dame and its fans are hugely attractive to BCS bowls.  For all these reasons, the BCS, with negotiations for a new TV deal beginning in September this year, has a vested interest in maintaining Notre Dame’s partnership.

Possible Resolutions

While the current BCS agreement that established a coalition with the bowls has two years remaining, TV networks negotiating this fall for a four-year agreement will want Notre Dame included.  Weis and his coaching staff are working on a fourth top-10 recruiting class and most of the team are talented freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.

Since Kevin White has now departed for Duke, the new Athletic Director may well have BCS financial decisions at the top of his list.

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