As athletic director Jack Swarbrick and the Irish scour the country to sign their next head coach, an even bigger deal involving Notre Dame football is already done.

Comcast and NBC Universal announced their heavily-anticipated merger Thursday morning, combining the resources of the nation's largest cable and Internet service provider with a broadcast corporation that reaches approximately 112 million American homes.

One of the driving forces behind the alliance is Comcast's desire to challenge ESPN. It already operates 10 regional Comcast SportsNet entities that hone in on major markets like Chicago, Washington D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Yet, the self-proclaimed world-wide leader in sports is as established and well-positioned as any cable entity in any sector. ESPN recently outbid FOX for the Bowl Championship Series and is purported to be interested in wresting March Madness away from CBS.

Among NBC Universal's highly-coveted sports assets: The 2010 and 2012 Olympics, the US Open Golf Championship, Sunday Night Football through 2013, and the rights to Notre Dame home games.

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 Army at Yankees Stadium.

Such reallocation to a cable channel would surely be perceived as a demotion, and rankle a segment of the Notre Dame fan base, who are 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 as many as eight, 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, the Irish still have 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.