Notre Dame Would Explore New Football Conference If Schools Pay Players

Notre Dame has immense pull and power in the college football world. In the event that the NCAA decides to pay players, the Fighting Irish would disavow the policy and start their own league with other teams who don't want to transform student-athletes into semiprofessionals.

University president Rev. John I. Jenkins spoke at length about the potential drastic shift in the NCAA football landscape and how Notre Dame would react to such a situation, per the New York Times' Dan Barry:

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Our relationship to these young people is to educate them, to help them grow. ... Not to be their agent for financial gain. [...] Perhaps institutions will make decisions about where they want to go — a semipro model or a different, more educational model — and I welcome that. ... I wouldn't consider that a bad outcome, and I think there would be schools that would do that.

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Father Jenkins advocates for increased scholarship funds and supports the "full cost of attendance" policy being pushed in the Power Five conferences. The current lawsuit against the NCAA, filed by renowned lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, could bring about the pay-for-play paradigm in open-market fashion, at which point Father Jenkins said the Irish would no longer partake in major college football.    

Although he is a football fan, Father Jenkins prioritizes academics above all else in South Bend, Indiana, and doesn't believe the university would flounder without its gridiron presence:

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If tomorrow you told me, you just can't do what you want to do in athletics and you're going to have to shut it down, and we would have club sports, something like that — I don't think it would significantly impact the revenue. [...] Would someone who was going to give a gift to Notre Dame for a chair in philosophy or physics not give it if we did without football? ... I don't think so.

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Father Jenkins explained how he can envision an athletic association separate from the NCAA and how he feels the Irish wouldn't be in financial trouble as a result. The testimony may be truthful to a degree, but it's not as though the revenue Irish football brings in as part of the NCAA is a small sum.

Forbes' Chris Smith reported that Notre Dame was the second most valuable team in NCAA football last season, raking in a revenue of $122 million—a value only topped by the University of Texas. The Irish crushed the Longhorns 38-3 in the season opener this past Saturday.

Notre Dame boasts a proud football tradition that is already deeply rooted in the past. After all, the school is now addressing stadium renovations that have been in demand for years, so to take on the modern concept of paying players may be against type.

Barry alluded to how the Alabama-Birmingham program shut down, only to be reinstated amid protests. The outcry if the Irish left the NCAA would be far more intense, and it will be worth monitoring how Father Jenkins feels as the potential landmark Kessler lawsuit plays out.

Influential as Notre Dame may be, turning its back on the NCAA in the event of players being paid is a bold tactic that could easily backfire. If other marquee programs don't follow suit, the Irish will likely face watered-down competition and be even more of an independent outlier than they already are.