Conference Realignment: 3 Reasons Notre Dame Will Remain Independent

With the sudden craze in conference realignment, there have been many questions surrounding the possibility of Notre Dame joining one of the new "super conferences" that may be created.

Over the years, there have been many rumors of Notre Dame dropping their independent status to join other conferences. Despite these thoughts, Notre Dame has said time after time that they have no interest in changing the tradition of the school and will remain independent.

The most common suggestion in the past was the Big Ten. Now, the ACC has emerged as a possible candidate.

At the end of the day, both of these, along with the movement to any other conference, are very unlikely for the university.

Here are three big reasons that Notre Dame will choose to remain independent.

Finances

"Show me the quan."

The primary reason for all of the sudden interest in realignment has everything to do with money. Almost every team looking to make a move is doing it because it will financially benefit the university.

Notre Dame does not need that boost in revenue.

The Irish already have a contract with NBC, so all of their home games are televised. The contract lasts until 2015, and when it ends, NBC will likely renew. If not, plenty of other stations will be dying to pick it up.

Even if the team fails to reach a BCS Bowl game, they still make in the ballpark of 1.4 million. If they do, that amount goes up.

The best part is that they don't have to split this money among other teams.

National Exposure

There is no team that is loved nationwide as much as Notre Dame. There are many reasons that the university is one of the most popular.

The university is free to schedule as they please. If they want to play USC, they can. If they want to play Florida, they can. If they want to play Penn State, they can.

This scheduling freedom gives Notre Dame a national exposure.

As stated earlier, the television contract with NBC allows for the Irish to also have many of their games nationally televised.

No team has as much national exposure as Notre Dame, which is a huge advantage in recruiting. Most teams recruit based on their region. Notre Dame's region is the entire country.

Tradition

It may seem a bit silly, but the best reason for Notre Dame to remain independent is their rich tradition. It has nothing to do with money or recruits, but the tradition at Notre Dame is considered by many to be the at the top of the charts.

It's this history and tradition that keeps Notre Dame as a top-tier team despite what they do on the field. This is a team that hasn't won a National Championship since 1988, yet they are still functioning as one of the most successful universities in the country.

This is done without a conference. They simply don't need one.