On the surface, Notre Dame’s independent status puts it at a disadvantage in the new College Football Playoff format. In the 12-team bracket, which made its debut this year, the four first-round byes all go to conference champions, a title that Notre Dame football, which eschews conference membership, could never possibly hold.
Financially, however, Notre Dame has a leg up on rivals ensconced in conferences. ND’s first-round opponent, the Indiana Hoosiers, received just $222,000 of the $4 million that it earned for the Big Ten Conference by qualifying for the CFP. The Irish got to keep all $4 million.
In addition to the $4 million from the first round, Notre Dame is guaranteed another $4 million for its quarterfinals matchup against Georgia on New Year’s Day. If it reaches the championship game, an outcome DraftKings currently pegs at +250 odds, the school will have earned a total of $20 million, plus $3 million per round to cover expenses. If a Big Ten team such as Oregon or Ohio State runs the table, it will only take in $1.1 million.
As with March Madness, payouts of College Football Playoff revenue generally go to conferences rather than individual universities. A conference receives $4 million for each team that makes the CFP, $4 million for each team that advances to the quarterfinals, $6 million for each team that advances to the semifinals and $6 million for each team that advances to the national championship game. That’s in addition to the $3 million for each team in each round to cover expenses.
Every conference distributes this money to its member institutions differently. Some give large bonuses to the teams that participated in the CFP. While the Big Ten splits the pot evenly among all 18 schools in the conference, the SEC dishes out $3 million, $3.5 million, $3.75 million and $4 million to teams participating in the first round, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, respectively, plus a travel allowance for each round as determined by the SEC Executive Committee. The rest of the proceeds are then divided into equal shares for all member institutions.
The Fighting Irish don’t need to concern themselves with any of that arithmetic, though they do have plenty of bills to pay. The team’s football budget of $71.9 million in the 2022-23 season was the second largest of any of this year’s 12 CFP teams, trailing Ohio State’s $72.4 million by a narrow margin.
Due to its strength financially and on the field, Notre Dame would be the No. 1 realignment candidate for any conference looking to add a football team. Many of the school’s sports teams compete in the ACC, but the program has stood its ground on maintaining football independence. “I think our position as being independent in football, quite frankly, is certainly more unique than ever, but also more valuable than ever," Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua told ESPN in March.
In addition to not having to share the financial fruits of its CFP labor with other conference members, Notre Dame is expected to get a base payout of approximately $12 million annually in the new six-year CFP agreement beginning in 2026, which nearly matches ACC and Big 12 schools ($13 million and $12 million, respectively). The Fighting Irish also recently extended their media rights deal with NBC through 2029. The school feels secure in its position, despite a smaller yearly check than the roughly $21 million to be received by SEC and Big Ten programs, as well as potential competitive disadvantages and scheduling complications.
"Our dollar figure that's derived from the CFP for us is quite strong, plus the fact we have the ability to earn additional revenue in the instances where we make the CFP, which puts us in an even stronger position," Bevacqua said in the ESPN interview. "So when you step back and look at the totality of those three elements—the NBC relationship, the ACC Network relationship and the CFP—we’re in an incredibly strong position relative to the rest of the college sports world."
