The Notre Dame Conference: Unique agreement with Clemson only strengthens Irish's bid to remain independent
The Power Five is back in college football.
No, we're not looking at the Pac-12, which in 2026 will add five schools from the Mountain West to more closely resemble a modern FBS league beyond its current two-member lineup.
The fifth power conference in college football is Notre Dame, and the shifting landscape in the sport has provided a 10-year outlook for the Notre Dame Conference that makes it highly unlikely the Fighting Irish will feel compelled to leave one of the best deals in college football.
Now, there is an argument that Notre Dame has been a power conference unto itself for quite some time; it has enjoyed its own lucrative media rights deal and scheduling independence even as the number of FBS Independents have dwindled over the last 40 years. The Fighting Irish gave up some of that scheduling independence in 2016 when they struck a deal with the ACC for full membership in all other sports but partial membership in football.
This week, Notre Dame took some of that independence back with a new annual, long-term scheduling partnership with Clemson. Beginning in 2027, the two schools will be scheduled to play in football every year through 2038. Some of these games were already on the books as part of Notre Dame's long-term agreement to play five ACC opponents every season, but six of the games were not. Since the Notre Dame-Clemson series will count towards the school's commitment to play five ACC games a year, that means that another ACC school could lose a Notre Dame game in 2029, 2030, 2032, 2033, 2035 and 2036.
Whether the extra Clemson games not previously scheduled will count towards Notre Dame's five-game commitment to the ACC is an "ongoing issue," according to Yahoo! Sports.
Take 2036, for example: Notre Dame had Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Pitt and North Carolina rotating in as its ACC opponents. The year 2036 may be a lifetime away in college football the way things have changed recently, but if agreements hold and Notre Dame-Clemson counts as one of the five for the Fighting Irish, that would mean at least one of those schools is getting booted off the schedule.
And, chances are, it's not going to be Florida State.
When the ACC reached its settlement with Clemson and Florida State and agreed to a new revenue distribution model for the conference, it was widely reported that there would be an emphasis on creating more matchups between Notre Dame and its top college football brands. This 12-year annual agreement with Clemson is a huge piece of that, but the expectation is that additional future games against Florida State and Miami could follow.
So, consider Notre Dame's position and the benefits of being the Notre Dame Conference. In the NDC — it does kind of have a ring to it, right? — the Fighting Irish are positioning themselves to basically hand pick their five ACC opponents, stacking the high end with the ACC's best football brands and then satisfying some historical rivalries with games against Stanford, Boston College, Georgia Tech and others. All of the home games get broadcast as part of their own NDC media rights deal with NBC, and then the school retains total control of the rest of the schedule to maintain other rivalries and fill out their home schedule.
When Notre Dame and the ACC first struck up their deal nearly a decade ago, the tag line used by former commissioner John Swofford and others was a "win-win." Conferences were expanding, with league schedules doing the same, and Notre Dame was able to get the certainty of having a handful of spots solidified instead of starting from scratch every year. The ACC was also set to benefit as getting Notre Dame on campus would be — and proved to be — a huge draw for selling single-game and season ticket packages, while the games in South Bend became a bit of a college football pilgrimage for fans who could afford the travel packages — which, again, could be provided by an athletic department or university-affiliated organization.
The part of the ACC that does not include Clemson, Florida State or Miami is losing the benefit of having Notre Dame as a partial member if they are getting replaced on future Fighting Irish schedules. Without those games, those schools are cutting a piece of the pie for a program it will rarely play in football. And with the current revenue distribution model that provides financial rewards for generating big TV ratings, the rest of the league is going to have less chances to be seen on a big stage due to less games against the Fighting Irish.
This is one of the reasons why the settlement was a great deal for Clemson and Florida State, because a revenue distribution model that takes a "media value metric" into consideration is going to always reward the time slot champs. The games that get picked for the prime TV windows get the best ratings, and as two of the leading football brands Clemson and Florida State are often getting picked for those windows.
Now, Clemson, and perhaps Florida State and Miami as well if they follow suit, are guaranteeing even more big-audience showdowns thanks to additional games against Notre Dame. Those games increase their strength of schedule when it comes to competing for College Football Playoff spots and further rig the revenue distribution to favor the ACC's elite.
Speaking of the College Football Playoff, the proposed future models of the College Football Playoff for 2026 and beyond only further drive home why Notre Dame is a power conference unto itself with no need to create any more alliances at the highest levels. The 14-team model that includes automatic bids for the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 also has a spot earmarked for the Fighting Irish in years where they finish the regular season in the top 14. In the last 10 seasons, Notre Dame has finished outside of the top 14 in the final AP Top 25 just twice, and one of those was an 18th place finish in 2022.
As the national runner-up from a season ago continues to thrive under Marcus Freeman and now boost its strength of schedule by swapping out lower-tier ACC foes for the biggest brands, the odds are even further stacked in favor of Notre Dame being an annual part of the College Football Playoff should the proposed 14- or 16-team models be approved.
Nowhere else but the Notre Dame Conference could you hand pick your schedule while also enjoying a path to the College Football Playoff that appears to be similar to bowling with bumpers. The Fighting Irish have leverage over any suitors seeking their full-time membership because the company line has long been that independence is a priority as long as it doesn't get in the way of filling out a schedule or competing for the College Football Playoff.
Looking into the future, with an annual agreement against Clemson and more potential scheduling arrangements on the horizon, Notre Dame is arguably in the best position it's ever had to accomplish both of those goals as an independent. We've always known it based on how the CFP creates its committees and the rest of college sports operates, but these moments further drive home that Notre Dame is a power conference unto itself.
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