Why has Notre Dame never joined a football conference? How the Irish stay league-less

Notre Dame is one of the anomalies of college football. Over the last few years, everyone has been scrambling to jump to a bigger conference. Most recently, Northern Illinois leap-frogged its way to the Mountain West from the Mid-American Conference. 

In recent years, Texas and Oklahoma moved from the Big 12 to the SEC, Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC abandoned the Pac 12 for the Big Ten and even the ACC has added a few schools. The movement has been constant. 

But while most everyone is moving around to get a bigger piece of the revenue-sharing pie, Notre Dame is perfectly content with staying conference-less. They benefit more from remaining independent than they would by joining any of the big conferences. 

Sure, it makes their national championship aspirations a bit tougher as they don’t get the benefit of getting an automatic bid as a conference champion. But if they take care of business throughout the year, it doesn’t matter. 

This year, even with a loss to Northern Illinois, Notre Dame won every game the rest of the season and worked its way to a top 10 ranking in the College Football Playoff, landing as an at-large team. 

So how exactly are the Fighting Irish able to stay independent? And how do they use that to their benefit like any other team in a big conference? 

How Notre Dame is benefitting from remaining league-less and why it has no reason to join a conference

The biggest reason the Fighting Irish are in no rush to join a conference is they can reap the financial benefits of making it to the College Football Playoff. While the teams that made it have to split the CFP winnings among their conference partners, Notre Dame pockets all of that money. 

Why split all that money when you can pocket it and still be competitive in the CFP? If Notre Dame does what they’re supposed to do and win the games they should, it ends up being a win-win situation for the program. 

The other reason they remain independent with no intentions of leaving is they already have an exclusive TV broadcasting deal with NBC. Because of their TV deal, they have more flexibility than other teams because they’re solely responsible rather than the conference. 

Notre Dame also has flexibility scheduling its games. For example, Indiana got criticized for having a weak schedule, but it wasn’t their fault. Notre Dame doesn’t have that problem. While they do have a scheduling agreement with the ACC, they have flexibility in who they match up with. 

The Fighting Irish have no reason to jump to a conference. They’re able to compete for national championships and do it under their own rules. 

It’s a different concept, but it’s one they’re thriving in. Conference realignment has completely shifted college football over the past five years. Notre Dame isn't falling into that trap, though.