Notre Dame Agrees to Deal With NBC on February 5, 1990 ~ Basic Bloganomics

On February 5, 1990, a landmark event in television sports history had taken place. It was on this day that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish agreed to a deal with NBC to air five home games during the 1991 season. The five-year deal allowed Notre Dame to become the first American college in history to sell football games to a national television network.

Then-President of NBC Universal Sports Ken Schanzer negotiated the deal with Notre Dame Athletic Director Dick Rosenthal.

The two sides agreed to two more five-year deals which stabilized the partnership between them. In June 2008, the two sides agreed to an extension that will keep Notre Dame football on NBC thru 2015. Their current contract was reportedly worth $9 million a year.

Notre Dame was able to bring a solid 3.6 rating to games on NBC after having a 10-2 season on the gridiron in 2005. But the ratings dipped to a all-time low of 1.9 in 2007 since they first aired games in 1991. But, the 2008 season saw a 2.2 rating which was a 22 percent increase that gives hope to the network.

The biggest ratings the network received from Notre Dame football was 1993 when it drew a rock solid 6.1 rating. During that season, the No. 2 Fighting Irish knocked off No. 1 Florida State which drew the highest rating in regular season history with a 16.0. It wasn't until the Ohio State-Michigan game in 2006 that anyone drew at least a 14.0 rating during the regular season. They finished in the top 10 in 1992 and 1993, but would not do that again until 2005.

Since the initial contract between the two sides, ratings have rapidly fallen off. In 15 seasons, they went from a 6.1 to a 1.9 rating. Much of that has to do with the lack of consistent play in the program, and the fact that they haven't won a national title since 1988.

Their new deal in place includes one extra "home" game at a neutral site. On October 31, 2009, a game at San Antonio between the Fighting Irish and Washington State will be aired on NBC. They'll air games scheduled at Dallas in 2013, and possibly at Soldier Field in Chicago and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando in other seasons, too.

Prior to this landmark event, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA could no longer control TV rights in 1984. This effectively cancelled NCAA's contract with several networks that was reportedly 33 years in length. Each home-standing school was allowed to negotiate their own television deal, but this proved to be very difficult because not much was offered at first.

All 63 members of the College Football Association eventually worked out a deal with ABC and ESPN to air games. At first, the voided deal that the NCAA had would have paid the schools more money. This turned out to be an ugly mess with schools losing money due to disputes with networks and some television syndicates going bankrupt. The CFA's contract with CBS expired in 1990, and a five-year deal was struck with ABC in January of that year for a reported $210 million. One month later, Notre Dame and NBC became partners.

Notre Dame was a member of the CFA, and this was seen as betrayal to that organization when this deal was finalized. Notre Dame, Georgia, and Oklahoma were programs that were the leaders in suing the NCAA to allow schools to have power in negotiating deals in the mid-1980s.

Since that time, the landscape of college football has changed drastically on television. Conferences now make deals with television networks and more games are shown each year as a result. In 1991, ESPN televised 44 games. Now they broadcast close to 500 games a year with the GamePlan package that is now available for fans.

Regardless of how you feel about Notre Dame, they forever changed the landscape of television by garnering their own deal with NBC. NBC had lost NFL coverage in 1998, Major League Baseball in 2000, and the NBA in 2002. NBC and Notre Dame needed each other, and they've become synonymous with one another.

Thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoyed this history flashback!