Notre Dame holds a special place in college football. Not everybody likes that, but it’s true. A few months into his new job, athletic director Pete Bevacqua has made sure that will remain the case for the foreseeable future.
The grandson of Italian immigrants, Bevacqua only applied to one college out of high school, the one in South Bend, Ind., that his father and two older sisters also attended. Most importantly, as his alma mater’s AD Bevacqua has convinced the sport’s other leaders that Notre Dame’s position is worth keeping.
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No other individual school has a seat at the table on the College Football Playoff boards or its own television deal. Notre Dame’s football independence won’t change anytime soon, not with its media rights agreement with NBC set for the next five years and its unique CFP financial status secured, achievements helped or led by Bevacqua.
“I feel stronger about our place as an independent than maybe I ever have,” Bevacqua told The Athletic, reflecting on his first 100-plus days since taking over.
Former athletic director Jack Swarbrick used to point to three factors in Notre Dame keeping its independence: the TV deal, a path to a college football national championship and a home for Olympic sports.
Check one: Last November, NBC and Notre Dame announced a new TV deal through 2029, with reports putting the value around $50 million annually, a massive increase. Paired with $17 million annually from the ACC, Notre Dame will now earn a similar amount of revenue from media rights as a Big Ten or SEC school. Bevacqua, the former chairman of NBC Sports hired by Notre Dame in June 2023, worked with Swarbrick to secure that as the AD-in-waiting.
Check two: In March, the FBS conferences and Notre Dame agreed to a new CFP framework for 2026 to 2032. Its revenue distribution model includes a $12 million annual carve-out for Notre Dame, along with a unique $6 million bonus for the Irish making the field, together putting the program in the ballpark of Big Ten and SEC payouts when it qualifies (and around the ACC/Big 12 payout when it doesn’t).
Check three: Most of Notre Dame’s other sports remain in the ACC, where it has a football scheduling agreement through 2036, and hockey is in the Big Ten.
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For Bevacqua to work closely with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on the CFP carve-out for the Fighting Irish showed a deft understanding of the need for those relationships.
“I viewed that as among the most important duties of the job,” said Swarbrick, who has fully stepped away from Notre Dame since retiring. “Notre Dame belongs there, but it has to demonstrate its value in the room. I worked hard at that and impressed upon Pete that it was a central element of the job.”
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Bevacaqua and Petitti go way back, as former NBC and MLB officials who worked across from each other. Sankey and Bevacqua weren’t as familiar but have quickly gotten closer.
“Both of them are people whose style and leadership I admire,” Bevacqua said, noting that Notre Dame is a proud ACC member. “That group of us, we were on the phone, on Zoom calls around the clock over the course of the CFP negotiations trying to do what’s best for college football.”
As for the relationship with the ACC for Olympic sports, Bevacqua says Notre Dame is keeping an eye on the legal fight with Florida State and Clemson but hoping for the best.
“We’re all-in on the ACC,” he said. “Jim Phillips is a wonderful leader, and his commitment to the schools is unyielding. I know he’s going to do everything he can to protect the conference. My hope is Florida State and Clemson remain a part of the ACC. They’re two great members with great sports, and our games across the board are wonderful.”
So the football program’s independence remains, but Bevacqua still has plenty on the plate.
Football scheduling may get tougher as the Big Ten and SEC grow — USC coach Lincoln Riley has pondered ending the century-old rivalry with the Fighting Irish — but more Big Ten matchups can help Notre Dame and NBC, which is entering the second year of its contract with the league. The Irish and Michigan State recently announced a home-and-home series for 2026 and ’27. Bevacqua says the people he’s talked to at USC want to keep playing beyond 2026.
This year’s football team enters the fall with high expectations, a likely top-10 preseason ranking and a favorable schedule after opening at Texas A&M in Week 1. Reaching the 12-team CFP is the baseline expectations for most fans, along with hosting a first-round game. Bevacqua feels a big season coming.
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“You’ve got to be good, you have to stay healthy and a couple times a season, you’re going to have to get lucky,” he said. “I’m never one to make guarantees, but I think we really have all the pieces in place. Marcus in his third year, this is his program and you can see it day-in and day-out. … He’s settled and in a great spot. My confidence feeds off his confidence.”
GO DEEPERHow Notre Dame fans feel now: Can Irish win a national title? Is independence still best?Elsewhere this summer, Notre Dame has commissioned an external investigation into the men’s swimming and diving program, in response to reports of “potential issues with the culture” of the program. Bevacqua would only say the outside investigation, which began in June, remains ongoing and that he couldn’t comment further.
“They’re taking their time to make sure we do this properly, and when they’re complete with the investigation, they’ll sit down with me and others at the university to discuss their findings,” he said.
The last major area of focus for Bevacqua is the same at Notre Dame as it is everywhere else in college sports: the House v. NCAA settlement and a future with more scholarship opportunities and revenue sharing. Bevacqua isn’t ready to comment on specific numbers yet, but the school has a working group to make sure Notre Dame is ready to go when new rules go into place. Will football move to 105 scholarships? Will it fully fund revenue sharing?
“We will do everything within reason and within scope of the settlement to compete at the highest level,” he said.
Bevacqua’s appointment followed a hiring trend at the commissioner level, with league tabbing executives from TV and sports business backgrounds to handle times like these. Notre Dame pulling away the chairman of NBC Sports highlights its unique place in the landscape. If you’re a fan who is tired of that, keep in mind that Notre Dame remaining a football independent is one of the last barriers to the sport leaving even more traditions behind in search of a new order.
Notre Dame still represents the old ways, even as it tries to keep up with modern times. That’s the balance every Notre Dame AD and coach is tasked with carrying. Whether you like it or not, Notre Dame’s status isn’t changing anytime soon. Bevacqua has made sure it doesn’t need to, and college football’s leaders have agreed to keep it that way.
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Chris Vannini covers national college football issues and the coaching carousel for The Athletic. A co-winner of the FWAA's Beat Writer of the Year Award in 2018, he previously was managing editor of CoachingSearch.com. Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisVannini
