Greg McElroy pours cold water on Notre Dame football's future as part of ACC, Big Ten

As the college football landscape deals with the aftershocks of the latest round of conference realignment, Notre Dame remains possibly the biggest target for expanding conferences. The independent Fighting Irish look ready to stay that way, but it hasn’t stopped speculation about their future amid negotiations with NBC.

For ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, he thinks Notre Dame will stay independent.

Notre Dame has long been a target of the Big Ten, but the Fighting Irish’s other sports play in the ACC. That’s why some think the ACC could be a potential fit. But, on Get Up Tuesday morning, McElroy argued the school might not want join a conference because of its deal with NBC, which has exclusive TV rights to home games.

“I think Notre Dame is the last-ditch effort,” McElroy said. “It’s the ‘Hail Mary,’ if you will. With Touchdown Jesus, that feels like an appropriate reference. I think when I look at what Notre Dame is right now, though, they’re in the midst of already negotiating their next deal with NBC and NBC owns exclusivity over Notre Dame home games.

“So what’s going to be more valuable to Notre Dame: an alignment with ESPN [and] the ACC? Or an alignment with, say, the Big Ten, who NBC is already in business with? So I think from a business standpoint, yeah, it would make sense if Notre Dame were to join the ACC. But I see why Notre Dame would do it.”

What the NBC deal means to Notre Dame’s independence

On3’s Pete Nakos reported Notre Dame could be closing in on its next TV deal with NBC, which expires in 2025. The network also has a relationship to the university’s incoming athletic director. After Jack Swarbrick retires in 2024, Pete Bevacqua will take over after previously serving as NBC Sports Group chairman. Of course, he also a former player under Lou Holtz, meaning he has deep ties to the Fighting Irish.

Of course, as McElroy mentioned, NBC is taking a bigger step into college football. The network is part of the Big Ten’s record-setting media rights deal and will carry the league’s primetime spot with its new pregame show, B1G College Countdown. Whether that plays a role in Notre Dame’s decisions down the road is unclear.

As the college football world got turned upside down last week, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the latest shakeup doesn’t seem like it will impact Notre Dame’s independent status.