Notre Dame, NBC announce extension through 2029 season

Notre Dame and NBC have extended their partnership through 2029, according to a joint announcement Saturday. NBC has been the exclusive home of the Fighting Irish since 1991, and the current agreement was set to expire after the 2024 football season.

As part of the extension, NBC will keep the rights to Notre Dame football and air one game exclusively on Peacock every year. In addition, other notable events such as the Blue-Gold spring game and Notre Dame Pro Day will also be broadcast on Peacock.

There will also be a new documentary series on the Fighting Irish starting in 2024.

“We are thrilled to continue our historic collaboration with our partners at NBC Sports,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. “In the next generation of this partnership, we will collaborate to provide our fans even more Notre Dame content through a variety of NBCUniversal’s distribution channels while continuing to put our student-athletes and their stories at the heart of our messaging.”

Notre Dame is gearing up to undergo some major changes after this year. Swarbrick is preparing to step down, and NBC executive — and former Fighting Irish football player — Pete Bevacqua is set to replace him. University president Fr. John Jenkins will also step down after this school year.

As for NBC, the network is venturing further into the college football space beyond Notre Dame. It was part of the Big Ten’s landmark media rights deal last year, which created a partnership with FOX, CBS and NBC. NBC airs a primetime Big Ten game each week and keeps the afternoon open for Notre Dame. It’s worth noting NBC’s deal with the Big Ten runs through the 2029 season, as well.

“There is no better tradition than Notre Dame Football in South Bend, and we are thrilled to keep that tradition within the NBC Sports family as we extend our relationship as the exclusive home of Fighting Irish home games through the end of the decade,” said Rick Cordella, President of NBC Sports, in a statement. “With enhanced rights that allow us to present Notre Dame Football on NBC as well as across Peacock and additional platforms, we look forward to bringing the Fighting Irish to fans in more ways than ever before.”

The other factor in Notre Dame and NBC’s extension is the Fighting Irish’s independence. Earlier this year, college athletics went through a groundbreaking round of conference realignment that saw the Pac-12 become the effective “Pac-2” with 10 teams leaving. Four of those teams are going to the Big Ten, and the conference reportedly has Notre Dame as a prime target.

Now that the deal with NBC has been extended through 2029, Notre Dame looks to remain independent for the foreseeable future.