Notre Dame home games will continue being shown on NBC for a long time to come. Both the school and the network announced Thursday their television deal has been extended through the 2025 season.
“While our relationship with NBC Sports is longstanding, the more recent merger between NBC and Comcast has opened up additional avenues to expand the breadth of Notre Dame-related sports programming on NBC platforms,” said Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick in a release. “Specifically, the evolution of the NBC Sports Network has provided opportunities for special programming featuring inside looks at our football team and several other Notre Dame sports programs and in-depth profiles on the unsung heroes of Notre Dame athletics.”
The school's deal with the network was originally scheduled to end in 2015. NBC began carrying Notre Dame home games in 1991, and the new deal means the relationship between the two will last at least 35 years.
Notre Dame's television deal is the biggest reason that, in these times of conference realignment, the Fighting Irish have never felt compelled to join a conference full-time. It has also helped keep the school relevant in the college football scene, as the Irish had been struggling on the football field for a while before last season's berth in the BCS National Championship Game.
No doubt that 12-0 regular season went a long way in helping this new agreement happen. Ratings on Notre Dame games on NBC were up 69 percent compared to the 2011 season.
