Notre Dame's renewed media rights deal will keep team independent for foreseeable future

Notre Dame athletic director John Swarbrick Jr. noted that maintaining the football program's independence was crucial in agreeing to the extension.

Conference realignment has swept through college football in recent years, with 2024 featuring the largest overhaul yet. 

Next season, Oklahoma and Texas will leave the Big 12 for the SEC while the Big 12 adds Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12, which also loses Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington to the Big Ten and Stanford and Cal to the ACC.

The Fighting Irish – by far the biggest brand potentially available for a conference to add – would have been a valuable addition to either the ACC or the Big Ten, the two conferences most closely attached to them in conference realignment rumors.

The Irish are an ACC affiliate in other sports while their location in South Bend made them a logical consideration for expansion talks in the Big Ten.

Media rights deals have played a pivotal role in the changing college football landscape. The Pac-12's inability to land a satisfactory deal for its members resulted in the conference's implosion. Notre Dame may have been forced to entertain invites from other conferences without a solid deal of its own.

Instead, whenever the topic of realignment comes up in the future, Notre Dame can be left out of the conversation.