NBC, Notre Dame Extend 'til 2015

In a move that will likely keep the Notre Dame Fighting Irish an Independent football program for at least the next decade, the school extended their current deal with NBC Sports to broadcast Irish home games through the 2015 season. The AP also reports that the new deal, which takes effect for the 2011 season, will give the Peacock Network seven home games and neutral site game with Notre Dame being the home team. With a new round of television negations due, specifically the current Bowl Championship Series deal with Fox that expires after the 2010 title game, any chance to pull the storied Irish program into another conference, such as the Big Ten or Big East, becomes much more difficult as any conference looking to make that deal would have to deal with NBC as well. Chances are if the Big Ten expands to twelve, it would not be the Irish as the conference has a large deal in place with ABC/ESPN. Conferences with twelve teams are allowed to host conference title games, bringing in millions of dollars to the SEC, Big 12, and the ACC. NBC and Notre Dame have been partners for all Irish home games since 1991, currently paying the school $9 million a year for the seven game package.