As Notre Dame prepares to compete for the national title in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, the university remains bullish in its belief that its independent status is the right choice and has the Irish "in a very good spot now," athletic director Pete Bevacqua told ESPN on Friday.
Bevacqua declined to comment specifically on CFP revenue distribution, but according to the playoff website, Notre Dame will earn an aggregate of $20 million, a profit it won't have to share with other teams in a conference. The Irish will receive a combined $4 million for reaching the playoff, another $4 million for advancing to a quarterfinal, $6 million for making a semifinal, and another $6 million for reaching the national championship game.
With its 27-24 win against Penn State on Thursday in the Capital One Orange Bowl, Notre Dame will face the winner of Friday's Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Texas and Ohio State. The No. 7-seeded Irish could not earn a first-round bye in the playoff because those four spots were reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champions. Still, the Irish have won three straight playoff games to advance to the championship game Jan. 20 in Atlanta, where they will compete for the school's first national title since 1988.
"No secret, the expansion of the CFP from four to 12 teams has helped enormously, because as an independent, as with other schools, we get better opportunities, better percentages of getting in the playoffs, and the more you knock on that national championship door, the better," Bevacqua said. "And we like the freedom, quite frankly, it gives us. The fact we were able to play Navy at MetLife and had the Shamrock Series against Army at Yankee Stadium, that we can continue that great rivalry with USC -- we really get to move around the map and keep that very national presence. It's a wonderful thing for our football program and, quite frankly, it's a wonderful thing for the university."
Individual conferences receive the same amount for each team that advances through the CFP bracket. Each conference whose team participates in the CFP also receives $3 million to cover expenses for each round.
Notre Dame also has financial security from its television deal with NBC, and its partnership with the ACC for all other sports except hockey. For Bevacqua, a 1993 Notre Dame graduate who returned to the school in 2023 in an administrative role after serving as the third chairman in the history of NBC Sports, the storied history is equally as important.
"Part of Notre Dame's heritage and history is being independent in football," he said. "It's worked for Notre Dame. I think back to how Notre Dame became such a national school in the early 20th century, and football had a large part to do with that. When you think about Knute Rockne getting on a train and going out to USC and starting that great rivalry between Notre Dame and USC -- now the pieces are very much in place to retain that independence and remain independent."
According to industry sources, starting in 2026, Notre Dame is expected to get more than $12 million from CFP revenue distribution, which is in the same ballpark as ACC schools (more than $13 million annually) and Big 12 schools (more than $12 million each).
There will also be a $6 million financial incentive for any independent team that reaches the CFP -- what should typically be a source of additional revenue for the Irish because Notre Dame has access protections built into the new CFP contract that will survive regardless of whether the ultimate format includes 12 or 14 teams.
"The fact that we can maintain our independence in football and be a part of a wonderful conference in all of our other big sports with the ACC and our Big Ten relationship with hockey, we're very happy with that," Bevacqua said. "We're in a very good spot now. The key with being independent -- and it's not always easy -- is you have to win.
"Thankfully we have the best coach in the world for Notre Dame and what he does for us on the field and off the field. And we have these other pieces -- we have an administration and university that's committed to allowing us to invest in the football program. We have that relationship with NBC, we have the expanded CFP. We have all of those pieces that allow for us to achieve success, but you have to go out there and do it. Thanks to [coach] Marcus [Freeman] and the team, this year we're doing it."