Have you ever been in the catbird seat? Knowing you have the upper hand, secretly
knowing what no one knows, or sitting in a position of strength. Jack Swarbrick is in the catbird seat thanks
to Brain Kelly and the Fighting Irish football team.
Such is a position of negotiating strength –- 12-0 in 2012
and the promise of more to come with a strong recruiting class and a bevy of
talent coming back in 2013. We need to throw in the fact that the Irish
are also playing of the National Championship as well.
Lucky the Adidas and NBC contracts were not due in 2007 when
Charlie Weis led the Irish to a 3-9 dismal season.
Notre Dame’s outfitter Adidas is not the most popular sports
apparel company in town these days. A
number of schools have dumped them over labor issues coming out of Indonesia
where they manufacturing faculties. Russell, Champion, Nike and Under Armour are
four other outfitters that come to mind.
Notre Dame has used Champion in the past.
The contracts are close hold because Notre Dame is a private
school and its records and legal documents are not open to public scrutiny. However it is safe to assume that the
contract includes outfitting all Irish sports teams from head to toe to include coaches, staff,
players, trainers and miscellaneous hangers on.
A cash payment is also included.
Adidas gets in return its logo on apparel shown on national TV for 12
games. Much more than any other brand
and the exclusive right to stock the Hammes Bookstore with everything they
manufacture. Using Michigan as an
example, the outfitting costs Adidas about six million with half a million in
cash going to the Michigan tills as well.
It is suspected that Under Armour and Nike would love to
have the outfitter contract. Let the
bidding begin.
The current NBC broadcast contract expires at the end of 2014. NBC and
Notre Dame have acknowledged that they are conducting preliminary negotiations
and discussions to stake out bargaining positions and common areas of mutual
interest and agreement. The current
contract is for 15 million per year and a good guess would be 20 million for a
negotiating point. The original contract started in 1991,
NBC is kind of shutout of sports right now. ESPN/ABC pretty much controls what Joe-6pack
watches on TV. Olympics, hockey (not
this year), Triple Crown and Breeders Cup, Notre Dame football and a small slice
of the NFL on Sunday Night are about it.
Would ESPN/ABC be interested in Notre Dame? Who knows however they would pretty much sew
up the Notre Dame football audience if they did. It memory is correct; CBS had one away game
this year and ESPN/ABC the rest. NBC has
their own Sports Network now and needs programming.
It would be nice if Mr. Swarbrick got NBC to televise some
men’s and women’s basketball as part of the deal. Digital programming gets talked about a lot and will come into play somehow. This year Notre Dame had cameras on the
sidelines and in the locker rooms to produce some interesting clips and insight
to the players and coaches. Jack Nolan
appears to be more prominently seen many of the clips and interviews.
We shall see who devours the cat or visa-versa.
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