Why the Notre Dame football scheduling strategy needs a makeover

Tickets for the five 2022 Irish home games at Notre Dame Stadium went on sale this week. 

But along with the usual availability launch came an unusual stipulation for those wanting to attend the marquee matchup with Clemson on Nov. 5.

From the und.com ticket website: “Tickets for the Clemson game are currently only available in a 2 game package. Each package includes a ticket to the home opener vs Marshall as well as the Clemson game. A $50 Rockne Athletics Fund donation is required per package.”

There was a time not long ago when “winning” a couple of tickets to any Irish home game through the annual lottery was a badge of honor. Now, Marshall is being negotiated like a hostage to draw folks to the home opener on Sept. 10.  

Sadly, with another ho-hum home schedule, Notre Dame is doing whatever it takes to put butts in the seats for the home debut of first-year head coach Marcus Freeman. 

Where’s the beef?

ESPN is already giving Notre Dame more than a 90-percent chance of winning four of its five games at the stadium this season. 

And with straight-up odds like that, expect the Irish to list as about a three-touchdown favorite in each of those four games: Marshall, Cal, Stanford, Boston College. 

It’s a Burger King menu at a Ruth’s Chris price that folks are becoming less willing to pay. 

Take Clemson out of the equation (10-3 last year), and Notre Dame’s remaining four home opponents in 2022 combined to go 23-38 in 2021. 

To be fair, schedules are built years in advance and construction is never an exact science, especially at independent Notre Dame. 

But university athletics director Jack Swarbrick keeps moving forward, the best he can, under some tough scheduling constraints.

Over the next 12 years, Swarbrick has already landed home-and-home series with Ohio State (2022-23), Texas A&M (2024-25), Alabama (2029-30), Arkansas (2025 and 2028), Michigan (2033-34) and Michigan State (2026-27). 

All are fine opponents, indeed. But they still don’t provide enough scheduling “umphh” for an independent program that Freeman said he hopes can stay that way.

The problem?

Notre Dame’s annual five-game agreement against lousy ACC competition, coupled with the diminishing value of the Navy and Stanford series — and a down period for USC — created a perfect scheduling storm that sapped much of the value out of Notre Dame dockets in recent years. 

During its streak of five seasons with at least 10 wins — which included a 26-game home winning streak that was snapped against Cincinnati last season — Notre Dame Stadium hosted eight ranked teams in 33 home dates. 

Yet, No. 1 Clemson in 2020 and No. 7 Cincinnati in 2021 are the only two ranked opponents to play at Rockne’s House since 2019. 

When the 46-year, 273-game sellout streak ended at Notre Dame Stadium before the Navy game in November of 2019, Swarbrick downplayed and deflected the news.

“That this comes during a time of sustained success for our football program reflects both challenges impacting the ticket market nationwide and the unique dynamics of this year’s schedule,” Swarbrick said, in part, through a statement he released to the South Bend Tribune and The Indianapolis Star.

But what Swarbrick failed to reference is how these non-sellouts would become more the rule than the exception.

Taking the 2020 season out of the equation because of the pandemic, since the Navy game in 2019, Notre Dame sold out only two of its previous nine home dates. Those were the Cincinnati and USC games last season, and Bearcats fans visibly helped the stadium reach full capacity. 

The solution? 

As college football reinvents itself through broadcast buyouts and conference consolidations, Notre Dame’s scheduling philosophy must keep up with the changes.

Unfortunately, the five ACC games are here to stay for as long as Notre Dame is a member of the league with its Olympic sports programs. In fact, ACC opponents for the Irish are already set all the way through 2037.

And with Clemson now the lone elite ACC football member, Notre Dame needs to get creative and proactive to wiggle free from its scheduling straight jacket. And that requires a good hard look at the value of playing Navy and Stanford every year. 

Ditching these two annual games would provide Swarbrick some needed scheduling flexibility, even if some feelings are hurt when these longstanding series desist. 

What Swarbrick does with those dates is his business. 

But finding some scheduling maneuverability would give him a chance to set up more notable home-and-home series, and it would give Notre Dame fans the product on home game weekends they’re being asked to pay for … no package deals necessary.