Is Notre Dame totally dependent on its football program?
None of the top universities really need football as anything more that a student activity and campus event. Not a single Ivy League school is ever on tv. I don’t believe they even give athletic scholarships (although they do find $ for their jocks). Has ND reached a level of academic esteem at which it could de-emphasize again like Hesburg did in the 1950s?
Replies to: Is Notre Dame totally dependent on its football program?
Not dependent at all. But it is part of its identity.
It won’t ever be eliminated but it could be de emphasized like the Ivies have. Don’t think so though. The place is so much more than this program. Yet the program also is part of what it is.
You have been around long enough to know that answer.
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And you've been around long enough to recognize a rhetorical question.
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No, yet those cloistered fat cats still manage to gather the nerve to ask me for money
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Not anymore...as they have clearly demonstrated by their behavior...
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Even without the football program, Notre Dame would do very well
Football will always be important, but it's actually just a fraction of the monies that the institution brings in to itself. Yes, it does bring in a tidy profit (over 50 million, and that was before the new NBC contract), but to put it into perspective:
The university has an operating budget of 1.8 billion dollars.
In terms of research dollars, the University of Notre Dame pulls in around a quarter billion dollars, and this shows steady growth.
Then on the pure academic side, it's the premiere Catholic institution, and I'm sure the $83+ K / year it costs to attend for resident students doesn't hurt the school's budget.
It is no longer needed
But it provides a value that most in the administration aren’t willing to admit.
Correct.
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Not in the least.
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If ND nixed FB it w/b fine. W/b boring as F since South Bend sucks, but kids would still go.
My daughter, who is a junior in HS and is considering ND has repeatedly said that it's not the same school my wife and I attended in the late 90s. If she gets in, I think she'll go, but that's about a 55%. There's still some of that hard working working class aspect to ND, but much less so than in the past.
Well for me it would be a huge letdown personally. Our football team has always been something I
have had great pride in. I love the idea of being a school made up of white collar talent with a blue collar work ethic. I do not want the university to become snooty with elitist political views, which characterize the Ivy League schools. It is fun being respected for our intellectual and monetary achievements. They require great effort by all our students while still being having a football program that always draws huge attention. The camaraderie of the football athletes and the students is unmatched and many of the relationships established are treasured in a way that few can explain or understand.
I'd have very limited reason to ever step foot on the campus again, BUT it would academically appeal
to some. FB gives ND its character, IMHO, and ND without football is basically Marquette or Santa Clara University. Probably a great place for someone, but not for me.
Crazy question. Their endowment is close to $20 BILLION.
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Notre Dame has been sitting on a huge endowment for years
And I seriously doubt the magnitude of the endowment is tied to the W-L record of the football team. Notre Dame doesn’t need football to be a Top 20 university.