Notre Dame Football on NBC

Notre Dame Football on NBC
Also known as	Notre Dame Football on NBCSN
Genre	College football telecasts
Presented by	Commentators: Doug Flutie Dan Hicks Kathryn Tappen Mike Tirico Studio hosts: Dhani Jones Liam McHugh (for former analysts, commentators and studio hosts, see section)
Theme music composer	John Colby
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	26
No. of episodes	174 (through 2016)
Production
Location(s)	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S. Various NCAA stadiums (Shamrock Series)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	210 minutes or until game ends
Production company(s)	National Collegiate Athletic Association NBC Sports
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	September 7, 1991 (1991-09-07) – present
External links
Website

Notre Dame Football on NBC is a presentation of college football games involving the Notre Dame Fighting Irish that are produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. NBC has broadcast nearly all Notre Dame home games since September 7, 1991, with one game so far broadcast live on NBC Sports's sports cable channel, NBCSN.

Since NBC began airing Notre Dame home football games in 1991, the network's deal with the university has ensured that all of its home games are on national broadcast television, a unique configuration amongst American sports. Most of the games are televised in the afternoon, usually starting at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. From 2011 to 2015, one significant home game per year was shown during prime time with a 7:30 p.m. Eastern start time. The games were typically planned around NBC's schedule of such sporting events as the Ryder Cup or Breeders' Cup and include full-game replays on NBCSN.

History

On August 25, 1991, NBC signed a five-year broadcasting contract with the University of Notre Dame, worth $38 million. Notre Dame got half of the $7.6 million that NBC paid for the rights each year of the deal and its opponent received the other half.^[1]

The network's 1993 broadcast of the game between Florida State Seminoles and Notre Dame (ranked as the #1 and #2 college football teams at the time) is still the most-watched regular season college football game since NBC began carrying the Fighting Irish's games.^[2]

In 2009, Notre Dame began to play one home game each year at a neutral site outside of the university's South Bend, Indiana campus for recruitment and exposure purposes, which are broadcast nationally on NBC as part of the television deal with 7:30 p.m. Eastern start times under the banner of the Shamrock Series. This was initiated with a late October 2009 game against Washington State at the Alamodome in San Antonio. A November 2010 matchup against Army at Yankee Stadium, which NBC also televised, was also a Notre Dame home game, despite West Point's proximity to the Tri-State area. Notre Dame battled Miami at Soldier Field in 2012 and met Arizona State at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in 2013, a year later Notre Dame played Purdue at Lucas Oil Stadium and in 2015, Notre Dame played against Boston College at Fenway Park.

Ratings for NBC's Notre Dame game telecasts had slumped to historic lows during the 2011 season, coinciding with average performances of the team on the football field over the past several years; however, the recent resurgence in the program under Brian Kelly in 2012 has resulted in the network's highest game viewership since 2005.^[2]

In 2011, sister channel Versus (now NBCSN) began airing rebroadcasts of past Notre Dame games, including those aired on NBC over the years. Previously via NBC's rights deal, sister cable network Universal HD aired same-week reruns of Notre Dame home games until NBCUniversal's January 2011 merger with Comcast. The deal has also been expanded to cover some games of the university's hockey team.

On April 9, 2013, NBC Sports renewed its broadcasting contract with Notre Dame for ten years through the 2025 season.^[3] Double the length of prior contract extension deals, the agreement allows NBC Sports the rights to a minimum of seven home games to be broadcast per season, with NBC Sports Network also acquiring rights to select games beginning in 2016. While most games traditionally are held at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays, some games will be held during primetime.^[4] Revenue from the deal will continue to aid non-athlete student financial assistance.^[5] On November 21, 2015, NBCSN broadcast its first live Notre Dame game, a neutral site night game against Boston College held at Boston's Fenway Park as part of the Shamrock Series.^[6]

On September 8, 2016, NBC announced that all Notre Dame home games during the 2016 season would be broadcast in 4K ultra-high-definition television exclusively on DirecTV.^[7]

Personalities

Current

• Doug Flutie – color commentator (2014–present)
• Dan Hicks – play-by-play announcer (2002; 2011; 2013–present)^[8]
• Dhani Jones – pregame/halftime analyst (2016–present)
• Liam McHugh – pregame/halftime host (2013–present)
• Kathryn Tappen – sideline reporter (2014–present)^[9]
• Mike Tirico – alternate play-by-play announcer (2016–present)^[10]

Former

Play-by-play

• Don Criqui^[11] (1994–1997)
• Dick Enberg (1991; 1993; 1998–1999)
• Tom Hammond (1992–1997, 2000–2012)
• Charlie Jones^[12] (1993–1997)
• Craig Minervini (2000) – Minervini filled in for Tom Hammond for the September 9, 2000 game against Nebraska, and the following week's game involving Purdue. Hammond was preparing for and subsequently, assigned to work on NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympic telecasts in Sydney, Australia.

Color commentary

• Todd Christensen (1993)
• Cris Collinsworth (1992–1994)
• Randy Cross (1994–1996)
• Pat Haden (1998–2009; left to become athletic director at the University of Southern California)
• Paul Maguire (1995)
• Mike Mayock (2010–2014)
• Beasley Reece (1996)
• Phil Simms (1995)
• Bob Trumpy^[11] (1993; 1995–1997)
• Bill Walsh (1991)

Sideline reporters

• John Dockery (1991–1997)
• Alex Flanagan (2007–2013)
• Jim Gray (1998–2001)^[13]
• Lewis Johnson (2002–2006)

Studio hosts

• Hines Ward (2013–2016)

References

External links

• Official website