ABC and ESPN will become the first networks other than NBC to air a Notre Dame home game since 1990.
The Disney-owned channels will simulcast Indiana–Notre Dame from South Bend, Ind., which kicks off the first 12-team College Football Playoff on Friday night Dec. 20. NBC has held the media rights to Fighting Irish home games since 1991, but ESPN has rights to the CFP after signing a $7.8 billion extension through 2032.
ESPN is sublicensing two first-round Playoff games this year to TNT Sports, which will air Clemson-Texas and SMU–Penn State in the early and late afternoon on Dec. 21. But ABC and ESPN have both primetime matchups, Indiana-Notre Dame and Tennessee-Ohio State, with the latter closing out the first round Saturday night.
It was actually ESPN that broadcast the last Notre Dame home game not on NBC—a 24–21 win over Penn State on Nov. 17, 1990. CBS also aired Notre Dame home games to national TV audiences that season.
Last year, NBC extended its longstanding media rights deal with Notre Dame through 2029, and is said to be paying an annual fee of roughly $50 million. NBC was one of several media companies that explored bids for the expanded CFP, but ultimately did not acquire those rights.
Notre Dame has produced some sizable TV ratings for NBC this fall, according to Nielsen figures cited by Sports Media Watch, like a pair of audience numbers near 4 million against Northern Illinois in September and Army in November. But the most viewers for a Notre Dame game came when the Fighting Irish visited Texas A&M to open the season, as nearly 8 million people watched that matchup on ABC.
