Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JUNE/JULY 2020 7 UNDER THE DOME ence school uses to fund other impor- tant areas of its athletics department. "That's a tremendous amount of revenue that comes into the athlet- ics department to manage the entire department," said Western Michigan athletics director Kathy Beauregard. "We take guarantees in football and men's basketball to be able to func- tion on a day-to-day basis. "We need the game, want the game, hope that everything will be opened up. It'll obviously be under their control." Western Michigan last played at Notre Dame in 2010. Notre Dame won 44-20, but Beauregard was mo- tivated to get another matchup back on the schedule at some point. The Broncos' fans loved the game-day experience. The schools are an hour and a half apart. Playing at Notre Dame also means national television. Even Western Michigan fans from out of the region traveled to South Bend for the game. Former Broncos linebacker and NFL All-Pro John Offerdahl made the trip from his South Florida home. "It really drew a lot of national ex- posure and pride for the Broncos," Beauregard said. HOW WILL SCHEDULE CHANGES WORK? If canceling or moving games be- comes necessary, the process will reveal a willingness (or lack thereof) to cooper- ate with each other in a situation that spares no one but has endless layers of complications. The feeling among some in the industry, though, is spats and liti- gation over contracts will be minimal. "It's a very collaborative atmosphere that's going on right now across the country with how we open up," Be- auregard said. "There isn't anyone in the country who isn't willing to work with one another to try and figure out how to make this work." Resolutions of weather-related can- celations have ended amicably. Ne- braska and Akron had a 2018 game canceled by thunderstorm, settled on a payment that was about half the agreed guarantee and rescheduled the game for 2025 at a lower guarantee price than normal. The schools looked to accom- modations first and found out they were possible. Each team also sched- uled a different opponent that season. "It's not like you're business com- petitors and there's either going to be a winner or loser when you have a dis- agreement," said Mike Glazier, a law- yer with experience in college athletics. "When you're colleagues in the same association, your goals are the same and you'll find that combination." There is still potential for tripwire, though. Most game contract cancel- ation policies state neither party is in violation if the game is called off due to "an act of God, national emer- gency, natural disaster, war, terror- ism, civil unrest or court order," as the contract between Notre Dame and Western Michigan reads. The question for universities' gen- eral counsel becomes if COVID-19 falls under one of those categories or a force majeure clause. With guaran- tee games, the answer could deter- mine how much one party owes the other or if no money is owed at all. In Notre Dame and Wisconsin's home-and-home series, where there is no guarantee, damages are not part of the equation. The discussion would likely center on the possibility of rescheduling. "I think they'll interpret these pro- visions pretty liberally rather than strictly and look for a way to accom- modate competition in the future," Glazier said. Elsewhere, it is the party who can- cels matters. A conference commis- sioner or university president's deci- sion could make one side of a contract responsible for payments, whereas a federal or state government order is less likely to require a payment. For postponement purposes, Notre Dame's schedule is full for 2021, has one opening for 2022 and two open- ings from 2023-25. DIVISION PRESENTS COMPLICATIONS Potential for mass disruption and litigation exists if some conferences choose to play non-league games, some choose to play a full schedule while others decide not to play at all. The individual and autonomous nature of college athletics creates that possibility. "The whole notion of how we'll pick a start date even on a confer- ence basis given the complexities of different state regulations and school approach to opening and makes the schedule-building and figuring out how to evaluate what will happen incredibly complex," Swarbrick said. To reach the point where scheduling issues are an athletics department's pri- mary concern would be a victory. Right now, they're concentrated on whether or not they'll be able to play at all and how quickly the necessary safety mea- sures for gathering players for practice and games are available. But a year without football and the revenue it brings would spell a catastrophe for athletics programs across the country. The push to play the football sea- son has already started in some cir- cles. Iowa President Bruce Harreld told his board of regents April 30 he anticipates practices starting around June 1. SEC commissioner Greg San- key said unity and the same level of openness among all 130 FBS schools is not entirely necessary for the sea- son to start, a sentiment Penn State head coach James Franklin echoed in a recent Zoom call with reporters. "I don't see how you'll be able to hold up 10 or 12 schools in one conference [because of] two states that are opening up a month later," Franklin said. "And that's the same thing by conference. I don't think you can penalize one conference from opening because another con- ference is opening way ahead." Ultimately, those are just prefer- ences. The viability of them will be determined at higher levels — and by the behavior of a novel virus. "It's going to be up to the decisions that come from the experts that are involved whether it's safe for us to have our athletes play, come back and practice or have a team come visit," Beauregard said. "It doesn't matter if it's a non-conference or a league game. It's the athletes and people. "Obviously, we'd like the best and to have packed stadiums across the country. I just don't know if that's where we're going to be, and that's going to be determined for us." ✦ "We're very comfortable that if it goes that way, we'll be fine and we'll be able to play a high-quality, full schedule with the same number of games other teams play." NOTRE DAME DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS JACK SWARBRICK ON THE IDEA OF SOME LEAGUES DITCHING NON-CONFERENCE GAMES