Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1518481
12 MAY 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME NUMBERS AND QUOTES $12 Million Is how much Notre Dame will receive each year from the new College Football Playoff media rights deal with ESPN from the 2026-27 season through the 2031-32 season, per The Athletic. If the Fight- ing Irish make the CFP field, that number will jump to $18 million. The entire deal is worth $1.3 billion per year. Each Big Ten and SEC team will receive more than $21 million per year. Each ACC team will get $13 million per year, while each Big 12 team will get $12 mil- lion per year. Each Group of Five team, on the other hand, will receive "only" $1.8 million per year. The Athletic also reported that the money will remain the same even if the CFP expands from 12 to 14 teams, which has been rumored as a possibility. Our dollar figure that's derived from the CFP for us is quite strong, plus the fact we have the ability to earn additional revenue in the in- stances where we make the CFP, which puts us in an even stronger position. So, when you step back and look at the totality of those three elements — the NBC relationship, the ACC Network relationship and the CFP — we're in an incredibly strong position relative to the rest of the college sports world." — Notre Dame athletics director PETE BEVACQUA (ESPN) 5 Freshmen in NCAA women's basketball have been named an Associated Press first-team All- American since the inception of that accolade in 1994-95, with two joining that exclusive club this year: Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and USC's JuJu Watkins. The three other players who made the first team as freshmen were UConn's Paige Bueckers in 2021, UConn's Maya Moore in 2008 and Oklahoma's Courtney Paris in 2006. Hidalgo is Notre Dame's first first-team All-American since Jewell Loyd in 2015. Kayla McBride, Skylar Diggins and Ruth Riley are the only other Notre Dame players who have ever been named first-team All-Americans by the AP. The team is decided by the same 35 members of the national media panel that determines each week's AP Top 25 team rankings. Hidalgo and Watkins were joined on this year's first team by Bueckers, Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark and Stanford's Cameron Brink. In many seasons, Hidalgo would be na- tional freshman of the year. This year, that will likely go to USC's [JuJu] Watkins, but Hidalgo has had a brilliant first season. She ranks third in Division I in scoring average, first in steals and 11th among Power Five players in assists. "Hidalgo was ACC Tournament MVP as Notre Dame won the title. She's one of the nation's best perimeter defensive players." —Michael Voepel on Notre Dame freshman point guard Hannah Hidalgo being ranked No. 5 on ESPN's list of the 25 best players in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament field 86 Offers — by BlueandGold.com's count — were sent out to class of 2026 recruits on Pot of Gold day, March 17. That exceeded the program's effort in the last two years. In 2023 and 2022, the Irish sent out 64 new scholarship offers to prospects in the 2024 and 2025 classes. Those Pot of Gold day offers eventually produced 13 commitments between both classes. Here is a breakdown of the number of 2026 re- cruits the Irish offered by position: defensive line (17), linebacker (17), wide receiver (13), corner- back (9), offensive line (9), running back (9), safety (7) and tight end (5). 16.57 Goals scored per game for the No. 1-ranked Notre Dame men's lacrosse team through April 1 — tops in the country. The Irish also ranked No. 4 in the nation in goals allowed per game, surren- dering only 8.86 goals per outing during their 6-1 start. My family wanted me to go to Notre Dame. At the end of the day they were like, you make the decision for yourself. But it's NOTRE DAME! 'Rudy' was one of my fa- vorite movies. How could you not pick Notre Dame?" — Caitlin Clark on nearly ending up at Notre Dame before decommitting and going on to star at Iowa (ESPN) The buzz around Carr at Notre Dame is strong enough to make me be- lieve he won't stay fourth for long. How long? Hard to say. But of all the early enrollee quarterbacks I've watched in first practices the past 20 years, Carr was the most impressive by a wide margin. Usu- ally, they're barely capable of taking a snap. Carr was out there throwing passes against Benjamin Morrison." — Pete Sampson of The Athletic on Notre Dame freshman quarterback CJ Carr PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER