‘We like the freedom’ — Notre Dame committed to staying independent, AD says

As Notre Dame prepares to compete for the national title in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, the university remains bullish in its belief that its independent status is the right choice and has the Irish “in a very good spot now,” athletic director Pete Bevacqua told ESPN on Friday.

Bevacqua declined to comment specifically on CFP revenue distribution, but according to the playoff website, Notre Dame will earn an aggregate of $20 million, a profit it won’t have to share with other teams in a conference. The Irish will receive a combined $4 million for reaching the playoff, another $4 million for advancing to a quarterfinal, $6 million for making a semifinal, and another $6 million for reaching the national championship game.

With its 27-24 win against Penn State on Thursday in the Capital One Orange Bowl, Notre Dame will face the winner of Friday’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Texas and Ohio State. The No. 7-seeded Irish could not earn a first-round bye in the playoff because those four spots were reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champions. Still, the Irish have won three straight playoff games to advance to the championship game Jan. 20 in Atlanta, where they will compete for the school’s first national title since 1988.

“No secret, the expansion of the CFP from four to 12 teams has helped enormously, because as an independent, as with other schools, we get better opportunities, better percentages of getting in the playoffs, and the more you knock on that national championship door, the better,” Bevacqua said. “And we like the freedom, quite frankly, it gives us. The fact we were able to play Navy at MetLife and had the Shamrock Series against Army at Yankee Stadium, that we can continue that great rivalry with USC — we really get to move around the map and keep that very national presence. It’s a wonderful thing for our football program and, quite frankly, it’s a wonderful thing for the university.”

Individual conferences receive the same amount for each team that advances through the CFP bracket. Each conference whose team participates in the CFP also receives $3 million to cover expenses for each round.

Notre Dame also has financial security from its television deal with NBC, and its partnership with the ACC for all other sports except hockey….