Notre Dame football is having a postseason to remember, and not just because of its performance on the field.
The team has earned a major payout by making the College Football Playoff and then winning its first-round game and quarterfinal. It could bank even more money by winning this week.
By advancing this far, Notre Dame will bring home at least $14 million — $4 million for making the playoff, $4 million for advancing to the quarterfinals and $6 million for advancing to this week’s semifinal round, according to Front Office Sports.
And unlike the other schools still alive in the competition — Penn State, Ohio State and Texas — Notre Dame, as an independent school, won’t have to share its payout with a conference.
College Football Playoff payout
If the College Football Playoff ended today, Notre Dame would walk away with the full $14 million, while the other three schools would bring home much less.
“The Big Ten divides its NCAA distributions equally, meaning Ohio State and Penn State will each take in about $2.2 million from the current pot. The SEC’s model is more performance-based, so Texas would go home with $3.75 million of the current amount,” Front Office Sports reported.
Because the College Football Playoff won’t end today, two of the remaining four schools will earn even more money.
The teams that win this week and advance to the final on Jan. 20 bank another $6 million, per Front Office Sports.
That means the Fighting Irish could increase their College Football Playoff payout to $20 million by beating Penn State Thursday night.
College Football Playoff structure
Notre Dame’s position in the College Football Playoff shows one of the perks of being independent, but it also illustrates a potential downside.
Because it’s not part of a conference, Notre Dame was not eligible for one of the top four seeds in the tournament, which went to the four highest-ranked conference champions.
As the Big 12 champion, Arizona State not only made the College Football Playoff, but also got one of the top four seeds — No. 4 — and a first-round bye.
The school’s payout, which it will share with the rest of the Big 12 conference, was up to $8 million before it had even taken the field last week against Texas.
If a school in the ACC had put in a stronger performance during the regular season, it could have enjoyed a CFP bye and its full performance-based payout, according to The Washington Post.
The ACC allowed SMU and Clemson to keep their full College Football Playoff payouts. They each walked away with $4 million after losing in the first round.
Changes to College Football Playoff
There are rumblings that the College Football Playoff structure could change in the future and that the current seeding process will go away.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who helped design the current College Football Playoff format, said last week that recent conference realignment — including the near dissolution of the Pac-12 — is one reason to make future adjustments.
“Remember when the format was introduced we had what was called the Power 5 and the Group of 5,” Sankey told The Athletic. “There is not a Power 5. We had looked at history, you never meant pulling seeds from outside the (top) 10 really into the top four in this format. And that’s now happened. Those are learning experiences, and that informs adaptation. And we’ve got a responsibility to have what I would consider is a competitive and fair format.”