Could Notre Dame Football Really Be Left Without a Bowl Berth?

A 7-5 bowl-eligible Notre Dame team may be spending this December in South Bend, Ind. instead of Honolulu, HI, according to an ESPN report.

One of the biggest perks for a football program joining a conference is its bowl tie-ins. Each conference has contracts with bowls that allows its bowl-eligible teams to play in those contracted bowls.

Notre Dame's football program is independent and does not have non-BCS bowl agreements in place for the 2013 season. The school has made bowl agreements in the past—Notre Dame was an alternative selection for the 2011 Russell Athletic Bowl.

If Notre Dame finishes the regular season ranked in the top eight of the BCS final standings, then it is guaranteed a BCS bowl berth. Is it BCS or bust for Notre Dame this year? ESPN's Brett McMurphy doesn't think so:

Contractually if there are 70 bowl-eligible teams, Notre Dame—if it doesn't qualify for a bowl—would have to stay at home.

However, industry sources believe there would be some last-minute re-negotiations between bowls to make room for Notre Dame. A bowl could "pay off" a conference by allowing the bowl to take Notre Dame instead of a team from the conference it's affiliated with.

That's an understatement by McMurphy. Notre Dame will not be sitting home. Even with a 6-6 record, it will go bowling unless it declines a bowl berth, because Notre Dame football is that powerful.

Notre Dame does function by itself. It is self supporting. But claiming independence also infers that one is not interested in joining a group. Yet, Notre Dame has a distinctive voice in how conferences it has no membership in conduct their business in regards to naming a BCS champion.

A BCS conference champion is guaranteed a BCS bowl berth, but that guarantee is for a nameless conference champion, not a specific school. Not one college football team, except for Notre Dame, has a guaranteed BCS bowl berth if it is ranked in the top eight, unless it wins its conference.

And that power is a result of a fan base that it is not just national, it is global. Notre Dame fans travel exceptionally well, probably better than almost any other football team's fans at the college or NFL level.

The 2010 Sun Bowl featured a 7-5 Notre Dame vs. a 7-5 Miami (FL). The bowl had the "fastest sellout in the 77-year history of the bowl game," according to the Sun Sentinel. One day after the bowl announced its two participants, Notre Dame sold its ticket allotment. The Irish fans made El Paso, TX their holiday destination.

Bowl committee members don't concern themselves about how many butts are in seats as much as the schools do. Participating schools are required to pay for their ticket allotments, whether those tickets are sold or not.

Hotels, restaurants and retailers benefit from fans who use their services. For every dollar spent, the host city collects taxes on those sales. Notre Dame's geographical location almost guarantees a minimum two or three-night stay in a bowl's host city.

Via: Strike conditions some qualifiers for the ACB with white favoritism title