By: Jonathan Tunney
January 30, 2025
Photo Credit: NewsLooks
Welp, it’s official. The Ohio State Buckeyes have officially been crowned College Football Playoff (CFP) National Champions. Their widely publicized $20M roster held off a late comeback from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win 34-23. As a result of their National Championship victory, the Buckeyes earned themselves $2.55M in CFP bonus money. Notre Dame, the losing school, earned $20M in CFP bonus money.
Yes, you read that right. Despite losing the national championship, Notre Dame earned approximately 7.85x more CFP bonus money than Ohio State. How is this possible? Conference Independence.
There was $116M in CFP bonus money up for grabs amongst the 12 teams competing this year. Here’s how much schools can earn for progressing in the playoff, and how payouts broke down by conference this year:
4 Big Ten schools made the playoff this year, earning a total of $46M in bonus money. Per Big Ten conference rules, those payouts are split amongst all 18 member institutions, meaning that Ohio State (and Michigan) earned $2.55M due to the Buckeyes’ national championship. Notre Dame earned the maximum of $20M by making the national championship game and since they aren’t in a conference, they don’t have to split it with anybody.
Fans and media members across the country have lamented this fact, arguing that the Fighting Irish have an unfair advantage and should be forced to join a conference. Is this really true? Notre Dame fans would argue that the Big Ten has one automatic bid under the current format, and it is virtually a guarantee that multiple Big Ten teams will make the playoff every year. This means that every Big Ten team will receive consistent CFP bonus money payouts every year. Notre Dame has no such luxury. If they miss the playoff, they will receive $0 in CFP bonus money that year.
On the other hand, even though Notre Dame isn’t guaranteed a playoff spot, the expanded 12-team playoff leaves plenty of room for the Irish to get in most years. They have a great young head coach in Marcus Freeman under contract through the 2030 season after he signed a 3-year contract extension before the playoff. It’s also rumored they’ll have a $20M+ NIL fund by next year. Finally, Notre Dame has the luxury of being a national brand while also playing weak schedules year after year. This year, Notre Dame played 0 teams in the regular season that ended the year ranked. As evidenced by their early season loss to Northern Illinois, even if they lose a game or two on their weak schedule, they can still make it into the playoffs based on their brand, which has never been more visible after playing 4 national TV games in this year’s playoff. At the very least, expect Notre Dame to be a CFP mainstay every season under this system. And remember, just for making it to the CFP field of 12 teams, Notre Dame earns a $4M payout, a greater sum than Ohio State received for winning the National Championship.
We can complain about it all we want, but this dynamic will continue for the foreseeable future. Nobody can force Notre Dame to join a conference, and as long as the Irish keep betting on themselves, they’ll cash in under the current payout system.
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