Why this CFP has been especially lucrative for Notre Dame

What’s a first-round College Football Playoff win worth in 2024?

Most answers are abstract, hard or even impossible to measure. But there are also concrete performance incentives for each conference with a team in the 12-team field, which depend on how many of their teams make it and how many games they win. The conferences earn $4 million per team that makes the CFP, then $4 million per team in the quarterfinals, $6 million per team in the semifinals and $6 million per team in the national championship game. Then the conferences decide how to distribute that money – among all of their member schools, only to some – meaning one program is probably cashing in more than all the others this month.

Yes, that would be Notre Dame.

Because the Fighting Irish are independent in football, they have earned $8 million so far in CFP payouts and don’t have to share any of it. The first $4 million came with earning the seventh seed. The second $4 million came with beating 10th-seeded Indiana on Saturday. With two more wins, Notre Dame would earn a total of $20 million in CFP payouts, the maximum amount for one program. Rest easy, then, if you were worried sick about the Irish’s bottom line.

The performance-based incentive system is in place through 2025. After that, the CFP will switch to preset distributions of the money: 29 % for the SEC, 29 % for the Big Ten, about 17.1 % for the ACC, 14.7 % for the Big 12 and roughly 10 % for Notre Dame and the Group of Five conferences.

An important caveat on this year’s earnings: By making the CFP and earning a first-round bye, Boise State is in the quarterfinal and has already made $8 million for the Mountain West. And because the Mountain West has not publicly specified how it will distribute the CFP payouts, it’s theoretically possible Boise State is keeping all that money, just like Notre Dame.

That’s how the ACC handles the CFP payouts. The teams that earned money for the conference – this year, Clemson and Southern Methodist – received every dollar. For both programs, that amounted to $4 million for earning a spot in the inaugural 12-team field. But neither can match Notre Dame after losing over the weekend. SMU, the No. 11 seed, fell, 38-10, to sixth-seeded Penn State. Clemson, which earned the No. 12 seed by winning the ACC title, lost, 38-24, to fifth-seeded Texas.

The SEC pays most of its CFP money to the teams that earn it. For example, Texas received $3 million of the $4 million it earned the SEC for making the field. The remaining money is split equally among all members of the SEC, including a share for the conference office. Three SEC teams made the CFP, and two – Georgia and Texas – will play in the quarterfinals. That means, to this point, the conference has earned $20 million in performance incentives.

The Big Ten and Big 12 distribute the money equally among all conference members, though the Big 12 pays a bit more with bonuses to the participating team(s). The Big Ten had four teams in the initial field, three of which – Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State – will play in the quarterfinals. That means the Big Ten has already earned $28 million. The Big 12, on the other hand, has one playoff team in Arizona State, which had a first-round bye into the quarterfinals. The Sun Devils have already earned the Big 12 $8 million, and that number could grow if ASU upsets Texas in the Peach Bowl next week.

The CFP also gives each participating team $3 million per round to cover expenses. Depending on the conference, there are travel subsidies, too.

Starting in the summer of 2025, schools are expected to share a capped amount of their revenue with athletes, adding more than $20 million in expenses for programs that want to pay as much as possible. To that end, no cash bumps are negligible, especially for the lower-spending schools that will receive money from their conference while sitting at home. Equal distribution in the Big Ten and Big 12 will lead to considerable CFP payouts for Purdue and Cincinnati, plus many other teams.

As for Notre Dame’s independence, it is a double-edged sword in some ways.

Because first-round byes went to the four highest-ranked conference winners, the Irish were not eligible for one (though they still finished fifth in the final CFP rankings, behind Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State). And had Notre Dame not made the CFP at all, it wouldn’t have had access to any payouts, whereas 1-11 Purdue is benefiting from the success of Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana.

But don’t expect anyone to feel for Notre Dame on those fronts – or any fronts, really. Independence allows the Irish to maintain an extremely lucrative television contract with NBC. With this CFP in particular, it has raised an already high ceiling for financial benefits. Each win means just a tad more.