We're Notre Dame And You're Not

He objected, but he was too late. The next evening Rosenthal met Schanzer and Ebersol at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. The group spent the night at Rosenthal's home. The following morning, Feb. 5, Beauchamp arrived, and over a ham and eggs breakfast the parties agreed to the NBC deal. Ebersol and Schanzer pressed Beauchamp to let the news out as soon as possible because rumors were spreading and the phone was ringing. After one call Rosenthal came back to tell Ebersol and Schanzer that "Ned and Ted like it," meaning the plan had the imprimatur of Hesburgh and Joyce. The deal was announced that afternoon.

The action of Rosenthal and Beauchamp stands in sharp contrast to that of former athletic director Gene Corrigan shortly before the Supreme Court rendered its 1984 decision. At that time, WTBS, the cable superstation, offered Notre Dame a blank check for TV rights to all of its games, both home and away. According to a former WTBS executive, Corrigan turned down the offer, saying, "We're going to do what's right for the CFA."

In 1986 the Southeastern Conference was thinking about bolting from the CFA to accept a four-year, $25 million offer from ABC. Joyce was among the CFA representatives who tried hardest to persuade the 10 SEC schools to stay put, and the conference decided to remain in the fold. No wonder the SEC last week was irate. It questioned the role of Beauchamp, who in his capacity as secretary-treasurer of the CFA had recommended that the ABC proposal be presented to the membership. "The thing that has so many of our people upset," says Brad Davis, an assistant SEC commissioner, "is that Father Beauchamp almost led the charge to save the CFA-ABC deal, knowing all along that Notre Dame was going to pull out."

Beauchamp denies any duplicity. "That's not true," he says. "I certainly would have made that la decision to pull out] known. I simply voted in favor of presenting the [ABC] package to the membership for consideration. I didn't speak for Notre Dame, any more than anybody else on the TV committee speaks for his institution. I regret that some of the other universities feel the way they do. People are entitled to their opinion, and we assumed there would be some negative reaction. But Notre Dame was in a unique position with some unique problems, and people have to understand that."

As it was criticizing Notre Dame, the SEC engaged in a little strong-arming of its own with Neinas. Understanding fully that the CFA would come unraveled if it bolted, the SEC floated a few trial balloons, including one that reached CBS. The SEC's threat of defection was so thinly veiled that when the conference demanded a guaranteed number of TV appearances, Neinas had no choice but to capitulate. Says Mark Womack, an SEC associate commissioner, "We had some preliminary discussions with a lot of different people to see what options I we] might have. But when it came down to it, I think everybody decided that remaining within the CFA plan was what was best for the SEC, as well as what was best for college football." Are these guys bighearted, or what?

Neinas also felt heat from ABC executives. He had to explain to them why he hadn't informed them about Beau-champ's Oct. 24 letter and Notre Dame's concerns—a task Neinas admits was "uncomfortable." Says Neinas, "I was acting in good faith. I'm not going to say that anybody was duplicitous, but Notre Dame was involved in the negotiations. It becomes distressing to find out that an institution has reversed its field, so to speak."

In its defense, Notre Dame makes several arguments:

•Its revenue from NBC, about $23 million after payments are made to the visiting teams, will all go into a scholarship fund for needy students.

•Opponents will all get healthy paychecks as well as exposure on major network TV.

•Irish road games will still be part of the CFA package, and thus available to ABC or ESPN.