The TV home of Notre Dame football has been NBC for a long time, but in a change unseen in three decades, the Fighting Irish’s home opener against Toledo on Saturday, September 11 won’t be televised on the network.
Instead, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, will host the Toledo-Notre Dame game on its premium subscription service, per The Wrap‘s Tim Baysinger, who also reported what NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua had to say about the upcoming Week 2 matchup.
“Peacock exemplifies how we’re innovating as a company, and Notre Dame has consistently been a tremendous partner in making progressive choices for sports programming,” Bevacqua said.
This will mark the first time since 1991 that a Notre Dame home game hasn’t aired on NBC.
There is a potential workaround for those who’ve yet to subscribe to the streamer and don’t want to pay the monthly fee of $4.99. Peacock Premium offers various free trials depending on the provider a user signs up with. These trials are generally of the seven-day variety, which creates a window to see the gridiron clash in question.
Also, if you’re already a cable subscriber to Xfinity, or meet certain conditions as a Cox Internet customer, Peacock Premium is included in your package at no extra cost.
The report states that former New Orleans Saints legendary quarterback Drew Brees will be on the Peacock broadcast call alongside play-by-play veteran Mike Tirico. Brees will have his first go at sportscasting after a Hall of Fame career on the gridiron, and is on a brand-new platform to boot.
For those wary of another streaming subscription and worried that this is a sign of things to come for the 2021 campaign, fear not. This is the only game on Notre Dame’s home football schedule that’ll be exclusively streaming on Peacock.
As for the matchup itself, if Fighting Irish fans around the globe were to miss a contest in South Bend, this is probably the one to burn. Notre Dame is a 19.5-point favorite over the Rockets, and if you were to place a wager at DraftKings right now on the hosts to win outright, you’d need to bet $1,250 just to win $100.
Bottom line is, cord cutting and streaming is becoming more prominent by the day in media and entertainment consumption. It’s reasonable to assume future Notre Dame football games will be broadcast on Peacock with increasing frequency.
For now, there are plenty of avenues for convenient viewing among fans who really want to see the Irish beat up on Toledo without feeling like it’s a hassling, cash-grabby, pay-per-view event.
Notre Dame will begin the new college football season on the road against Florida State in prime time on ABC, at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday, September 4.
