You're probably right. But I don't have the numbers in front of me. The people who make the decisions only look at the money.
Notre Dame's current TV contract is $X per year.
Notre Dame could expect to get $X + $Y per year in a conference. Let's say Big Ten for geographical reasons. Plus, I think the $Y is the largest if they join the Big Ten, compared to the ACC or anyone else.
What do they make if they make the playoffs? Is it $Y or greater?
If it's greater than $Y, they're gambling that they make the playoffs every year.
If it's less than $Y, they shouldn't care about the playoffs.
There are new rules starting in 2026
ND gets $12.5MM if they make it or not. They get another $6MM if they make it, so max
$18.5MM
The Big Ten as a conference, otoh, gets ~29% of CFP revenue or est $377MM split between all 18 schools/
~$21MM per school
So ND makes a little
less, as far as the CFP goes, by staying independent.
Their TV deal also pays ND
less than each Big Ten school makes
Irony of ironies is that their affiliation with the ACC makes up the difference and makes it pretty much break even for them to be independent/ACC adjacent vs joining the B1G.
So the math is a wash and they are all cocksmacks, thus they stay independent.