Notre Dame’s “Hard Knocks” Gamble

A simple question: would you want a behind-the-scenes, premium cable television show shining a spotlight on your university’s most visible (and valuable) asset?

If you immediately answered with an unequivocal “yes,” then good for you. Hopefully your team is a beacon of light amidst the morass of corruption and secrets that operate in the backrooms of major NCAA football.

If you’re like many administrators at institutions of higher learning though, hearing about Notre Dame’s new deal with Showtime to produce a Hard Knocks-style program might give you pause. That’s because behind-the-curtain access can sometimes create great television, but might also put an exceptionally valuable commodity at risk.

Knowing this, Notre Dame, who is famously image-conscious and exceptionally media-savvy (see their 20+ years of NBC programming as evidence), will control a great deal of the very access such shows claim as their primary selling point. The practice and game fields will have plenty of airtime, but in terms of the day-to-day lives of players, there might not be much to offer. Classrooms are more-or-less taboo, as are particular administrative buildings (including the ones where juicy news of player transgressions might be adjudicated).



Coach Brian Kelly stated that he wants to be sure not “to embarrass any players, coaches or the university,” which begs the question of how the show will be genuine and, to use Notre Dame A.D. John Swarbrick’s word, “real.” Swarbrick concedes that realness is necessary “for the series to have value,” but it is clear there is a balance to be struck between creating an authentic portrait of one of the nation’s most storied football programs and being sure not to harm the golden goose.

Even with the strongest of institutional controls, however, a program such as this still puts Notre Dame in a somewhat vulnerable spot. An obvious desire for participating in a program such as this from the university’s standpoint is to further reach recruits by creating an “edgy” show that is accessible from home. Honing a particular message to be received positively by teenagers is a notoriously difficult task, though. This is why shows that are able to capture the coveted demographic in which most Notre Dame recruits fall are so valuable. Seem like you’re trying too hard, and teens can tell. Be too sanitized and the show becomes what Kelly derisively described as a “public service announcement.”

The potential rewards such a program offers Notre Dame are substantial. Increased exposure, a (limited) glimpse inside the Notre Dame program, and maybe some revenue are just some of the benefits the Fighting Irish stand to gain. But before athletic departments nationwide start opening their doors to the cameras, they should remember that if Showtime and the university are unable to walk the fine line between appealing to a media-saturated teenage audience and maintaining the image of one of the nation’s foremost Catholic institutions of higher learning, Notre Dame’s gamble might have a deleterious effect.

 

Feature image via C. Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports