richmondcuse03
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ND has no meaningful vested interest in anything northeastern because the northeast for all things Major CFB is decidedly less than it was even in 1990, which was much less than it was in 1960. Just the Cincinnati TV market will produce at least as much football talent as all New England plus all NY state. And the only large groups of viewers of CFB living in those states are either ND or Penn St fans. And both are long accepting that their favorite CFB team very rarely play in their home areas.
Times have changed immensely for CFB. That means they have changed for ND. What ND truly needs from football independence (being able to boast about being too rich and powerful to need a conference in football is not a need) is not the same as those needs were in 1970. Today areas that have high concentrations of top recruits are the South, the Midwest, and CA. The areas that have the most passionate CFB fans are the South and midwest.
As South Bend is perfectly placed in the midwest close to IL, OH, and MI, ND has basically no needs to focus on anything midwestern because Home Games against any foes deliver that. So in terms of scheduling ND needs to play teams from and in the South and CA. But not the northeast. ND's needs are where the most D1 CFB recruits and the largest number and most passionate TV watching CFB fans live.
Producing talent and brand value / eyeballs in a streaming world are much different things. It's about money -- always.
ND gets a lot of eyeballs on TV in the northeast. I know it's not deemed the traditional hotbed, but even with lower market share, it's a huge population base. It's why ND schedules special games so their fans can attend and based on attendance, it seems to work. How many people will pay for a ND streaming network and where do they live? That's what matters. If you think ND has a small population of those fans in the northeast, then sure, they should ignore the northeast...but i bet ND has the numbers that say something vastly different.