I feel thoroughly gutted by Notre Dame getting left out of the College Football Playoff. And I only watch the games and follow the news - imagine the feeling of the players, coaches and everyone else supporting the Notre Dame football program every single day. My condolences go to those individuals. And for what the opinion of a single fan is worth, I’m incredibly proud to have had the opportunity to support this team - you guys are exceptional both as football players/coaches and individuals.

But back to the sobering truth. It’s not just that we were left out, it’s how we were left out that is gutting. There has been a true smear campaign building against Notre Dame for weeks. And it’s grown in intensity as our CFP playoff chances have grown.

While there are many to blame, the primary culprit in my eyes is Disney’s sports media platform, ESPN.

For those that don’t know, Disney, through their ownership of ESPN and ABC, has a monopoly over college football viewership. ESPN and ABC consistently capture ~60% of the live game minutes on nationally rated linear networks, more than double its closest competitors. In addition, ESPN has lucrative TV rights for two conferences: the SEC and the ACC. The former is a $3bn exclusive rights agreement with the SEC, bringing all local, regional and national media rights for SEC sports under the Disney umbrella. 

I am happy to go into a lot more detail for those interested, but one clear takeaway: ESPN is an inherently biased media platform. That’s no different than other media platforms (think Fox News). But political media doesn’t actually vote, individuals do. In the case of the CFP, voting happens behind closed doors and the decision-making process and logic has been entirely convoluted the entire 2025 season. Two comments that struck me as particularly interesting when watching the broadcast this morning. 

#1: CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek (Arkansas Athletic Director with clear SEC tilt given his school is in the SEC) joked that Nick Saban would be happy he answered all questions posed to him on ESPN’s broadcast. What?! Is there any need to reference long-time SEC coach Nick Saban as it relates to the CFP committee’s decisions? Or, is he just hoping to win the good graces of Nick Saban by allowing his Bama team into the playoff despite a 21-point humiliation yesterday (a game ESPN program College Gameday attended instead of the instant classic between the #1 and #2 teams in the country who play in the Big 10)?

#2 Hunter Yurachek explicitly stating “the ACC wasn’t otherwise going to have a representative” when discussing Miami. I’m fine with Miami in - they beat us and they are a good team. However, this comment does shine light on the corrupt process of explicitly solving for conference representation.

So what can we, as fans, do about this? On the face of it, not much. The CFP committee has spoken and Notre Dame is not in the playoff. 

But under the surface, I think there is a clear way to protest. And one that Disney probably won’t like. A comprehensive boycott of anything affiliated with Disney and its various businesses.

Notre Dame averages 2.5-3mm viewers per game. There are viewers of the competition as well, so for simplicity let’s state that Notre Dame has 2mm consistent and active viewers.

What should these people do:

• Cancel their Disney+ subscription ($12/mo with ads and $19/mo ad-free)
• Do not watch any of the College Football Playoff aired on ESPN or ABC
• Do not watch ESPN College Gameday (FOX Big Noon Kickoff is an adequate solution)
• Delete your ESPN app
• Stop watching ESPN and ABC broadcasts more broadly
• If you’re a parent, consider vacations other than Disney World and do not purchase merchandise of Disney-affiliated content

These boycotts are often unsuccessful because people don’t appreciate the true numbers behind them. If 2mm fans cancelled their Disney+ at 12.99/mo, that would be $312mm of lost revenue per year! Not every ND fan likely has a Disney+ account, but a unified effort could cost Disney hundreds of millions of dollars! 

Additionally, ads are often priced as $ per 1,000 impressions. Figures range significantly, but let’s for simplicity assume $30 per 1,000 impressions. A loss of 2mm viewers would result in a lost $60,000 per advertisement! And there are often 16 or more advertisement breaks per game with multiple ads per break, which means millions of ad revenue per game.

Simply put, the numbers add up very quick if there is a unified effort throughout the Notre Dame fan base. And to Big 10 and Big 12 fans, we’re happy to welcome you to the party too - you’re also probably tired of the corrupt bias towards the SEC.

Go Irish!