Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua Expecting Top-Notch Atmosphere

Pete Bevacqua and Notre Dame didn’t want to jinx anything, but they didn’t want to be unprepared either.

So months ago, they gingerly began making arrangements in case they were fortunate enough to host a game in the first-ever College Football Playoffs.

In hindsight, it was a wise decision by the school’s athletics director with the Irish set to host Indiana in a first-round game on Friday night.

“You don't want to assume anything,” Bevacqua said earlier this week. “We were having conversations over the summer saying, ‘OK, if we're lucky enough and fortunate enough to have a great season and to host a playoff game, here's what we need changed.’”

It was a lengthy list that included pushing up final exams by a day, so they would finish on Thursday, making sure students would be free to attend. 

“That's not easy to do at a place like Notre Dame, but everybody embraced that,” Bevacqua said. 

“We didn't want to host a game and have our students have to take exams that day or the next morning.”

Then, the University needed to make sure the dorms were open an additional 24 hours so the students could remain on campus for the game. 

“We didn't want to be in the position of hosting a CFP game and not have our students there,” Bevacqua said. “To us, a Notre Dame home football game is not a Notre Dame home football game without our student body there. 

“The way the University just worked so closely with us and just kind of made that all come to pass has been fantastic.”

Bevacqua said “all of our students who wanted a ticket are going to be there, and they basically all wanted a ticket.”

Student prices were $25.

“These tickets never went into the public domain,” he said. “We sold out immediately, and that was great. It just shows you the energy level and the support Notre Dame Football has.”

“One of our goals was to host a College Football Playoff Game,” Bevacqua said.

There will be some changes on Friday night, but Bevacqua is confident the Irish will have a homefield advantage.

“The CFP was adamant about that,” he said. “They were like, ‘These four teams that are hosting games, you’ve earned the right to host a playoff game.’ And our goal and our belief and our expectation is it’s going to sound like a Notre Dame home football game. It’s going to feel like a Notre Dame home football game.

“It's going to sound like a home game, look like a home game, but you'll see some CFP messaging. Indiana University will have an intro video. We usually don't do that for our opponents here at Notre Dame Stadium, but that's part of the CFP deal.”

Indiana was given a 3,500-ticket allotment, 1,500 of which will be in the lower bowl, which Bevacqua acknowledged is different.

The University will hand out Rally towels to commemorate the inaugural game of the College Football Playoff.

“There aren’t many opportunities to have a first at Notre Dame, because in the history of Notre Dame, we’ve done so much and accomplished so much across the University and certainly on the football field,” he said. 

“But this is a first. And I think the community is excited. I think the country’s excited. And we couldn’t be more pleased and just more thrilled about what we have to look forward to.”

Bevacqua has the highest of hopes for the atmosphere and the moment.

“People always ask me, ‘What's the best sporting event I've ever been to?’ And I've been lucky, because of what I've done professionally, but I've always had an easy number one. I graduated in the spring of ‘93 and came back in the fall of ‘93 for that great Florida State game with Charlie Ward. That's where my expectations are heading into Friday, that type of atmosphere where it felt like the whole country was focused singularly on a sporting event.

"I think because we're the first game, because it's in Notre Dame Stadium, because it's going to be this great intrastate game in primetime on a Friday, I think it really has the chance to be a spectacular moment in sports, and spectacular — hopefully — moment in Notre Dame sports history.”

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