NBC adjusts ad breaks to Notre Dame’s no-huddle offense

For Notre Dame, and NBC, a quick-strike offense this season means quick-strike breaks.
When Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly ran his no-huddle spread offense at Cincinnati last year, the average scoring drive took 2:19. This season, Kelly would like the Irish to work just as fast. So what does this mean for NBC Sports which will televise Notre Dame’s eight home games? “We’ve talked to NBC about the way we like to play the game versus maybe how it was played in the past,” Kelly said Tuesday. “There’s certainly a need for us to address it and I think we’re working with NBC to make certain that they get what they need from an advertising standpoint.” Kelly said a middle ground can be reached. “I’m very confident that we’re going to be able to do the things we want to do in terms of pushing the tempo without having to go to a commercial break,” Kelly said. For this season’s Notre Dame game telecasts, NBC will switch to the NFL TV model of five shorter commercial breaks per quarter rather than four longer commercial breaks. The total amount of advertising time will be the same. But the shorter breaks will run about 1 minute, 45 seconds this season compared to 2:30 last season. — USA Today