Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s athletics director, is squarely in the middle of college football realignment discussions, and the Irish remain arguably the biggest domino in potential conference expansion.

Swarbrick again this week reiterated to ESPN his reasoning for what might prompt Notre Dame to consider joining a conference.

“The three things that would make continuing as an independent unsustainable would be the loss of a committed broadcast partner, the loss of a fair route into the postseason, or such an adverse financial consequence that you had to reconsider,” said Swarbrick, a Notre Dame graduate who is entering his 15th season leading Irish athletics.

That postseason route is another major issue, but Swarbrick would be aware about changing dynamics. He is the only athletics director in the country with a seat on the College Football Playoff’s management committee, which is otherwise composed of the 10 FBS commissioners.

As Notre Dame continues to weigh being independent as it relates to the Playoff, and Swarbrick said he believes there are “definitely pros and cons” while there are 4 more years in a four-team field.

“There are years where it will make it more difficult for you to make the Playoff,” Swarbrick said. “We recognize that. But we’ve had a pretty darn good history of positioning ourselves to make the Playoff during the first phase of its existence, and I think we can continue to down the road. There’s a very small number of schools that have been in the Playoff more than Notre Dame.”

As conferences continue to jockey for position in this new era of conference expansion, ESPN noted that the Irish are such a valuable commodity that the SEC would also be interested, but multiple sources outside the SEC have said it’s geographically and philosophically a better fit with the Big Ten. It would also be in the same conference as rival USC.

“We’re kind of still in an evaluation mode,” one Big Ten source said this week, “but certainly Notre Dame, there’s no question they just move the needle differently than most schools.”