Notre Dame launches The Rally House for football fans
With only about 10,000 fans allowed inside Notre Dame Stadium this season, the university launched The Rally House to help keep the Irish faithful connected despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Rally House, where tradition and innovation collide, offers Notre Dame fans a new, virtual viewing experience.
“For us, we had a big challenge at the beginning of this pandemic, knowing that a low fan attendance was going to be likely become a reality coming into this football season. How we could still engage with our fans who were not going to be able to attend?” said Jodain Massad, Executive Producer with Fighting Irish Media.
Logging into The Rally House connects Irish fans from all over the world.
You can create a watch party of your own or check out former players as they share stories and break down the game.
There are message boards and contests.
Each time the Irish score you can show off your pushups for a chance to win an Under Armour prize pack
Before the game in the Ask Jack segment, you can even pose a question to Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick or one of his guests throughout the season.
Halftime is when the real fun begins.
In the fan connect forum, with a running clock of 60 seconds each, you can personally connect with other fans or even former Notre Dame players.
The Rally House isn’t just fun for Irish fans, it has been a great way for former players to once again be a part of the game day experience.
“What’s been great about it, is guys can be themselves. That’s something that, they don’t get to come back to campus. We normally have several players who come back and they even call me and, ‘Man, I know I can’t get back,” Reggie Brooks said. “That was kind of nice to have some way to engage and feel like they were a part of the game, a part of the team and just reconnect. This has been a rough year so far, for so many, and just little things like that, that allow them to just kind of reconnect and maintain that connection with Notre Dame and Notre Dame athletics is huge.”
Something that was created out of necessity is now making history.
Notre dame believes The Rally House is the only fan interactive platform of its kind but they have already had other ACC schools reach out who are interested in doing something similar.
“Certainly, there’s no positive that’s come from this pandemic but the resourcefulness and the creativity that’s come in response to it has shown us a world where we can still be connected and engaged and have opportunities that wouldn’t have existed very easily otherwise,” Massad said.
The Rally House is free of charge for season ticket holders but anyone can participate.