Short term rentals & hotels filling fast ahead of Notre Dame Football Season after record year

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- With Notre Dame football season right around the corner, excitement is already surging across South Bend, and so is the local economy.

A packed home schedule this fall has driven hotel and short-term rental bookings, with some weekends already sold out. 

Visit South Bend Mishawaka says the energy from last December’s College Football Playoff game at Notre Dame has carried into 2025, and the momentum isn’t slowing down. 

Tourism numbers including visitation, occupancy, and revenue are already up by about 25% for the year ahead of the season. 

Sports tourism and record-breaking local investments have put St. Joseph County on track for a historic year. 

“South Bend isn’t the same that it was five years ago,” Jeff Jarnecke, the Executive Director of Visit South Bend Mishawaka said. “Ordinarily, we lean so much on football to drive the local economy, but this year, it’s anything but that,” he added. 

Still, football season remains a major draw, especially for short term rentals.

Advance bookings for October are already up 117 percent compared to last year. 

Irish Management, which manages nearly 50 luxury properties near Notre Dame, says demand and out of state investment has exploded in recent years. 

“I purchased a home back in the day for like $70,000, you can’t find that nowadays,” said Matt Sheldon, managing partner at Irish Management. 

Sheldon says about 80% of their listings are already booked for the entire season.

Major Marquee games like the highly anticipated game against Texas A&M, have already sold out.

With more teams traveling from out of the region, Irish Management anticipates one of their busiest years yet.

“It should be a record year,” Sheldon added. “The schedule is stronger than last year, and the way it’s spread out, I think there’ll be a lot of fans coming into town,” he added.

“If we happen to end up hosting CFP again in December, that would just be the cherry on top of probably the record year that we’ve had in St. Joseph County ever,” Jarnecke said.

While many rentals and hotels are already booked, there is still some availability but it's going fast. 

Learn more about local listings and rental opportunities.