The suggestion, Bruce Binkowski recalled, nearly caused him to choke on his Cheerios.

In the fall of 2014, the then-executive director of the San Diego Bowl Game Association had traveled to Colorado Springs to meet with Navy Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk as the Midshipmen prepared to play Air Force.

The relationship with Navy, in a Navy town, had become a priority for the Poinsettia Bowl. The Midshipmen played in the bowl’s first game, in 2005. They’d participated in a pair of others and appreciated the relationship with the Poinsettia, considering their uncertain postseason fate as a rare independent.

Binkowski was there to reassure Navy a spot in the bowl would be theirs, if they became bowl eligible. The Midshipmen lost to Air Force that day to fall to 2-3 — but rattled off wins in five of the next six games to punch a ticket to San Diego.


Then, as the small group ate, Gladchuk caught Binkowski off guard.

“Chet said, ‘Hey, how would San Diego like to host a Notre Dame game?’ ” said Binkowski, the former PA voice of the Chargers and Padres, as well as Aztecs football and basketball. “I remember some board members said, ‘Gee, can we sell enough tickets to make it work?’

“Well, they did.”

Binkowski scoffed at any whiff of apprehension. He understood the enormity and boundary-less reach of the Notre Dame brand and what it would mean to face the Midshipmen in a Navy and military hotbed.


The game scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at SDCCU Stadium, Notre Dame’s first trip to San Diego, also benefits from timing: The Irish arrive as the No. 3 team in the country.

The game is close to being a sellout, with more than 64,000 tickets distributed.

“We had a commitment to Bruce, playing in San Diego at least once in every four years,” Gladchuk said. “When the bowl game went away (after BYU and Wyoming played in 2016) and there wasn’t the opportunity to come out, it made perfect sense.

“Notre Dame has never been to San Diego. We had such a great relationship with Bruce and the bowl. We sold all our tickets. The city embraced us in such an incredible way.


“We felt like we owed it to Navy to bring the academy back to the West Coast.”

Months after that conversation in Colorado Springs, Binkowski stepped away from the association and into retirement. That meant the job of applying ink to paper for the historic game belonged to successor Mark Neville.

This was something Neville had no plans on fumbling.

“I would say that this matchup between Navy and Notre Dame, I don’t know if there’s a matchup out there in the country that would be better for San Diego,” he said. “Because this is a Navy town. It’s truly a no-brainer.


“This doesn’t come around too often. It’s huge.”

That in no way means the game developed without some nervousness.

Gladchuk covered his bases as uncertainty about the Chargers and the stadium raised question marks. The group initially talked about the possibility of using Petco Park if things fell through. The Navy AD also kept communication lines open with NFL stadiums on the East Coast that had hosted the annual game.

Due diligence, they call it.


“There was a brief discussion about taking it to Petco Park, because there was a thought the stadium might not be available,” Gladchuk said. “But the logistics at Petco made it too difficult to consider.

“Then we realized there was a contract (with San Diego State) through 2018, so we felt like we’d be fine.”

The hometown-rooted David versus the visiting Goliath provides a particularly interesting storyline.

Navy (2-5) has won just 13 times in the annual series that dates back to 1927, with no victories from 1964-2006. Navy has won four times since 2007, however — last toppling the Irish in 2016.


At no time, however, has so much likely been on the line. In the College Football Playoff era, with the unbeaten Irish trying to protect their spot on the inside, an upset would be devastating.

“This game is now a playoff game,” Neville said. “If they lose, they’re not going to be in the semifinals. The other thing I really love about this game, it’s going to be nationally broadcast on CBS. That puts San Diego in the spotlight.”

Few will give Navy a chance. Notre Dame, after all, already has beaten No. 5 Michigan and No. 24 Stanford.

The Midshipmen, though, will dare to dream — and remember. In 2010, Navy upset a Brian Kelly-coached bowl team. The 2007 victory, 46-44 in triple overtime, unfolded in, of all places, South Bend, Ind. Last season, the 10-win, Citrus Bowl-champion Irish had to survive a fourth down deep in its own territory during a 24-17 nail-biter.


“Navy’s not a team that’s going to give up or roll over,” Neville said. “That’s a guarantee.”

Pass the Cheerios.


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bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @Bryce_A_Miller

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2:10 p.m.: The story and headline were corrected to indicate the game is not yet officially sold out.