Notre Dame bookstore temporarily postpones Ivan Maisel book event after playoff snub

Update: Social media confirms the event is now back on

It’s been more than three days since Notre Dame learned it won’t be playing in this year’s College Football Playoff, and it appears South Bend is still coming to terms with the snub.

The latest example came on Wednesday, as Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore announced that a book event featuring Ivan Maisel that had previously been scheduled for this Friday had been postponed.

It didn’t take long for many to put two and two together, as several of Maisel’s colleagues took to social media to accuse Notre Dame and/or the bookstore of retaliating against him for his role on the College Football Playoff selection committee. At 1:23 p.m. ET, The Athletic’s Pete Sampson reported that Friday’s book event was back on, with Maisel confirming the news to The Inside Zone’s Matt Fortuna.

Following Sampson’s report, Awful Announcing reached the bookstore, which indicated Friday’s event was still cancelled and the postponement announcement still remains active on the bookstore’s Instagram page as of 2 p.m. ET. Clearly, there are a lot of moving parts here.

UPDATE: The book signing is now back on for Friday, according to Ivan. https://t.co/9tK7ZgJ2Kx

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) December 10, 2025

But even if the postponement was only temporary, it would be tough to argue that this wasn’t a tough look for Notre Dame. Not only is Maisel one of the most respected media members in the college football space, but there hasn’t been any indication he fought against Notre Dame’s playoff case. In fact, as noted by ESPN’s Heather Dinich, Maisel was partially recused from the Fighting Irish and unable to vote on their playoff bid, presumably due to the fact that he just published a book about legendary Notre Dame head coach Frank Leahy.

“This is the most petty, uninformed and ignorant decision,” Dinich wrote following the news of the initial postponement.

The whole saga surrounding Maisel’s upcoming appearance follows two days in which Fighting Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua has made multiple media appearances bemoaning Notre Dame’s snub. That included an interview on Monday’s episode of The Dan Patrick Show, in which he criticized the ACC for championing Miami’s playoff case over his program’s, stating that the conference did “permanent damage” to its relationship with Notre Dame, which is a full-time a league member in 24 non-football sports.

At this point, it still remains to be seen what that “permanent damage” will actually result it. For now, all we know is that the Fighting Irish won’t be playing in a bowl game and, despite the hiccup, Maisel’s book appearance will seemingly go on as scheduled.