Notre Dame Joins the ACC

[bluehenbillk]

Breaking news today - joins for all sports except FB. However, they will play 5 football games per year vs the ACC. Another big loss for the Big East: Miami, BC, VaTech, Cuse, Pitt, WVU, ND....

[89Hen]

Is this a joke?

[bluehenbillk]

Is this a joke?

Nope - press conferences are scheduled for today.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story ... otball-acc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[89Hen]

Wow. Good for bball and lax and 5 games per year for football.

[Franks Tanks]

Good move for them considering the mess that is the Big East.

Is it finally time for the "core" Big East schools (the private catholic school like Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John's, Nova, Providence etc.) to break out and create a new conference that is more like the original Big East?

[GannonFan]

Great move for ND - they land in the best basketball conference in the land (now that the Big East is gutted), they land in the best conference for both men's and women's lax, they get to keep hockey where it is, they get to pad their schedule with ACC football teams (easily the weakest football conference of the big conferences left), and they get to keep their cherished football independence. Plus getting access to more games in the Eastern TV markets will keep the cash cow that is the NBC contract still alive. They probably could've made more money by going to the Big 10, but they would lose that independent identity that they obviously want.

[89Hen]

(easily the weakest football conference of the big conferences left)

Not counting the Big East?

[bluehenbillk]

(easily the weakest football conference of the big conferences left)

Not counting the Big East?

No one refers to the Big East as "big" anymore in football.

[89Hen]

Not counting the Big East?

No one refers to the Big East as "big" anymore in football.

I just didn't know if he was stating the obvious. The ACC only had the BE as company at the bottom.

[GannonFan]

There's still a Big East? I thought the MAC was just getting an Eastern division?

[UNI88]

UConn and Rutgers have got to be looking/hoping for a better home. Does the B1G0 pick them up on a blue light special to hit 16 mostly like-minded research-oriented, state schools?

Do the Catholics (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall & Villanova) seriously consider making a basketball only move? There's not a lot of basketball left in BigEast besides them and Louisville/Cincy. Do they go after Xavier, St. Louis, Creighton, etc. for another ripple effect?

Does the BigEast have any residual appeal to Boise St and San Diego St or do they go back to the MWC with hat in hand?

And then you're left with what used to be Conference USA - Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Temple, Memphis, Houston, Central Florida and SMU.

[Seahawks08]

With ND leaving, I imagine the BE tries to get one of Boise, SDSU, or Navy to join in all sports with Navy being the favorite.

[BlueHen86]

No one refers to the Big East as "big" anymore in football.

I just didn't know if he was stating the obvious. The ACC only had the BE as company at the bottom.

The ACC is the fifth best conference in a four conference race. The gap between the ACC and the top 4 (SEC, Pac 12, Big XII and Big 10) is greater than the gap between the ACC and Big East.

The Big East might even be better next year once Boise St joins and the ACC gets Pitt and Syracuse.

Right now the ACC looks more stable than the Big East, but who knows what might happen if more realignment takes place. Although I suspect that if the ACC loses any teams they'll just rplace them by raiding the Big East.

[BlueHen86]

With ND leaving, I imagine the BE tries to get one of Boise, SDSU, or Navy to join in all sports with Navy being the favorite.

I don't see that happening. Boise and SDSU aren't going to want to travel for sports that don't make money, and nobody is going to want to travel west either. Navy isn't a good fit either, their admission standards are too tough to be able to compete in recruiting for most sports.

The Big East needs another football member. I could see UMass getting invited for all sports.

[tampajag]

I just didn't know if he was stating the obvious. The ACC only had the BE as company at the bottom.

The ACC is the fifth best conference in a four conference race. The gap between the ACC and the top 4 (SEC, Pac 12, Big XII and Big 10) is greater than the gap between the ACC and Big East.

The Big East might even be better next year once Boise St joins and the ACC gets Pitt and Syracuse.

Right now the ACC looks more stable than the Big East, but who knows what might happen if more realignment takes place. Although I suspect that if the ACC loses any teams they'll just rplace them by raiding the Big East.

I think that $50 million exit fee will slow down any movement from the ACC.

[GannonFan]

The ACC is the fifth best conference in a four conference race. The gap between the ACC and the top 4 (SEC, Pac 12, Big XII and Big 10) is greater than the gap between the ACC and Big East.

The Big East might even be better next year once Boise St joins and the ACC gets Pitt and Syracuse.

Right now the ACC looks more stable than the Big East, but who knows what might happen if more realignment takes place. Although I suspect that if the ACC loses any teams they'll just rplace them by raiding the Big East.

I think that $50 million exit fee will slow down any movement from the ACC.

Not only that, but the ACC's TV contract, while smaller than the other conferences, wasn't all that much smaller, and that was before they had the leverage of Notre Dame to through into the mix. Unlike the Big East, the ACC is cementing their future - while they'll still be the odd fifth wheel in the overall football and money conference rankings, they are the preeminent basketball conference now and they have added a lot of stability. And don't underestimate having Notre Dame in the fold - knowing you get to play Notre Dame every third year, and every 6 years you do a home and home with them, is a nice add-on for those teams. And those teams would be unlikely to thrive football-wise in the deeper waters like the SEC or Big 12 so they are probably happy to stay where they are.

[tampajag]

I think that $50 million exit fee will slow down any movement from the ACC.

Not only that, but the ACC's TV contract, while smaller than the other conferences, wasn't all that much smaller, and that was before they had the leverage of Notre Dame to through into the mix. Unlike the Big East, the ACC is cementing their future - while they'll still be the odd fifth wheel in the overall football and money conference rankings, they are the preeminent basketball conference now and they have added a lot of stability. And don't underestimate having Notre Dame in the fold - knowing you get to play Notre Dame every third year, and every 6 years you do a home and home with them, is a nice add-on for those teams. And those teams would be unlikely to thrive football-wise in the deeper waters like the SEC or Big 12 so they are probably happy to stay where they are.

all good points but they still have to deal with ACC refs I don't mind some years FSU will have ND and UF as OOC games that's a winner for me.

[DSUrocks07]

UConn and Rutgers have got to be looking/hoping for a better home. Does the B1G0 pick them up on a blue light special to hit 16 mostly like-minded research-oriented, state schools?

Do the Catholics (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall & Villanova) seriously consider making a basketball only move? There's not a lot of basketball left in BigEast besides them and Louisville/Cincy. Do they go after Xavier, St. Louis, Creighton, etc. for another ripple effect?

Does the BigEast have any residual appeal to Boise St and San Diego St or do they go back to the MWC with hat in hand?

And then you're left with what used to be Conference USA - Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Temple, Memphis, Houston, Central Florida and SMU.

If they can hold on to those two, I feel a Big 12 invite is coming soon.

[BlueHen86]

I think that $50 million exit fee will slow down any movement from the ACC.

Not only that, but the ACC's TV contract, while smaller than the other conferences, wasn't all that much smaller, and that was before they had the leverage of Notre Dame to through into the mix. Unlike the Big East, the ACC is cementing their future - while they'll still be the odd fifth wheel in the overall football and money conference rankings, they are the preeminent basketball conference now and they have added a lot of stability. And don't underestimate having Notre Dame in the fold - knowing you get to play Notre Dame every third year, and every 6 years you do a home and home with them, is a nice add-on for those teams. And those teams would be unlikely to thrive football-wise in the deeper waters like the SEC or Big 12 so they are probably happy to stay where they are.

I agree that the ACC is in much better shape than the Big East. If and when the realignment dust settles, there will still be an ACC; there may not be a Big East. If realignment stops now the Big East will be fine, but the conference will always have to look over it's should worrying about who will leave next. If the ACC calls UConn and Rutgers the Big East will be dead as soon as they hangup the phone.

The Notre Dame move does not impress me. Notre Dame is like the really hot chick that won't put out; being seen with her is cool, but after a while she's more trouble than she's worth. Unless Notre Dame joins the ACC for football the move for other sports is trivial.

The catch-22 is this: if Notre Dame returns to football relevance they will stay independent. The only way they join the ACC for football is if they continue their downward slide.

[Seahawks08]

FWIW, I think Louisville will be the next to go to the Big 12. Other than that, who knows. Is either RU or UCONN good enough for the Big10?

And as for ND football, they won't have a slide anymore since they will be facing 5 ACC teams per year, which could be 5 easier games than they normally have.

[BlueHen86]

FWIW, I think Louisville will be the next to go to the Big 12. Other than that, who knows. Is either RU or UCONN good enough for the Big10?

And as for ND football, they won't have a slide anymore since they will be facing 5 ACC teams per year, which could be 5 easier games than they normally have.

If you have to downgrade your schedule in order to get wins, you're still on a downward slide. If Notre Dame replaces the Big 10 schools that it used to play with ACC schools nobody will be impressed.

Notre Dame has to hope that Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State become top 10 teams again. The strange thing is that, with the exception of Va Tech, the teams that left or are leaving the Big East for the ACC all suck now. Miami used to be a national power and Boston College used to be relevant. Pitt is horrible and Syracuse has sucked since McNabb left.

[EPJr]

FWIW, I think Louisville will be the next to go to the Big 12. Other than that, who knows. Is either RU or UCONN good enough for the Big10?

And as for ND football, they won't have a slide anymore since they will be facing 5 ACC teams per year, which could be 5 easier games than they normally have.

If you have to downgrade your schedule in order to get wins, you're still on a downward slide. If Notre Dame replaces the Big 10 schools that it used to play with ACC schools nobody will be impressed.

Notre Dame has to hope that Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State become top 10 teams again. The strange thing is that, with the exception of Va Tech, the teams that left or are leaving the Big East for the ACC all suck now. Miami used to be a national power and Boston College used to be relevant. Pitt is horrible and Syracuse has sucked since McNabb left.

- they will have 5 ACC games (rotated so they play everybody once every 3 yrs)
- Michigan/MSU, Purdue, USC, Navy, Stanford
- 2 OOC games

I can see some of the ACC "home" games being moved for a price to:
The Meadowlands
Foxboro
FedEx
Bank of America Stadium
Georgia Dome
Sun Life Stadium

[BlueHen86]

If you have to downgrade your schedule in order to get wins, you're still on a downward slide. If Notre Dame replaces the Big 10 schools that it used to play with ACC schools nobody will be impressed.

Notre Dame has to hope that Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State become top 10 teams again. The strange thing is that, with the exception of Va Tech, the teams that left or are leaving the Big East for the ACC all suck now. Miami used to be a national power and Boston College used to be relevant. Pitt is horrible and Syracuse has sucked since McNabb left.

- they will have 5 ACC games (rotated so they play everybody once every 3 yrs)
- Michigan/MSU, Purdue, USC, Navy, Stanford
- cupcake of choice

I can see some of the ACC "home" games being moved for a price to:
The Meadowlands
Foxboro
FedEx
Bank of America Stadium
Georgia Dome
Sun Life Stadium

Notre Dame - Duke, there's a game to get excited about.

They should play Miami and BC every year, rotate the rest.
ND - BC was a great rivalry, as was Catholics vs Convicts.

[GannonFan]

If you have to downgrade your schedule in order to get wins, you're still on a downward slide. If Notre Dame replaces the Big 10 schools that it used to play with ACC schools nobody will be impressed.

Notre Dame has to hope that Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State become top 10 teams again. The strange thing is that, with the exception of Va Tech, the teams that left or are leaving the Big East for the ACC all suck now. Miami used to be a national power and Boston College used to be relevant. Pitt is horrible and Syracuse has sucked since McNabb left.

- they will have 5 ACC games (rotated so they play everybody once every 3 yrs)
- Michigan/MSU, Purdue, USC, Navy, Stanford
- cupcake of choice

I can see some of the ACC "home" games being moved for a price to:
The Meadowlands
Foxboro
FedEx
Bank of America Stadium
Georgia Dome
Sun Life Stadium

And with the exception of the Meadowlands for 'Cuse, every one of those venues would still be a significant home field advantage for the ACC team.

[EPJr]

The football impact on Notre Dame to the ACC

AD Jack Swarbrick said yesterday that they still intend to play USC and Stanford every year, so that they have at least one game in California. They also will continue to play Navy every year.

Rivalries like the ones with Big Ten schools Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue will likely get squeezed. Swarbrick said that those three may have to go into some kind of rotation.

Even the rivalry with ACC member Boston College will suffer. The ACC portion of the Irish schedule, which will likely begin in 2014, will rotate all 14 ACC teams in a three-year cycle. One ACC opponent will be played twice in that time, but the annual contest with Boston College will no longer be annual.

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