Notre Dame to ACC

[cpawstoney]

"We have monitored the changing conference landscape for many months and have concluded that moving to the ACC is the best course of action for us," said Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics, in a statement released by the conference. "We are able to maintain our historic independence in football, join in the ACC's non-BCS bowl package, and provide a new and extremely competitive home for our other sports."

The Irish will join the ACC as soon as it can exit the Big East. The Big East currently requires members to provide 27 months notice to exit although West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse were able to leave earlier by paying a higher exit fee.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...all-hockey-acc

[GoBearcats31]

Not great news for Big East but...

From a non-financial perspective, this hasn't affected the AQ status for football and there is certainly something positive about not having a gauntlet of a schedule for basketball. ACC basketball may be more brutal than Big East has been (really strong top teams but no DePauls, Rutgers, Providences, etc.). I'm not upset at the idea of being dominant in the league like in C-USA. It's not ideal, but what else is there to do at this point? (Big 12???)

[jplog]

Good riddance! They've been suckling off the Big East and giving nothing in return for far too long. Now they can pad their schedule with weak ACC teams and still be independent. Even bigger blood suckers now!

[Best Body]

I think the conference will be just fine without them for men's basketball. I think the rest of the sports (excluding football, obviously) are harmed more by ND leaving (financially). There are plenty of good basketball programs left in the conference. And UC can always improve the non-conference slate if needed.

A silver lining to ND, Syracuse etc., leaving: those years where there were 10 really good basketball teams in the conference with good teams being bumped to the NIT should no longer be an issue.

It was sure nice of ND to play 5 BE teams in football while they were in the conference for other sports though. It sure helped build up the football programs of their conference mates that needed it......

[Rock]

As the World Turns

As the world turns, UC sits and watches as it goes round!

[Justin Register]

Good riddance! They've been suckling off the Big East and giving nothing in return for far too long. Now they can pad their schedule with weak ACC teams and still be independent. Even bigger blood suckers now!

I wouldn't say they gave nothing in return. TV deals were better due to their name, and bowl games, as bad as they were, were better due to ND being involved. They were the one school with national prominence (name, not always performance) tied to the Big East. I don't like them either, but this move is not good for the Big East, especially with a new TV deal about to start.

[beeman7467]

As the world turns, UC sits and watches as it goes round!

I think at some, fans have to start to realize that there is little to nothing UC can do at this point. They have very few options open to them. Face it, we are not viewed as a valuable commodity outside our own community. You may think the powers to be are fiddling while Rome burns, but likely we have had limited, if any, options to upgrade our situation.

[JDBEARCAT]

What a slap in the face of the BEAST. ND would never commit to fb schedule like that & then they turn around accept it with the WEAK ACC? Total lack of class on their parts.

[Bearcattitue92]

See Ya good riddance. Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split!

[DOOGINS]

BC, Miami, left and they have never been the same in any sport. Va Tech has been good in football a few years. Pitt and Syracuse will have a tough time in football and basketball will be brutal. ND will have a tough time breaking even and going to the NIT. I hope as in the past UC and UL stay united. Big East Forever once TV contract gets finalized.

[Bearcat-in-Italy]

This is not good news at all guys. To have another team like ND leave the conference is another punch in the gut for the BE. ND has been a solid basketball team to have in our conference and the notoriety of the ND name and fan support has been great for the BE.

This looks like rats jumping off of a sinking ship.

[longtimefan]

This was bound to happen sooner or later. ND was never going to join for football, and many of the other schools were getting more and more annoyed at the preferential treatment given to ND. The timing was a little fishy though; perhaps the world wide leader is not doing so well in the TV negotiations, so they pulled the trigger now.

That being said, if they were going to leave, then the sooner the better. It sucks that we have to play them this year.

[RedRocker]

See Ya good riddance. Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split!

My sentiments exactly. Also, add in "the grass isn't always greener on the other side", see BC and Miami as DOOGINS mentioned.

[RedRocker]

This is not good news at all guys. To have another team like ND leave the conference is another punch in the gut for the BE. ND has been a solid basketball team to have in our conference and the notoriety of the ND name and fan support has been great for the BE.

This looks like rats jumping off of a sinking ship.

How so? They have been to 2 Sweet 16s in the past 25 years (last in 2003, before that 1987) and have been to one Final Four in 34 years. The days of Notre Dame being an elite athletic power are over. They and their fans are living off of past accomplishments.

They were never in in football which is the main driver behind all of these realignments. Now, if UL jumps then I'm concerned.

[Binturong05]

A lot of speculation was put forth regarding Notre Dame on these boards and every time someone said they'd go to the Big Ten my rebuttal was always 'no way, they won't go to a conference and play second fiddle to Michigan and Ohio State' which have outsized voices in the Big Ten. The ACC was always the conference ND was going to join if they were forced to join. This move of course confirms that now that they've agreed to 5 ACC football games a year.