Notre Dame - Newest Member

[Tizu]

Good idea? Bad idea? They will play ACC school's 5 times during the year. Is that exposure something that is good for the ACC?

I'm sure the ACC will get some of the money for playing them, or at least I'd hope so. I'm torn on the issue personally. Part of me believes it should be all or nothing, but another part says maybe NBC will drop them and then they'll become a full member.

Who knows. What are your thoughts?

[mattncsu02]

Notre Dame wouldn't be a bad addition, but wouldn't that give the league an uneven number of members? Who else would the ACC pick up to even it out?

[Tizu]

My guess would be UConn will be the 16th member.

[Marty Da Hungry Wolf]

From what I've seen tonight, the ACC is effectively saying "that's it". Not that the ACC is a top-to-bottom football juggernaut of a conference, but if Notre Dame keeps going 8-5, 7-6, maybe 9-4 I don't see NBC continuing to pay top dollar for an exclusive national TV contract for the Irish.

My opinion is this:

1) I think the day will come sooner or later that Notre Dame DOES become a full-fledged ACC member, I just don't think permanent survival as a football "independent" is possible. I know the new agreement stipulates they will play 5 ACC football teams per year, but they already play BC every year, they're in a home-and-home now with Wake, they've played Duke and UNC recently too; it really wouldn't be that big of a leap for them to play a "full" ACC schedule, although I do think it would be better to keep an 8-game conference schedule rather than 9 like the ACC is going to. I like the 4 non-conference games. Even though State lost, I'm glad that someone named "Tennessee" was on the schedule this year, rather than "East Tennessee State". Three non-con's a year will be just like it was when they had 11-game schedules, only "occasionally" did State have good non-con's (I remember games against Penn State and Miami in the 70's and early 80's and, if I recall correctly, there was a game against Michigan State with a guy named Kirk Gibson on that team - may have even been in Raleigh).

2) I also think there should be a 16th school; as it stands now, there would an unbalanced "equation" for basketball unless they're thinking of three 5-team divisions. I think four 4-team divisions would be much better, but they didn't ask me.

Go Pack

[kdub]

I think the writing is on the wall where Notre Dame is concerned. They'll eventually be a football playing member as well, earliest chance in 2015 when their NBC contract expires. From what I understand, the ACC doesn't share in that revenue. However, only 2-3 ACC games per season are going to end up on NBC and the chance to get exposure on a national broadcast network without it being regionalized may be worth that for the ACC. Notre Dame adds another strong basketball program as well as strength in many non-revenue sports. Geographically, it isn't a fit, but philosophically it may well be.

[Ken D]

Now that this deal is done (and I would have preferred if ND were all in), here's what my guess is as to what Swofford may be pursuing.

I would seek to balance the league by adding Navy for football only. I think you could strike a deal where they don't get as big a revenue share. For the 16th and final member, I think if there is ever going to be a time when you could pry Penn State from the Big Ten, now is that time. And in the long run, it would make the ACC a better league.

Finally, my belief is that because so many conferences are going to 9 game schedules, I expect to see the season lengthened once again to 13 games starting in late August.

Notre Dame would be happy with all this because Navy was already one of their locked in rivalry games, and the extra game on the sked lets them also keep their rivalries with USC and Stanford on the left coast plus Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue in the Big Ten.

ND could play BC and Navy every year, and rotate their rivalries with Pitt and Miami every other year. Then they play every other ACC school once every four years and still have two games available to give them 7 or 8 home games a year.

[Ken D]

With those 16 schools, you could have four pods: BC, Syracuse, Pitt and Penn State; VT, UVa, Maryland and Navy; UNC, Duke, State and Wake; and finally GT, Clemson, Miami and FSU. Play the three teams in your pod every year, and two teams from each of the other three pods. Championship matches the two teams with the best record, regardless of what pod they are in.

In basketball, play the teams in your pod home and home, and every other team once. Play your tournament over two weekends. The first two pods (with ND subbing for Navy) play the first two rounds in Madison Square Garden and the second two play in Charlotte. The final four teams play the next weekend in DC for the championship. That way, fans from every school can get decent seats instead of dividing the pie sixteen ways.

[Tizu]

I'm loving this commentary. It is well thought out and delivered. I know I for one enjoy reading these posts.

I really like the idea of having four "pods" regionally. It makes sense and I believe would be well absorbed by the masses. Now that I think about it, Penn State would probably be the next best option. They have a HUGE following, as does ND. I feel like eventually ND will be a full member, but judging by the latest comments from their hierarchy, they want to remain independent. I personally don't see how that is viable long term. I guess we'll see how it shakes out.

I'm thinking Tennessee might also be a decent pick up...but I highly doubt they'd ever move from the SEC. Maybe they could lure South Carolina back in? Highly unlikely there also.

Overall, I think this move could benefit the ACC and give the conference as a whole a lot more exposure (as if it doesn't already get enough in basketball). Where the ACC really lacks is it's football prowess. It would be nice to see some ACC schools actually do well outside of the conference in football and not bomb out during bowls like has happened the past few years.