It was announced today that Notre Dame will join the ACC for all sports except football (and hockey). We want to know if you think that’s a good idea.
Here are the particulars of Notre Dame’s “partnership” with the ACC:
- Notre Dame will join the conference for all sports but football and hockey.
- Notre Dame will play five games against ACC football teams each season. Each ACC school is guaranteed to play ND once every three years.
- The ACC’s exit fee will be increased to $50 million, immediately. The new $50 million exit fee DOES apply to Notre Dame, immediately.
- Each ACC school is guaranteed to play Notre Dame in football once every three years.
- ND gets an equal “member share” of non-football rev., but the ACC keeps all football rev and won’t share that. Football revenue is 80% of the ACC’s television contract (per John Swofford), so Notre Dame will therefore get 1/15th of 20% of the ACC’s TV money.
- Below the BCS bowls, Notre Dame is part of ACC’s bowl lineup. If Notre Dame is to be selected over an ACC team, they must be ranked higher and be within 1 win of that ACC team.
- There is the possibility of an ACC-Notre Dame Orange Bowl. In that scenario, the ACC would keep it share of revenue, and Notre Dame would keep its share of revenue as the ACC opponent. Ditto for other BCS bowls.
- The projection for joining is 2015-16, but Notre Dame will try to accelerate that process via negotiations with the Big East.
- There is no need to add a 16th team, and no intent to do so, per ACC Commissioner John Swofford.
- The five annual football games will be 3/2 split home/away for ND, followed by 2/3 the next year, etc.
- The arrangement will not affect Notre Dame’s football contract with NBC.
- Bringing in Notre Dame will allow ACC to ask for additional compensation in ESPN deal.
- Notre Dame could increase ACC’s media rights from $17M per school to between $18M-$19M per school (@McMurphyESPN on Twitter).
Now that you know all that, answer the question….
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I know I should see it differently but I don’t. You’re either in the conference or your not. ND should not get special privilege over the other schools.
The ACC got the 5 games each year, this gives Swarbrick time to get the alumni used to playing a conference on a regular basis. Also on their scout site where they’ve always moved conference talk to the other board. Now they are actually talking about moving to the ACC, and some of their posters are actually endorsing becoming a full member. One poster is telling everyone else they will join when the current contract is up. By the way I,m a syracuse fan, and its great to be back in the same conference again. Hopefully we,Miami, Florida St can get back to where we were 1991-2003 when you left. That in itself along with VT, Clemson will settle the problem of football.
Wait until all you “yes” voters see ND take a bowl game away from the Hokies with a 6-6 win-losss season and the Hokies at 10-2.
Perhaps you’ve missed the part of the deal where ND has to be within one win of a team to be chosen for a bowl over them. Scare tactics only work if you’re not informed.
This is Notre Dame saying that they are scared of getting left out of the 16 team super conferences and they want to lock in with the ACC. They can commit to that but not have to fully join until it really happens. The buyout prevents them from joining another conference but they dont have to set a timetable to join the ACC fully.
If the ACC adds WVU as the 16th memeber we can play all the teams I dislike in our own conference – Miami, FSU, ND, UVa, and WVU. I doubt if that would happen since they just got rejected last year, but who would have guessed that ND would have ended up here 5 years ago. I hope we can stay successful for the next 20 years so I don’t have to listen to any of these people talk smack.
I voted yes in the poll; however, having them join as a “partial member” didn’t send any chills up my legs! Not only does ND have gold helmets but they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. It is sad that one university in the country has received the special treatment afforded to this university. They should have to “earn their way” like any other full member of major conference across America. I’ll never understand it but the ACC is a weak football conference compared to the SEC so I can understand the pressure to roll out the red carpet for ND. Time will tell on this great moment for the ACC and we can always HOPE they will one day become a full member like the other 14 universities. Then everyone will be on an even playing field.
It is a good thing. It is pre-cursor to full membership. ACC teams will play 9 conference games? This will be the first step ..playing 5… ND will want to keep playing USC, a Michigan team like Michigan or Michigan State, Purdue and something like Stanford. The ACC is not losing anything except for a potential bowl bid. It will increase its tv revenue and get more high-profile games on tv..on NBC. It is a win-win and a first step. It isn’t simply that ND is using the ACC. It could have done this with the Big East or Big 10 but the first step toward affiliation and ultimate membership is here. I would rather have these games with ND than with UConn or Rutgers (if they joined the ACC).
And this could keep FSU, Clemson, etc….in the ACC
The people unhappy about this seem to be focusing on “Notre Dame got a special deal”.
That’s what happens when you have 8 national championships and the ability to get a football contract on your own.
Love ‘em or hate em, they are special. But most pundits point out the deal they got was *less” special than the deal the BE had to shell out. The noose is tightening.
Plus, from a parochial standpoint, under what other scenario on the planet does ND come to Lane once in 6 years, and Hokies go to South Bend? Exactly none, because full membership was a deal killer for ND. Where are all the people who complain about our non-conference schedule? Would you rather play East Carolina?
Eventually, they’ll have to go all ACC, it’ll just take a few years.
Then what will your opinion be?
How much was the buy-in cost?
Nice. :)
As far as ND staying independent in football – GET REAL FOLKS. If the shoe were on the other foot, does anyone really think VT would throw away a gazzillion million dollar football tv contract, for a paltry 17 million? I don’t think so. Talk about people sharpening the spears and lighting the torches…
Also, I think people are not giving the academic side of the equation near enough consideration. Think about all of the research partnerships VT now has with other ACC schools. Now open that up with the name Notre Dame added in. The academic side may make the sports side look small in the long run with research & grant money taken into account. Tv contractes build sports stadiums, but R & D builds research complexes and academic buildings. Remember, it’s the college presidents who vote – not the ADs, coaches or sports fans.
As an fyi, I don’t like ND either. But there’s no way this is bad for VT, even if ND takes a bowl game now & then. The picture is much, much bigger than that.
^^^^ this! ND brings so much to our conference as a whole, would you want to be one of the guys who voted no? Yes, football revenue is a big deal but it certainly does not outweigh the other considerations.
Being a faculty member at VT, I think you are over selling the research collaboration. We collaborate with people who bring something (expertise) to the table for a research project. Being in the ACC doesn’t factor building research teams.
Thank You EggHead, now get back to the Library and research your next Book that nobody’s gonna read, but you will be Tenured. Let the experts discuss the Football stuff.
What a small, ignorant reply! VT should be better than that.
I believe Notre Dame’s NBC contract pays them $15M/yr. That’s LESS than what each and every ACC program makes.
They want their independence b/c they want their independence. But eventually, they will realize they need to be in a conference for football. Just like Penn State realized. Just like Miami realized. It’ll happen. Their TV money was staggering years ago, but the rest of the football world has caught them and passed them with regard to TV $$$.
If they are not in for football they should not be in the football bowl pool. ACC got ripped on that one.
NawfukHokie
September 13, 2012 • 8:10 am
If they are not in for football they should not be in the football bowl pool. ACC got ripped on that one.
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Having ND as part of the ACC bowl pool (not including BCS) actually helps ACC in retaining current bowl contracts and possibly gaining others. Will ND take bowl bids away from the better ACC programs? Yes. Any year Tech doesn’t win ACC and ND is a top 20 program, they’ll be in competition for a bowl bid. But what if having ND opens the door to more bowl opportunities? And it should. Perhaps ND takes CFA Bowl but if ACC is also a partner with the Cotton Bowl (hypotheticals here) as a result of having ND in the picture, then things look a bit different.
Let’s wait a few years until we make an assertion that the ACC got ripped off. There’s more angles to this deal than a rectangle.
Full membership within 5 years or $100 million exit fee because they are Notre Dame.
Hypothetical: replace ND with BYU, or Navy for that matter. people wouldn’t be gnashing their teeth and tearing their shirts. If you’re not a ND fan, then chances are you dislike them somewhere between vomit inducing and hell hath no fury. I’m somewhere in between.
But to me, the bottom line is this. ND will be joining in football. Realistically in the next 2 to 3 years. The ACC didn’t add a 15th member to sit at 14 members for football. The increased exit fee all but locks ND in. The goal here is 16. It’s where conferences are going. This move essentially forced the issue for other conferences. The Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 12 have to respond now. Does anyone actually think that the ACC added ND with no “commitment” on the football side? That is basically saying the ACC would agree to a 17 member conference, with only 16 playing football. That would be crazy and I’d like to think the presidents would be smarter than that. I know Stegel is.
Like I said before, this is a great move. It may seem a little odd right now but people said that when FSU joined the ACC. The ACC took one step ahead (again) and secured their plan. Anything can happen but it seems at this point that they have the ship headed in a good direction.
Hate em and do not think they should receive preferential treatment indefinitely. If they want to be a member of the ACC then within 5 -7 years they should be required to become all sports members period.
The only good thing football wise is Tech gets a shot at kicking their butts every 3 years home and away. I will love to have them visit our little Lane Stadium to see how we small time, newcomers play the game in the ACC!
Oh, we have been to 18 bowl games in a row and won 10 games a year for 8(?) consecutive years, if that makes a difference to America’s National Catholic college football team.
All they want is a place to park their other sports in a highly respected, academically compatable conference and still keep the $$$$$$ from their NBC footbal ldeal.
I very reluctantly
Join us or don’t. The ACC sold out for a snob.
Now that it is done, I hope we wear their hind parts out every our teams step on a field or court to play them; especially in football.
I’m another reluctant yes. I have never liked the way they get their own TV contract and lately don’t even understand it. They haven’t been that great lately. Also, I don’t like that they are prima donnas. They should be a member no different than any other school.
I predict they get their butts handed to them more often than they expect in the ACC. The best thing about it is that I lust for the day we give them a UVa style whipping and establish a winning streak over them just like the way we dominate the Frenchies.
not the best deal but it is WAY better than standing pat
TV revenue just went up
bowl money just went up…ACC tie-ins now have access to ND
its a kick in the nuts to UT. makes it obvious they were being used. and they just lost their top 3 targets and it makes the Big 12 by far the weakest of the five contract conferences. they have to add teams they don’t want or not play a 13th game…bad for final 4 consideration. they are also once again vulnerable to a raid from the PAC 12
it further weakens the Big East as well
means the B1G wont get them either
i want them for full membership but its really not a difficult decision
VT has gone from rags to riches (relatively) in just 21 years. VT went to the Big East (football only) in 1991. In a conference with ND is pretty fast stuff- thanks, Frank Beamer, Dave Brain, and Jim Weaver, and thanks to all the players and coaches who did it.
I believe this will be great for the ACC, but I wish it would have been for complete
football schedule instead of 5 games. Maybe that will happen in the near future.
Where’s the choice that says “reluctantly, yes’?
Right, how about “Yes but it’s garbage that they get special treatment”.
I have always despised ND and I still do…the arrogant #o#$. But I can take this because it is definitely a winning situation for the ACC as previous posters have stated. The ACC will be to most stable conference in the country.
http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1408339
If we are ultimately moving to the 16 member super conferences that everyone is talking about….having ND in the fold (even with the football exception) will IMO move ND to full membership in the ACC sooner rather than later. We need to look at this in the long term. It was once said rather regularly the “Virginia Tech will never be a member of the ACC”.
I’m afraid that this deal will backfire on the 14 current members of the ACC. It won’t be long before ND begins to demand and receive all kinds of backdoor deals and special concessions from the ACC that will split the membership apart and result in less for the 14 and more for ND. Just wait and you’ll see. The SEC is looking better by the moment.
Do you think ND will have more power than the tobacco road schools do now. I look at it another way – maybe it will create more diversity which will weaken the grip of the traditional ACC schools.
ND does not have a history of backdoor deals do they? Texas? Oh yes, but not ND
If they want anything special, tell them to shove it and pay their $50 million as they leave.
They have no leverage to demand such concessions. They are a full conference member in all sports except football and bound by a scheduling agreement with no escape clause for football. If they start posturing Swofford can simply say no. If they don’t like it, they can leave and pay three times the operating budget.
The only area in which ND demands special treatment is football, and they got it in this membership agreement. If they want to alter the arrangement for football they have no legal standing with which to do so.
They get no access to football revenue or to the ACC’s automatic Orange Bowl bid. If they want access to either of those things the only avenue I see available to them is football membership. We have no incentive to bow to their demands otherwise.
At first not so much but after seeing the way it’s laid out….It’s great for Tech and the ACC. They don’t get any of “our” money, and we’ll make more. Seems a win win for both sides with the ACC getting the better of the deal. We all complain about the schedule, looks like we hit the jackpot on our OOC schedule. This may be better than having the Domers as a full member. Go Hokies
Yeah, pretty much what padre pupitre said.
ND is the only NCAA football team with it’s own national network. No other NCAA team can get that because of conference affiliations.
ND is the only team that gets special consideration in the BCS championship. Every other team has to go through a conference.
ND was in danger of being shut out of the new college football playoffs by not being in a conference.
The ACC let them off the hook and they can now participate without the same obligations as other ACC teams.
Notre Dame has always wanted and got special consideration because of its name. That has not been fair to other institutions including VT. They are once again getting special consideration and unfortunately we are now helping them to our own detriment. Notre Dame will never be part of the ACC in football. However, they get the benefit of the ACC by playing only 5 games per year. I can assure you ND will not lose any revenue because of this deal. Notre Dame got everything they wanted in this deal. Not so much for VT and the other member institutions.
Wait a few years until Notre Dame has played everyone in the ACC a couple of times and some rivalries have started to take hold. I strongly suspect that their fans’ enthusiasm for playing Stanford, Michigan State and Navy every year might start to fade in favor of playing ACC programs like FSU, Miami, Clemson, UNC and VT more than just once every three years or so. .
I don’t think the USC-w, Stanford, Navy thing will change with time. Those three are exceptions to the normal rules and are not neccessarily fan driven.
ND, which fancies itself as a national university, wants to have a more or less permanent presence on the left coast. With Stanford and USC-w both on their schedule every year, ND is guarranteed a game on the left coast every year.
As for Navy, this is definitely not fan driven. It’s a ND institution driven thing. ND is extremely loyal to NAVY, and as long as NAVY wants to continue playing ND, that ser ies will continue.
According to a story I read this past year, the NAVY saved ND during WWII. ND was relatively small at that time. They had lost so many students during the war, it was on the verge of closing it’s doors.
The NAVY Department located a Naval training facility on the ND campus allowing ND to remain open during the war years. ND, the institution, has not forgotten.
But it was my parents tax dollars that help fund that ND site. : )
ND was NOT being shut out of, nor in danger of being shut out of, the football playoff
Gulp!!! That is the sound of eating some crow, I have been rooting against ND for even longer than I have been a Hokie, and I have been around awhile. This is good for the ACC and the Hokies, eventually they will play us in Lane and I suspect they will be a full football member sooner rather than later.
Also, don’t forget the 1973 NIT, the last time there were top ten ranked teams in the NIT, the Hokies won the tournament five points spread in four games, beating ND at the buzzer. It is still the biggest basketball thrill ever for us old Hokies.
Ah yes;I was @ Madison Square G. and enjoyed every minute of it!!!!
That 1973 NIT was alot of fun, UNC lost early on, they were the only team close to the Top Ten, but You can cherish your memories nonetheless. Never let a great memory get in the way of the facts.
For all those naysayers that “don’t care for the deal”. You are not giving us any evidence of Cons…..just, “ND continues to throw their weight around”. There are tons of positives in this and potentially some greatness, but what are the negatives???? I don’t see any. This is great for the ACC, our revenue, and crowds in many ACC stadiums. Plus, we get a chance to beat ND every 3 years!
I actually see this as a moment when ND realizes it can’t throw its weight around as much and have conceded more games (5) than they would have a few years ago. They said they had one other option B12, but really wanted the ACC so they had little or no choice.
Get a name where I can halfway remember who you, rather than blending in with all the other numbered Hokie names and I’ll tell you.
You will still stay anonymous.
Yeah we should all create our own cutsie Hokieblah-blah-blah name, all of which by the way run together for me
I don’t want to give THEM free reign to recruit in our territories.
ND is already playing 4 ACC school teams this year (Pitt, Wake, UM, and BC) what’s one more – either all in or not. And if they don’t join, and the 16 team superconferences occur, what does the ACC do then – have 17 ACC schools with 16 ACC football teams??
They have four ACC teams in 2013, 2015, and 2016 but that is only because those were scheduled before Syracuse and Pitt joined us.
http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/future_schedules/notredame_future.htm
I doubt they would normally schedule more than three ACC teams in any given year. Most years, we have had less than three (in the past 10 years, there are lots of years with only one to two ACC games on their schedule). The average is probably between two and three.
http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/NotreDame.htm
This is definitely a WIN-WIN deal for both parties. I predict McMurphyESPN estimate of $18 – 19 million per ACC school is low. With 5 guaranteed ACC/ND games a year, gains will be to $20 million. Basketball and several other sports will be very attractive to ESPN, et al.
I am for it, but it will only add 2 or 3 games each year to the ACC docket. The other games will be owned by NBC/ND.
Every conference in the country would have taken this deal. Even the SEC.
So of course it’s a good deal for the ACC.
The BIG-10 didn’t take deal.
The BIG 10 was never in the mix for this. Zero chance Notre Dame would go to the Big 10.
Not that much different from the Big East they brokered while we were in the BE. How did that work out for us and the rest of the BE? Notre Dame is doing just what Louisville did in the old Metro. Throwing their arrogant weight around and all the little kiddies are happy to be seen with them.
I think having to play everybody once every 3 years is a big difference, also the five games versus 3 is a good qualitative difference, they’re in, deeper than it appears at first.
The BIG 10 was never in the mix for this. Zero chance Notre Dame would go to the Big 10.
well I for one will be glad to see them in Lane on a Thursday night or Saturday afternoon and we beat the crap out of them. I’ve wanted that for years and now it can happen.
Probably an okay deal for the teams that can’t sell out their stadiums. They’ll also see an increase in their booster clubs so people can buy tickets to watch Notre Dame play. I have a friend that pays the Navy booster club $500 a year so he can get tickets to the Notre Dame Navy game in South Bend every other year. They need a league badly for everything but football. It should have been contingent upon football coming in at some date certain. I think you’ll find one trip to South Bend in the winter is enough unless you are a Notre Dame fan.
i think it incrementally gets the ACC closer to a ND football deal… or not.
The paradox is that everyone is analyzing this backwards. This is really about ND having a place to park their non-rev sports, that is, the new new Big East is unstable and they needed to move. Good fit for them too, lot of nationally competitive non-revs in the ACC for their pretty good talent.
In turn, they had to concede 5 games to the ACC as opposed to -what seemed to me – 3 games every year to the BE. That’s a qualitative difference, 3 games provided filler for their schedule, 5 games means they are much more “involved” in ACC football, regardless of how they think of it.
You have NBC providing a “game of the week” for ACC away games at ND, pretty good exposure even for the Dukes and WFs. And every ACC game will be packed, it will be fun for a while. At least the first time, who wouldn’t want to make a road trip to South Bend?
It really is kind of a neutral deal technically, but all the details seem to fall on the side of it being good for the ACC, except perhaps travel costs.
ha! it adds $1-$2 million without full time football! and the local revenues for schools they visit!
Plus, ND is the #1 ranked undergraduate business college in US. what more do you want?
If it leads to full membership by 2016, it’s great. If it doesn’t than I want all schools in our conference to have equal pay or not be associated with our conference. There should be no exceptions.
I think it’s good if it leads to football membership eventually. If not, then I don’t care for the deal.
Yeah, pretty much what MC4VT said.
Yeah, pretty much what Westy said.
Yep, pretty much what they all said… which is why I voted “I don’t know” in the poll. If ND eventually decides to opt in for football, then it’s a good thing. If not, I’ll never be convinced it’s good for Tech or the ACC.
Too bad, it’s hard to hate that school any more than I already do.
Ding, Ding,Ding! We have a winner!……What he said.
Yeah, pretty much what padre pupitre said.