With today's news breaking that Notre Dame will be moving to the ACC for all sports except football, the FTRS contributors have had an email thread going, sharing thoughts on how they feel about this.
LilBroey: I personally love this move. Notre Dame is a big name to have in your conference, even if we can't have them full-on for football. However, the 5-game provision for the ACC in football may end up huge. Here you have a team that has to play against 5 ACC teams, along with 7 teams from other conferences (always including teams like USC, Stanford, and Michigan/Mich St). What does that do for the ACC? It gives a much better ability to gauge how our teams compare to the rest of the country, rather than the run-of-the-mill "eye test". Notre Dame performing well against other teams will add legitimacy to ACC teams that play against Notre Dame and perform well. I really like the move, and think it was also a smart one for the Fighting Irish.
acedarney: We can show Stehpon Tuitt what he missed out on...and then have a tackle cut him down.
TBuzz: I would chime in that Notre Dame, although I eternally hate their guts, is a natural rival to us and many other ACC teams (BC and Pitt being prime examples). Let me expound on this point...
Notre Dame versus...
Boston College - perennial fixtures on ND's schedule, and a classic Catholic v. Catholic school showdown (I would imagine they remain on the schedule every year)
Pittsburgh - have played some competitive contest lately, lots of former players (QBs like Joe Montana and Ron Powlus) from western PA
Miami - a renewal, perhaps, of the "Catholics versus Convicts" rivalry...and playing this year at Soldier Field.
Georgia Tech - Rudy is still offsides, and George O'Leary still doesn't have a Master's degree
You know Navy is going to continue scheduling USC, Navy, and 1-2 B1G 10 schools.
More writers weighing in after the jump!
Atlanta's original team: Notre Dame, long considering itself a special-cut-above-the-rest of the mundane football playing world, has cut a special deal with the ACC that allows them to have their cake and eat it too. The question Tech fans are mulling over is "Who is using who?" Well, from Notre Dame's standpoint (yes, we will start there) being the premier Catholic University in the nation requires them to fulfill obligations to alumni and supporters around the country and even the world. Thus joining any conference would keep them too regionally anchored to fulfill their wider mandate. The fact that The Reverend John Jenkins, C.S.C., President saw the ACC as the best fit because of "excellence in research and undergraduate education" goes to show that if Notre Dame was going to join any conference it was going to be the ACC. Being able to play lots of teams from around the country is still part of their footprint from the Irish point of view.
Here is what the ACC gets:
1. Prestige. Any conference that said it did not want Notre Dame is lying. They all have for some time.
2. Money. When the final numbers come in on what this deal will mean it will be staggering.
3. If the Orange Bowl tie-in with Notre Dame is still on the table it means even more exposure for the ACC and even, who knows, maybe an eventual National Championship game and ACC championship game all tied into one.
4. This deal will either work out in the ACC's favor or by 2015 Notre Dame will have to either completely join the conference in football or fork up $50 million.
Jesse28: My thoughts on adding Notre Dame to the ACC are largely unchanged from previous iterations of this conversation over the past few years. It just makes good sense for both sides. The only major difference between then and now is that in all previous scenarios, it was always assumed that Notre Dame would be wholly assimilated into the conference as a whole, whereas now we simply consume all things non-football related and right under half of their football schedule. I'm happy with this move for many reasons, but one specifically. The fact that ACC commish John Swofford finally got one right. Yeah, yeah, Syracuse and Pitt are good catches for the basketball side of the house and academically, but during the time period, that was a very small move compared to some of the other conference realignment swings that were happening and it really felt like a rushed attempt to keep up with big brother SEC. This, however, is big. The Big Ten-leven-elve has been told no for years, the Big East was told no, the Big 12 was told no, and the SEC was told no even if they won't admit it, but the ACC ended up with the prize egg at the end of the hunt. The revenue that is about to come into the conference is huge. The only thing left to ask is how exactly is the ACC going to manage the scheduling of five games against Notre Dame for the next few years so that every team gets a piece of that sweet delicious money pie? More money, more problems, right?
acedarney: Everyone is discussing the money side of this, but the impact on recruiting would also be significant. Having Notre Dame on the schedule can help get you noticed nationally. Also, playing against good teams helps bring in players who want to compete against other talented players. It's good for ACC schools to have a signature team on their schedule to show off to recruits.
Atlanta's original team: I have gone around and around about the recruiting thing in my head. 50% of Notre Dame's players come from states with ACC teams. I can't decide if this gives them an even larger strangle hold on some of our best recruits or not. I just raise the caution but on the other hand if ACC teams keep improving then the Notre Dame tie in starts to work to the other schools' advantage. Truth is I am not worried but it is interesting to think that both Notre Dame and the ACC thought the recruiting advantage would swing to them with this marriage.
acedarney: I think that's because the southeast has a lot of top football talent. This move can help both Notre Dame and the other ACC teams. It doesn't have to be one-sided. The SEC gets good recruits from the same region, and its because the conference is so strong. This move would help the ACC become a stronger conference and therefore, should help attract more recruits overall.
LilBroey: I think this one is pretty simple -- adding a school as high-profile as Notre Dame will improve recruiting throughout the ACC. I don't really think that it'll affect Notre Dame though, seeing as they were already very high-profile.
How do you feel about this, readers? How does it affect recruiting? How does it affect the success of the conference? How does it affect the ACC as a whole?