MAKE IT STOP!

REPORT: IRISH EXPLORING ACC ALLIANCE

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame is staying as a football independent - for now.

In response to a USA Today report that the school had inquired about full membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference, athletic director Kevin White said Thursday the university would "continue to monitor the landscape."

The newspaper, citing unidentified officials within the ACC, said Notre Dame was "inquiring" about joining the conference.

One official also said the school also contacted the Big Ten.

School officials have previously said Notre Dame, a member of the Big East conference in other sports, has been approached by several conferences about joining, and that the university has declined.



"We're staying the course with the Big East and we're going to continue to monitor the landscape," White said in the statement.

John Heisler, Notre Dame's associate athletic director for media relations, concurred.

"It's the same thing we've said, the same thing we're going to continue to say. We're going to stand by that, and we're going to stand by that for some time."

ACC commissioner John Swofford said Thursday the league "has not initiated discussions with anyone regarding further expansion."

"We are very satisfied with where we are as a 12-member conference," Swofford said in a statement. "We have received some informal inquires concerning potential membership, but our schools are not pursuing any institution for membership at this time."

The ACC expanded to 11 schools in June by adding football powers Miami and Virginia Tech from the Big East Conference for the 2004 season. Boston College is also leaving the Big East for the ACC, but perhaps not until 2006.

The unidentified ACC sources told USA Today that Notre Dame is looking to join a conference because of the uncertainty of the future of the Bowl Championship Series, which has tie-ins with six football conferences and Notre Dame. The current BCS contract ends after the 2005 season.

As a football independent, Notre Dame doesn't have to share its gate receipts, bowl payouts or its multimillion dollar television contract with NBC. That contract is also up at the end of the 2005 season.

 

FYI, Doyel was right.

 

why make it stop?

once all of the bigger schools get aligned, then they can break off from the ncaa and have their own group.

all of the big money will be there, which would leave the smaller schools to enjoy a more pure college athletics program.

 

AARGH, everyone lighten up. We had that shit about ND and the ACC a couple months ago (which did NOT come to pass), and I was simply joking about the fact that it's coming up again. I don't think that it will happen in a million years, but I think that the past few months have also shown us that nothing is out of the question.

 

it will happen.

notre dame is running out of money -- fast.

i think the big 10 (er, 11) is a natural fit for them, though. the acc would seem forced.

 

that's not what TV sees.

 

My personal belief is that Notre Dame will eventually join the Big 10, but is playing the Big 10 and ACC against each other to get the most out of the deal. ND knows they have to join a conference eventually.

 

What is the line in the sand Larry? What must a school do to stay in big time athletics? Is it entirely based on what conference you currently reside? Mississippi State can stay big time but TCU cannot? Virginia Tech can stay big time in basketball but Gonzaga cannot? Isn’t that why college athletics currently has division 1, 2 and 3 in all sports and 1A and 1AA football?

I hate the current landscape of college athletics especially in football because those with power get to keep it. It keeps the landscape from changing the way it did (very much so I might add) prior to the BCS. I find it funny that some of the schools that would advocate a breakaway from the NCAA are ones that wouldn’t have been invited if this were to have happened as little as even ten years ago.

 

No he wasnt.

 

No offense Larry, but that statement is as inaccurate as one can get. Notre Dame has some issues but money certainly is not one of them. If anything they have too much. I have family that graduated from there and are still well connected and I can promise you that they have cash. They have so much that their NBC money doesnt even go to the athletic department, they instead use it for non-athletic scholarships. Their athletic budget is unlimited and they have never had to share bowl money with any other team. Their last BSC bowl appearance was 11 million. They are #2 in merchandise sales and just extended a huge contract with addidas.

They are not running out of money and I would be shocked if they joined any conference. If they do it would most likely be the big ten. This acc talk is rumor or leverage most likely.