By Sean Fernandez
Just about a year after Syracuse, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh started the Big East exodus, Notre Dame has hopped on the bandwagon. Today, ND officials announced their intentions to join the Atlantic Coast conference in all sports (except football).
As we all know from Syracuse completing the move, the Big East by-laws require all members to wait 27 months before exiting. SU, Pitt, and WVU were all able to give a more substantial monetary contribution to leave a year or two early, so except Notre Dame to do the same.
A timetable for ND's official exit isn't available at the moment, but when the time comes, they'll be a member in all sports except football. The Fighting Irish are known for having their own lucrative TV deal with NBC, and being independent of any conferences on the gridiron. Both of those will continue, but they will play a total of 5 games each year against teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The first Orange-Irish match up on the gridiron will likely be on September 27th, 2014, when they are scheduled to meet at the new MetLife Stadium.
Notre Dame is known for its stellar academics, as well, which helps the long term stability of the conference. Being able to have the academic reputations of ND, Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, BC, SU, GT, (and every other school) is great for the conference. On the field, and off, the ACC and Notre Dame seems to be a match made in heaven.
It's not all dandy and sweet for everyone, though. Losing another high-profile member like Notre Dame puts the Big East in an even rockier situation than they were just a few days ago. The long-term success and relevancy of the conference is in serious jeopardy after the exodus of four of its most prestigious members. Newly appointed BE Commisioner Mike Aresco is in a brutally tough situation. After 30+ years of being among the best conferences in college athletics, the Big East is on the verge of irrelevance. He'll have to put the brakes on that somehow.
