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[QUOTE="Townie72, post: 355657, member: 780"]
Others may be better at responding to this, but I'll take a crack.
 
The critical difference is that it is 5 games a year and that it is a contractual requirement as opposed to the Big East situation in which it was 3 games a year and a handshake agreement. When ND made the agreement with the Big East it may have been "we will try to schedule 3 Big East teams, if we can" basis as opposed to the ironclad guarantee that some NBE and NNBE proponents have chosen to understand. Who knows? That's why you write important things down and sign them.
 
Now playing 5 games a year in a conference will have an affect on ND. Especially if some rivalries start to develop. And if the Conference starts to heat up --- i.e. FSU and Miami and others start to come out of their Ichabod Crane-like naps --- then the ACC beccomes a more attractive place for ND to be.
 
But the key to this is what happens to ND's TV contract as an independent. If ND continues to lose luster and viewers than it may be that Conference membership will appear more and more attractive as NBC becomes more unwilling to pony up big bucks for a product not justified by the number of eyeballs watching. If, on the other hand, they can continue to make a lot more money as an Independent, that that's what they will remain.
 
I would guess the people predicting (or guaranteeing) that ND will join the ACC are outlooking a significant fall in the value of the NBC contract to ND. Or they are envisioning a situation where ND can be an ACC member and still enjoy the fruits of their popularity as a TV property.
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