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Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 3917911, member: 27"] Theoretical question here... I am guessing some of the ACC hard core football schools, like Clemson and FSU, are frustrated as hell with ND and their refusal to join the ACC for football. I suspect they would like the ACC to give ND two choices, with a decision due by August 31st: 1) join the ACC in all sports (i.e. add football) or 2) hit the road and get kicked out of the conference They would presumably be replaced by the Mountaineers. Not sure if the ACC is contractually obligated to ND. Kicking ND out would surely hurt the TV contract in a small way. But having them part of the ACC in most sports hasn't been a home run. They failed to deliver an early Comcast commitment. Their basketball program has been irrelevant pretty much every season (I know they won an ACC tournament, maybe two but their teams have not been good and have made no impact in the NCAA tournament). The requirement to play 5 ACC games a year is really not helping the conference much. Maybe it helps with TV ratings a little. I don't think the ACC is getting paid for it though. ND is consistently winning these ACC games and that is great for ND but it hurts the conference as a whole. And I think the 5 game obligation makes it less likely that the ACC will go to a 9 game conference schedule for football, which I think is important to build conference rivalries. It is okay if ND values its independence for football and if it cares about that more than its place in the ACC for most of its Olympic sports, hey, that is understandable. The ACC can respect that and wish ND well in the future as its relationship with the conference ends. I would think this option has to be a topic of discussion among the members of the ACC. The full time, completely committed members of the conference. What would ND do if they got kicked out of the ACC? I would think their options would be to join the New Big East for Olympic sports and stay independent for football, or join the B1G as a full time member in all sports and give up their independence. The New Big East might honestly be a better fit for them. The level of competition in almost all sports is considerably lower, so they would go from a small fish in a big pond to a big fish in a small pond. The NBE schools are also generally closer, especially now that the New Big East has all those teams in the Midwest. That is a plus for all the Olympic sports programs. That might be nice for their egos for the athletes, alums and fans to win more games and be more of a power in more sports too. They would make less money in the NBE but between the NBE TV money, which would go up a bit, and their donor contributions, they would have enough to get by. Or they go for the big bucks and join the B1G. Either way, they end up in good shape. Understand, I am not advocating this position. This is a theoretical discussion. I like having ND in the conference and like having the opportunity to play them in a lot of sports, including football, on a fairly regular basis. I am not sure the ACC should have 'the talk' with ND. Probably not just yet. The day WVU becomes a free agent and is available to replace ND might be the day 'the talk' happens though. Something to think about... [/QUOTE]

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