Naturally, a move as significant as ND moving from the Big East to the ACC can only mean Internet reactions are plentiful.
First things first, the Confidential’s take is that this is the win-win of all win-wins. Notre Dame was left hanging in the chaotic Big East, which was about to become C-USA. The Big East will survive, but Notre Dame was an increasingly poor fit on every front. Notre Dame now gets to park its non-revenue sports in the ACC, which is outstanding for basketball and lacrosse. And 5 football games against ACC schools is nothing. Frankly, it is a win for Notre Dame because of the trouble it will have scheduling opponents in the future. That still leaves 7 games to play against Navy, USC, a few Big 10 schools, etc. For the ACC, this more convincingly elevates the conference above the remainder of the college football landscape. With Notre Dame in the fold, the rest of the conference can breathe a lot more easily that Florida State and Clemson will be placated with games against Notre Dame. Notre Dame will fill the seats and provide a great TV audience. In fact, the bigger news is the ACC schools raising the exit fee substantially. Sure, the ND football issue will loom. But better to have a football issue of that nature than be relegated to outside the power structure. ND and the ACC just ensured their seat at the table.
If you care about conference realignment, then you surely spend time over at Frank the Tank’s blog. Between Frank and the commentariat, this is the gold standard for discussing realignment. Here is the link to the discussion over there.
The Big XII was apparently caught off guard, or at least surprised, by the announcement, according to Chip Brown at Orangebloods.com.
Amazingly, Dick Vitale has survived ND and his beloved ACC coming together without dying of ecstasy. A very reasoned tweet, indeed: “ND to ACC gr8 move 4 ACC & ND control football but get away from chaos of BIG East! I don’t like these wacky moves but ND made solid move. .” We’ll have to see how he fares when ND plays Duke in a conference game some February in the future. A cardiologist nearby is a good idea.
All in all, Tomahawk Nation appears to be handling things well. For them, anyway. It looks like as many as 10% of that fan base can see the wisdom in the deal. The remaining 90% adhere to their teenager-esque stance of hating anything the ACC does. There really is no fan base in America that is more delusional. Ah well, with dreaded Wake Forest on the schedule, one can appreciate the angst.
Over at On The Banks, 3 Rutgers fans have commented. The UConnBlog is a bit more active, with a nice blend of doom-and-gloom and optimism about being team #16.
Anything else noteworthy?
UPDATE: A new entry from Frank the Tank:
What surprises me is that the ACC offered this deal to Notre Dame in the first place. ACC commissioner John Swofford has long taken the position that the league should only be made up of all-sports members along with members such as UNC that believe that they are every bit as powerful on the college sports landscape as Texas, Michigan and USC, so it can’t be emphasized enough that this is a dramatic change. Unlike the perception in much of the media that this move was “Notre Dame choosing the ACC”, the reality is that this was the ACC choosing to move off of a previously intractable position. The ACC might have been spooked by the constant rumors that the Big 12 would poach schools such as Florida State or Clemson (along with adding Notre Dame as a non-football member itself) as a result of the Big 12′s new TV deal. On that front, the ACC schools agreed to what will likely be an impenetrable wall of a $50 million exit fee for each school. That is honestly an even bigger deal in the long-term than the Notre Dame move since it effectively the ACC from its football cash cows bolting to other conferences.
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