ACC athletic directors call out Notre Dame's special treatment: 'We're all getting used'

WOW "“Notre Dame,” an industry source told On3, “is the guy that walks in the house, opens the fridge, eats all the food, then (screws) the wife, kicks the dog, doesn’t pay the mortgage and walks out without any skin in the game.” All the more reason to bolt from this joke of a conference.

I often wondered why the ACC basically enables Notre Dame. They get many conference benefits without fully committing to the conference.

the conference gets a lot of notre dame games...

F ND!!! they get special treatment in FB like dook does in BB. Get out of the ACC, away from ND, NC State and dook

Spoke on it a few weeks back. I can't stand the treatment they get for a team that hasn't won a "legit" championship since 1987. They used the ACC for that Covid year. They were butt hurt last season when the conference backed Miami as far as the CFP goes. And their AD has the nerve to say "When we're good it helps the ACC and when the ACC is good it helps Notre Dame." I wish they would go away!

DonCallahan said:

I often wondered why the ACC basically enables Notre Dame. They get many conference benefits without fully committing to the conference.

It's like the lady who allows the dude to move into her home and play house with her with zero thoughts of ever marrying her. He gets his cake and eats it too, while she gets to have somebody there and not be lonely.

DonCallahan said:

I often wondered why the ACC basically enables Notre Dame. They get many conference benefits without fully committing to the conference.

What is the downside for the ACC, though? Would be better off without Notre Dame at all? If so, how? Obviously it would be better for the ACC if ND was fully in the conference. But ND isn't willing to do that, and we can't make them willing to do that. So our choices are: not have ND at all, or have them in the limited fashion we have them. Are we worse off under the current system than we would be without them at all? Maybe so, but I'm struggling to see how. None of this changes the fact that ND acts like a whiny crybaby at times. (They had zero grounds at all to complain about the ACC pushing Miami in the playoff over them, which is exactly what the ACC should have done and had to do.) And I hate the codified favoritism they get when it comes to how the playoff system treats them. But personally I think most of the ACC sources quoted in this story come off as whiny crybabies, too. ND isn't willing to join our conference for football because it has an extremely valuable football brand - valuable enough to earn a lot of money on its own - and thinks it's better off that way. It's pretty hard, IMO, to say they're wrong about that. ACC schools would obviously love it if they could benefit from the ND brand being in the conference, but it really just comes off as sour grapes that ND won't share its cash cow with everyone.

DonCallahan said:

I often wondered why the ACC basically enables Notre Dame. They get many conference benefits without fully committing to the conference.

The worst part is they had them dead to rights in 2020 and could’ve said “agree to be a full member of the ACC or don’t play football this year.” Instead they said “why sure we would love to let you use us for this single season with no gain in it for us in return!”

rodoheel said:

What is the downside for the ACC, though? Would be better off without Notre Dame at all? If so, how? Obviously it would be better for the ACC if ND was fully in the conference. But ND isn't willing to do that, and we can't make them willing to do that. So our choices are: not have ND at all, or have them in the limited fashion we have them. Are we worse off under the current system than we would be without them at all? Maybe so, but I'm struggling to see how. None of this changes the fact that ND acts like a whiny crybaby at times. (They had zero grounds at all to complain about the ACC pushing Miami in the playoff over them, which is exactly what the ACC should have done and had to do.) And I hate the codified favoritism they get when it comes to how the playoff system treats them. But personally I think most of the ACC sources quoted in this story come off as whiny crybabies, too. ND isn't willing to join our conference for football because it has an extremely valuable football brand - valuable enough to earn a lot of money on its own - and thinks it's better off that way. It's pretty hard, IMO, to say they're wrong about that. ACC schools would obviously love it if they could benefit from the ND brand being in the conference, but it really just comes off as sour grapes that ND won't share its cash cow with everyone.

You make good points. For the ACC, half of Notre Dame is definitely better than no Notre Dame. It's more of my own frustration with how everyone complains about Notre Dame, but everyone (not just the ACC) enables them.

acmeoyster said:

the conference gets a lot of notre dame games...

2.5/year is not a lot.

With Bubba on his way out, and Newmark stepping in, hopefully we no longer support Notre Dame abusing the ACC.

TennesseeTarHeel1999 said:

The worst part is they had them dead to rights in 2020 and could’ve said “agree to be a full member of the ACC or don’t play football this year.” Instead they said “why sure we would love to let you use us for this single season with no gain in it for us in return!”

I agree with you but I don't think ND would've joined. They have a lot of pride in being independent. The only entity that really has enough clout to make them join a conference is the CFP.

SamHeel said:

F ND!!! they get special treatment in FB like dook does in BB. Get out of the ACC, away from ND, NC State and dook

this! enough dook and lol and ND let's walk as soon as financially feasible

DonCallahan said:

I often wondered why the ACC basically enables Notre Dame. They get many conference benefits without fully committing to the conference.

They posted something basically making fun of the ACC the year they were allowed to join. They were allowed to play in the ACC championship game. It's disgusting that the ACC allows this. Kick them out in basketball and let em find their own way.

Report: Notre Dame Fighting Irish To Make Drastic Cuts to Athletic Spending for 17 Sports - Yahoo Sports On a recent episode of the Irish Illustrated Insider, that 17 Notre Dame sports will have their budgets cut in future years and that includes reducing the number of scholarships. Baseball will go to 10.2 Scholarships

DonCallahan said:

I often wondered why the ACC basically enables Notre Dame. They get many conference benefits without fully committing to the conference.

The real issue is that the ACC dropped the ball in 2020 when they had the leverage to get a lot more from Notre Dame going forward and instead they just bent over and acquiesced for short-term tradeoffs.

DonCallahan said:

You make good points. For the ACC, half of Notre Dame is definitely better than no Notre Dame. It's more of my own frustration with how everyone complains about Notre Dame, but everyone (not just the ACC) enables them.

I'm sure people in the league office much smarter than me have done the calculations, but I would like to see the math laid out that half of Notre Dame is "definitely better" than no Notre Dame. It feels very much like a one-sided relationship and any monetary benefits are negligible in the grand scheme of an ACC member's overall athletic budget.

tarheelsrule44 said:

With Bubba on his way out, and Newmark stepping in, hopefully we no longer support Notre Dame abusing the ACC.

The ND situation is just one more reason we need Belichick to succeed.

So a bunch of people off the record, making comments. That'll get things changed for sure.

Hopefully the entirety of CFB is sick of their sh*t. Greg’s article on the recommended changes to college sports included a 15 member governing body with student athletes, athletic directors, coaches and…. Notre Dame. One school, getting its own dedicated seat on a 15 member governing body. They’re not special. If ND ceased college sports tomorrow, it wouldn’t diminish a thing. The ACC did a desperate thing, alongside many desperate things, and lives with the consequences. But the Domers need their special status revoked across the board.

PINEHEEL said:

I'm sure people in the league office much smarter than me have done the calculations, but I would like to see the math laid out that half of Notre Dame is "definitely better" than no Notre Dame. It feels very much like a one-sided relationship and any monetary benefits are negligible in the grand scheme of an ACC member's overall athletic budget.

I would love to see this too. I hear all the time the value that ND adds to the conference, but I've never stumbled across viewership numbers, financials, or anything tangible to show the value that ND brings in basketball and baseball- the only 2 sports (other than football of course) that can provide revenue (except for extremely rare situations like Penn State Wrestling). I guess one tangible argument is their basketball program has provided an easy win for the past few years? Prior to the 2025 conference tourney expansion, their baseball team was decent for 2 years under Link Jarrett, but once he left they missed the ACC Tourney in 2024 and are back to mediocre/bad. My last comment about the "value" ND brings. My wife comes from an SEC family. Her dad played football in the SEC so they are deeply rooted SEC football fans. Siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, extended family, all of them breathe football. It's astounding how many of those folks have no idea ND is in the ACC for other non-football sports. I can think of 3 times right off the top of my head that I've had to pull up my phone and prove it over the years...

tarheelsrule44 said:

With Bubba on his way out, and Newmark stepping in, hopefully we no longer support Notre Dame abusing the ACC.

Again, are we better off if we kick them out of the ACC? Seems like the better solution is for us to eventually leave the ACC and let it be someone else's problem.

PINEHEEL said:

I'm sure people in the league office much smarter than me have done the calculations, but I would like to see the math laid out that half of Notre Dame is "definitely better" than no Notre Dame. It feels very much like a one-sided relationship and any monetary benefits are negligible in the grand scheme of an ACC member's overall athletic budget.

I can buy the argument that we don't get that much benefit from having ND half-in the conference. I don't really see how it could benefit ACC to kick them out, though.