Cavalier Corner Digital

ON THE MOVE BY LOU SOMOGYI T here's a new ACC in Notre Dame athletics. The original ACC — the Athletic & Convocation Center — opened in 1968 and is now known as the Joyce Athletic & Convocation Center to honor the memory of former Notre Dame executive vice pres- ident Rev. Ned Joyce, C.S.C., who served in that capacity from 1952-87. Forty-four years later, the new ACC that will be linked with Notre Dame is the At- lantic Coast Conference, founded in 1953 and one of the six Bowl Championship Series power conferences in the NCAA. Today, the Atlantic Coast Conference Council of Presidents unanimously voted to accept the University of Notre Dame as a new member — other than in football and hockey. Head coach Jeff Jackson's hockey pro- gram will join Hockey East starting with the 2013-14 season. Meanwhile, Notre Dame and the ACC reached agreement that the Fighting Irish football program will play five games an- nually against its league programs — and each conference member will be rotated in at least once every three years. The logistics of that is pending. Ever since the 1995-96 academic year, most of Notre Dame's athletic programs have been a member of the Big East (football again among the exceptions). According to the terms of Notre Dame's contract with the Big East, it would be eligible to leave the league in 27 months at an expense of $5 million. demic collaboration and we enthusiasti- cally welcome them into the league." "The ACC was founded on the cor- Notre Dame to join ACC, but not in football or hockey nerstones of balancing academics, athletics and integrity," Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swof- ford said. "Our partnership with Notre Dame only strengthens this long-stand- ing commitment." For Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbick, this partnership provides the best of all worlds to his alma mater — including tie-ins to the ACC's non-BCS bowl package, a sore point in the football program in recent years. "We have monitored the changing con- ference landscape for many months and have concluded that moving to the ACC is the best course of action for us," Swarbrick said in a released statement. "We are able to maintain our historic independence in football, join in the ACC's non-BCS bowl package, and provide a new and extremely competitive home for our other sports. "…This approach allows us to help After months of monitoring the changing conference landscape, athletics director Jack Swarbrick (left, with women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw) said Notre Dame determined that moving to the ACC was its best course of action. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND However, Notre Dame might negotiate a higher price with the Big East to exit ear- lier. Last year, Big East members Pitt and Syracuse each agreed to a $7.5-million exit fee from the Big East to ACC in 2013. West Virginia, now in the Big 12, paid a $20-million exit fee to leave immediately. Conversely, the ACC announced it in- tends to raise its own exit fee to $50 mil- lion, likely in an effort to entice schools like Clemson and Florida State to stay where they are after some earlier reports had them looking at the SEC. Alphabetically, the 12 current ACC members are Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Mary- land, Miami, North Carolina, North Car- olina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Pitt and Syracuse officially join the league on July 1, 2013. With the addition of Notre Dame, the ACC's future membership includes 11 institutions ranked among the top 58 in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report survey of "America's Best Colleges," more than any other conference also competing at the highest level athletically. "We are committed to keeping the At- lantic Coast Conference a vibrant and competitive league dedicated to ensuring the appropriate balance of academics, ath- letics and integrity," the ACC Council of Presidents said in a joint statement. "The addition of Notre Dame further strength- ens the rich tradition and culture of the ACC as well as allowing for future aca- ✦ PAGE 10 promote ACC football while maintaining our traditional rivalries and a national schedule." Furthermore, the move to the ACC will not affect Notre Dame's partnership since 1991 with NBC Sports and it is "es- sentially revenue neutral," according to Swarbrick, who added that "financial im- plications were not a motivation." Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jen- kins, C.S.C. is particularly pleased that the ACC is comprised of exceptional aca- demic institutions, including private ones such as Boston College, Duke and Wake Forest. "With a mix of institutions — many of which are also private, similar to Notre Dame in size, and committed to excel- lence in research and undergraduate edu- cation — the ACC is an exceptionally good fit for us academically, as well as athletically," Jenkins said. ✦

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