The ACC is urging Notre Dame to commit fully to the conference or withdraw. The financial implications of Notre Dame's presence in the ACC are under scrutiny.
Key points
ACC urges Notre Dame to commit fully or withdraw
Financial implications of Notre Dame's presence are under scrutiny
Syracuse football games draw over 38,000 fans
Attendance at North Carolina games sold out last season
Hosting Notre Dame may not yield significant revenue
Notre Dame Fighting IrishSyracuse footballNorth Carolina Tar Heels
The typical Syracuse football home game draws more than 38,000 to the JMA Wireless Dome, which is about 90 percent of capacity. So even though we can expect the Orange to charge a hefty price for their impending visit from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the financial benefit from that game appears, at a distance, to be relatively meager.
At North Carolina last season, the Tar Heels sold out every one of Bill Belichick’s rookie-year home games at Kenan Stadium, and season tickets for 2026 are available, but rare. So having the Irish visit this autumn will make for an occasion but not necessarily a windfall.
's all-but-football membership in the ACC has become an extremely one-sided relationship whose value to the conference is becoming more difficult to ascertain, particularly in a year when the Fighting Irish will be the visitors for only a pair of their six scheduled games against league members.
Q&A
What ultimatum is the ACC giving Notre Dame?
The ACC is demanding that Notre Dame either fully commit to the conference or exit its membership.
How does Notre Dame's presence impact ACC teams financially?
The financial benefits of hosting Notre Dame games for ACC teams, like Syracuse and North Carolina, are being questioned as they may not yield significant revenue.
What are the attendance figures for Syracuse football games?
Syracuse football home games typically draw over 38,000 fans, which is about 90 percent of the JMA Wireless Dome's capacity.
Why is Notre Dame's commitment to the ACC important?
Notre Dame's commitment is crucial for the ACC's financial stability and competitive balance, as its partial membership has raised concerns among other teams.
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There no doubt are members of the ACC who believe this relationship needs definition: in or out. That belief didn’t begin with Notre Dame’s refusal to accept the invitation to the Pop-Tarts Bowl last season after being excluded from the College Football Playoff, but that didn’t help. And it predated Irish AD Pete Bevacqua’s claim the league caused “permanent damage” to its relationship with Notre Dame by advocating for Miami’s inclusion in the CFP.
Now, though, athletic officials in the conference are saying the quiet part out loud.
Another said to McMurphy, and thank goodness for parentheses, “Notre Dame 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.”
Sportscaster Joe Ovies, based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, co-hosts the OG Podcast with Joe Giglio. He contends it was logical to add Notre Dame as an affiliate member in 2013, when the Big East was splitting along basketball/football lines, but it is time for the ACC to quit the Irish.
“You want to be an independent? Then go be independent and see what kinda schedule you can come up with,” Ovies told The Sporting News. “The detriment is what happened this past season, where Pete whined for a month. They’re never going to join. Cut them loose and focus on the upheaval of 2030.”
That’s when the ACC’s amended grant of rights agreement starts to lose its grip on league members, who would pay a lesser penalty to depart (presuming they could find other conferences to call home).
Notre Dame could solve the ACC’s possibly existential crisis in an instant. All that is necessary to ensure the future of the league is for the Irish to join as a full member, possibly even while dictating some of the terms it would prefer, such as retention of its lucrative TV contract for home football games.
It was the same, though, when ND was part of the Big East and the league perfectly served its interest in men’s and women’s basketball and fit nicely with the vast number of alumni based on that coast. The Irish could have dictated any policy they wished, including a limited league schedule, and Big East football still might be a thing.
The Irish, however, don’t seem to view being a member of a conference as a cooperative endeavor. It’s much more: What can you do for me?
One of the great mysteries of modern college sports is why Notre Dame is so determined to remain independent in football. I’ve never found anyone associated with the school, and I’ve asked a lot, who could articulate its importance.
It’s not money; the Irish could have been earning more had they agreed to join the Big Ten in 1999, and they could probably work out a way to keep their financial advantage as full ACC members. It’s not football success. They’ve not won a national championship since 1988, and folks, the students who attended the university that year have just three years to plan whatever 40th reunion celebration they might desire. And, of course, they’ve never won a conference title.
It’s obvious they appreciate the ability to make decisions for themselves.
So let them.
The Irish aren’t giving much in return for providing a home for nearly all their sports programs. They aren’t even good at men’s basketball anymore; they’ve missed seven of the past eight NCAA Tournaments.
Let Notre Dame make its own football schedules, if it can find enough worthy opponents with the flexibility to play them once October and November get busy. Let them knock on doors of the Big East offices and see if they’ll take back basketball and the Irish non-revenue sports. Then it’ll be no one else’s fault if the Irish fail to make the College Football Playoff. They’ll have true independence. See how that works out for them.
