Notre Dame’s relationship with the ACC suddenly feels more complicated than it did a year ago.
The way the school has acted this spring suggests Notre Dame recognizes it has been losing a few PR battles. In November, the Irish allowed their rivalry series with USC to lapse for 2026. Now, the Los Angeles Times reports that talks are back on, seemingly without USC changing its position.
At the same time, Notre Dame went from claiming its relationship with the ACC was damaged in December to insisting in May that it had never been stronger. What changed? Reports surfaced that ACC officials were growing frustrated with Notre Dame using the conference for other sports while continuing to remain independent in football.
Notre Dame recognizes a PR problem when it sees one. The school also knows the ACC agreement is unlikely to be replicated elsewhere. If the Irish want to maintain football independence while placing their other sports in a power conference, the ACC remains their best option.
But is that model still working for the ACC? Here’s a look at a question that once felt unthinkable: does the ACC still need Notre Dame?
Notre Dame Isn’t Contributing Much Right Now
The ACC’s deal with Notre Dame gives the Irish a home for everything except football and ice hockey. And outside of women’s basketball, which made the Elite Eight, and lacrosse, Notre Dame has not provided much competitive value recently.
Men’s basketball has missed seven of the past eight NCAA tournaments. Mike Brey had the program in a strong place when Notre Dame joined the ACC, but his final teams slipped badly. Micah Shrewsberry has not yet been able to reverse the trend.
Baseball also lost momentum after Link Jarrett departed for Florida State. Jarrett went 86-32 and guided Notre Dame to the 2022 College World Series before returning to his alma mater when the Seminoles’ job opened. Since then, Florida State has reached a College World Series and a Super Regional. Under Shawn Stiffler, Notre Dame has made two ACC tournament appearances in three years and has not come close to an NCAA tournament berth.
Volleyball just completed its sixth consecutive losing season. Softball has missed three straight NCAA tournaments. Even women’s basketball has plateaued somewhat, as the Irish lost in the Sweet 16 five straight years before reaching the Elite Eight this season.
Without football in the ACC, Notre Dame needs to remain competitive across multiple conference sports. Otherwise, the school becomes just another member benefiting from the arrangement without providing enough in return.
Football Isn’t Providing Scheduling Value
When Notre Dame joined the ACC, football agreed to play five ACC opponents every season. The expectation was that the Irish would rotate through the rest of the conference on a regular basis while maintaining a few traditional rivalries.
That has not really happened.
Instead, Notre Dame worked around the spirit of the partnership by locking in an annual home-and-home series with Clemson through 2037, with those games counting toward the five-game ACC requirement. The same applies to Stanford, despite the Cardinal not even belonging to the ACC when Notre Dame originally agreed to the scheduling model.
Stanford was one of three rivalries Notre Dame prioritized protecting alongside USC and Navy. The Irish managed to maintain all three until this season. But for much of the ACC, Notre Dame is only appearing on campus once or twice per decade.
Over the next five seasons, only 2029 will feature Notre Dame playing more than two road games in ACC stadiums. That is not an equitable setup for the rest of the conference.
The NBC Problem
Notre Dame’s independence still exists because NBC is willing to pay a premium for the school’s home football games. Without that television deal, the Irish likely would have no realistic choice but to join a conference fully.
But NBC does little to benefit the ACC.
It would be one thing if Notre Dame football regularly served as a lead-in for major ACC matchups on NBC or Peacock. Instead, Notre Dame often leads directly into Big Ten coverage for large portions of the season.
And yet, Notre Dame was reportedly frustrated when the ACC publicly backed Miami over the Irish despite Miami both belonging to the conference fully and beating Notre Dame head-to-head. That frustration misses the point. If Notre Dame is going to collect the television benefits of independence without fully sharing in conference obligations, it cannot reasonably expect the ACC to prioritize its interests.
Could Notre Dame Handle True Independence?
The last 12 years have made one thing fairly clear: Notre Dame needs the ACC more than it may want to admit.
If the Irish wanted to end the arrangement tomorrow, there is a simple solution. Move the non-football sports to the Big East. Connecticut already operates under a similar model, and it is difficult to imagine the Big East rejecting Notre Dame if it accepted UConn. The Irish would fit naturally in a conference built heavily around basketball and Catholic institutions.
But Notre Dame has not pursued that route. The school clearly wants the stability and visibility that come with being tied to a power conference in every sport except football.
Recent history also suggests true football independence may be harder than ever to sustain. In 2020, Notre Dame could have attempted to build an independent pandemic schedule similar to BYU’s approach. Instead, the Irish accepted the ACC’s offer to join for one season and play a conference-only schedule. Without that opportunity, it likely would have been a lost season for the program.
As conferences continue expanding, quality scheduling opportunities become harder to secure late in the year. Notre Dame remains one of the biggest brands in college football, and Marcus Freeman deserves credit for restoring national relevance. But brand strength alone does not solve scheduling realities. Last season offered a perfect example: five of Notre Dame’s final seven opponents came from the ACC. The two exceptions were USC and Navy.
What’s the Solution?
There are still several paths forward that could keep the ACC-Notre Dame relationship healthy.
The first is simple: Notre Dame needs to improve in non-football sports. Few people questioned the arrangement when Mike Brey and Muffet McGraw consistently had the Irish competing for championships in basketball. If Notre Dame starts providing real conference value again outside football, many of these complaints fade quickly.
Option two is full ACC membership in football. With conferences increasingly functioning as playoff access points, the drawbacks of conference membership are not as severe as they once appeared. Notre Dame would sacrifice some scheduling freedom, but probably less than in previous eras.
The third option is a hybrid approach. Notre Dame and NBC could work more directly with the ACC to provide greater shared television value, whether through scheduling, promotion, or revised financial structures.
If none of those solutions materialize, the ACC may eventually decide the current arrangement no longer makes sense to continue. As things stand right now, Notre Dame simply is not contributing enough to justify the deal as currently constructed.
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