ACC commissioner on conference's interest in Notre Dame: 'It's been less than bashful'

Recent realignment news has once again stirred up talk about Notre Dame’s future with the ACC. Thanks to a deal struck by former AD John Swofford in 2013, the Fighting Irish are obligated to join the ACC conference if the football program ties itself to any group.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich revealed the latest intel this week on whether Notre Dame will budge is no different than this time last year.

“They know the ACC’s interest,” commissioner Jim Phillips told reporters last summer. “It’s been less than bashful. It’s been less than bashful since I’ve been here. But I also respect where they’re at. I respect where we’re at.

“You always have to be ready to add,” he continued. “Notre Dame, contractually, if they were to join a conference, again structured by Commissioner [John] Swofford in 2013, would join the ACC. That’s where we’re at.”

Notre Dame’s current deal with the ACC runs out in 2037. Included in the agreement is that the team will play five ACC opponents a year, with the Irish participating in the ACC’s bowl tie-ins.

Notre Dame free to go

One source told Dinich that if Notre Dame decided to withdraw from the ACC in its non-football sports, the Irish “would no longer be married to the ACC.”

In 2020, due to COVID-19, Notre Dame played the regular season as a full member of the conference. That agreement gave the Irish access to the ACC’s revenue, earning the program “roughly $34.9 million.”

Athletics director Jack Swarbrick told Dinich that the school’s leadership wasn’t swayed by the 2020 revenue split.

“I think most of the people here are very conscious of the benefits of independence and how that would change if you join a conference,” Swarbrick said. “We love the ability it gives us to play nationally, uniquely so. … We’ve played in more NFL markets and more NFL stadia than any other college program in the past 20 years and it’s not close. That’s first. Second is a unique broadcast relationship that allows us to be broadcast nationally every week and to have a quality of productions that’s as good as any in football.”