ACC Expansion: No to Notre Dame for Partial Membership

ACC commissioner John Swofford essentially ruled out the conference accepting Notre Dame at the ACC basketball media day on Wednesday.

Some have speculated in the past that Notre Dame would put all of its non-football sports in the ACC should the Big East implode, but Swofford said Wednesday that the ACC isn't interested in adding any school that isn't fully committed to the conference.

We're an all-in, revenue-equal conference, Swofford told reporters on Wednesday. That's very basic to us. That's what works for us. ... I think going forward we will continue to consider equal revenue sharing and full membership or no membership (important) in our conference. I don't see that changing.

It's possible that when push came to shove that the ACC would accept Notre Dame, but Swofford's tune likely closes another fallback option for Notre Dame should it no longer deem the Big East as a viable place for its sports programs.

I'm concerned, there's no question about it, Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey told the Chicago Tribune. The Big East has been great for us. That connection back to the East for our basketball

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick has long said that Notre Dame is happy with the Big East and would only seek a conference affiliation elsewhere if the Big East ceased to exist as a viable conference.

I hope we can keep the Big East together. If not, we need something in the East. I've told (athletic director) Jack (Swarbrick) that.

The Big East appears on the verge of adding stability by pursing six expansion candidates, but no official invites have been sent out yet and plenty could still derail the expansion.

The Big East, according to multiple reports, is expected to invite Air Force, Boise State, and Navy as football-only programs, while inviting Central Florida, Houston, and SMU for all sports. The invites could be going out in the very near future, but there is still some uncertainty over what schools will accept the invites.

The biggest issue currently facing the Big East is Missouri possibly leaving the Big 12 to the SEC. Missouri to SEC, which The New York Times called inevitable and imminent, would drop the Big 12 to nine teams and make it necessary for the conference to expand.

The most likely targets for expansion include Big East schools Cincinnati, Louisville, and West Virginia. The Big 12 could expand to either 10 or 12 teams, but interim commissioner Chuck Neinas says there is no consensus among current members.

If the Big 12 were to expand to 12 teams it could poach all three aforementioned teams from the Big East and essentially put the Big East on life support. The loss of those three schools would leave the Big East with only three football-playing schools and could halt all of its expansion plans.