Notre Dame to the ACC....sort of.

Well well well...look what we have here. Earlier this morning news broke all over the placethat Notre Dame would be moving to the ACC in all sports but football and hockey. The ACC does not offer hockey, so it's assumed that ND will take their sticks to the Big East. As far as football goes, they will play five ACC opponents a year, in addition to their normal schedule.

Hit the jump for the other potential windfalls for the ACC.

First of all, this move brings not only football notoriety to the ACC in one of the game's most recognizable brands, but the basketball move is HUGE. Adding Pitt, Syracuse, and now Notre Dame to the slate of already tough ACC teams is another step in cementing the fact that when it comes to bouncy hoops, the ACC is tops.

Possibly one of the biggest aspects of this move hearkens back to all those rumors that FSU and Clemson were going to be looking to leave the ACC. Adding ND in this capacity raises the exit fee for the ACC to north of $50 million, making it that much more difficult for a school to leave. Swofford basically gave FSU and Clemson a passive aggressive middle finger. As of now, it's unclear which teams from the ACC will find their way onto ND's schedule, but the prospect of the Miami/Domer rivalry getting cranked back up is pretty fun.

Here's Notre Dame's AD and VP's statement on the move:

"We have monitored the changing conference landscape for many months and have concluded that moving to the ACC is the best course of action for us," said Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics, in a statement released by the conference. "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."

ND will be able to leave the Big East partnership that it currently has as soon as they can either pony up the dough to leave early, or the 27 month waiting period that the Big East mandates is up. They will most likely follow the route of West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse and just pay their way out early.

For all your Notre Dame football needs, hit up One Foot Down.

What do you think of the move?