Quote Originally Posted by TheSultan View Post
It's because the ACC is the bottom of the football pile. (And yes, football was by far their primary motivation.) Who else would they raid from? The SEC? The MAC? The BE made the most sense because those schools would say "yes" and it expands their geographic reach.

And if their primary goal was to kill the BE, all they would have had to do is invite Nova and Georgetown as basketball only members, given them each $2 - $3M a year, and the BE is dead. (And both those schools would have accepted that deal in a heartbeat, just like Marquette would have, and it would have cost each of their members peanuts - about $400k per year.)
Pitt, Louisville and Syracuse are not football powers, and may actually hurt the overall football product in the ACC (especially with the departure of Strong to Texas). ND was a football gamble (hoping they join for football), but also hurt the Big East basketball product.

It was a basketball move, and taking ND may have been too, as ND would fit perfect with the Big East (not saying that was the reason).

ND to the ACC could actually hurt ACC football pocketbooks.
Let's say ND is a top dog in football. ND plays, and beats, five ACC teams non conference (could hurt bowl chances).
ND is rated higher, and under the agreement, ACC bowl tie ins also include ND, but ND keeps all their football cash, no sharing 15 ways.

It is possible ND brings nothing hoops related (like this year), and could mean less bowl revenue when ND football is very good.