Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick held a press conference Wednesday night, answering questions from the media regarding Notre Dame's decision to move all sports, save for football, to the ACC. Notre Dame, however, will play five ACC football games per season.
Per Swarbrick, Notre Dame's mission is to have Notre Dame playing "everywhere in the country," and that maintaining its football independence is paramount to that task. It's important to Swarbrick and Notre Dame to have games in California, and as such, the rivalry games against both Stanford and USC will remain on the Irish's yearly schedule.
By playing five games in the ACC, Notre Dame will have a "large East Coast footprint," which aligns with Notre Dame's mission to play everywhere in the United States.
The unveiling of the new college football playoff system played a major factor in Notre Dame's timing, as the school began a "deliberative process in considering options" once the college football playoff system was announced.
Beginning in 2014, Notre Dame will play five ACC games per year, three of them at home in South Bend. Notre Dame will rotate three home games and three road games yearly.
Swarbrick did not give a timeframe for moving other sports to the ACC, but did assure the media that Notre Dame will meet its contractual obligations with the Big East. Swarbrick, however, did note that it's in everybody's "best interest" to move forward sooner rather than later.
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