Notre Dame contending for the 2020 ACC football championship is very much a good thing for the conference.

Many people in the Twittersphere don’t think so. The bashing of the ACC potentially bending to accommodate a school that hasn’t been all-in is utter foolishness. John Swofford didn’t bring Notre Dame into the conference because he so badly wanted its swimming & diving teams on board or for those highly anticipated fencing matchups with Duke or North Carolina.

Getting the Irish in the mix this fall could be the lynchpin that leads to a football union.

Swofford brought in Knute Rockne’s school because it adds a lot overall to the league, but the long-term vision was that of Touchdown Jesus, Golden Domers, “Play Like A Champion Today,” The Four Horsemen, The Gipper, SEVEN Heisman winners, and13 national championships being a part of the ACC every fall. Oh, Rudy – who else has a Rudy? Oh again, and last January, the Wall Street Journal ranked Notre Dame the fifth most valuable program in the nation at $913.4 million.

This is up for discussion because veteran college football writer Brett McMurphy of WatchStadium.com tweeted Friday morning, citing sources in the know, that the “ACC’s top scheduling model is 10 league games plus one nonconference foe… In this format if Notre Dame plays 10 ACC teams, results would count in ACC standings, sources said. Unknown if ND could earn ACC’s Orange Bowl bid. This needs ACC presidential approval.”

Swofford and the ACC’s presidents must get this done. Lock it up. Make it happen. Just do it!

The ACC changed forever when Boston College came on board 15 years ago, then Syracuse and Pitt made it clear the sweet-tea, rocking-on-the-front-porch element of the league would forever have company from other parts of our land. Yet, the sun has still come up every morning. Notre Dame won the ACC Tournament in basketball in 2015 and the universe didn’t crumble into pieces. That event is still sacred.

The ACC can handle this, plus it needs Notre Dame and right now Notre Dame appears to need the ACC if it’s going to play football this fall.

So, what’s the ACC’s benefit?

For starters, prestige.

The ACC may have been the best conference in the nation in 2016, but that was a rare flare up and it’s reputation is still more of second-tier Power 5 league, often jockeying with the Pac-12 and Big 12 among those final three spots. Florida State, Virginia Tech and Miami returning to previous form would help the league immeasurably, Georgia Tech and UNC hitting their potential and staying at or near there would be great for the , too. cnference, too. The ACC needs another name to compete with Clemson and generate national interest in the league contests that don’t include the Tigers.

More Eyes.

The ACC championship game last December between Clemson and Virginia drew a 2.4 rating, the league’s worst title-game mark in seven years. The revolving door of reps from the Coastal Division doesn’t help, obviously, as the flavor-of-the-day might be fun for folks on Tobacco Road, but it amounts to a yawner everywhere else.

Notre Dame’s inclusion would bolster the league’s image (see above) and make this game matter more. The whole conference slate would carry greater importance and be more nationally noteworthy. And, if the Irish were in the Coastal and met the Tigers in Charlotte, yeah, the ratings would be much higher.

More cash.

An enhanced product and image, more eyes watching on TV and more value to the entire operation means more money for everyone.

According to reports, the SEC brought in $721 million in revenue in 2019 resulting in a full-share payout of $45.3 million per school. The Big Ten reported a revenue of $780 million and the per-school payout was $55.6 million.

The ACC, on the other hand, reported $455.4 million in revenue, though the ACC Network didn’t launch until August, so the league didn’t benefit from a full year of having its own television network. The range in additional revenue for the conference if Notre Dame joined for football has been bandied about with considerable ranges, but whatever the eventual number is, there's no dount it would significantly increase what the league currently generates.

Notre Dame’s contract with NBC runs through 2025 and reportedly pays $15 million per year, but that deal was made in 2013 and didn’t include a full P5 schedule, as would be the case if the Irish were football members of the ACC. Getting the Irish for football would be a cash positive for the conference.

First to 16?

Adding the Irish for football would move the ACC to 15 teams, which won’t work long term, so the league would need to add a 16th school (the first P5 to do so), and the guess here, courtesy of numerous conversations with plugged-in folks, is Notre Dame might have a lot to say about who might be the other member.

With Notre Dame in for football, the ACC’s all-sport footprint would mean its flagship radio stations could be heard in 26 states and the conference would touch the largest population of any league. It would include metropolises New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Miami, plus many others.

The ACC is already in three of the five most populated states and five of the top nine. Add numbers 12, 15 and 17, as well.

So, the league wouldn’t have to bring in a school that would enhance the footprint as much as some might expect. Fit would be important and probably most desired by Notre Dame.

Why not?

The Holly Farms days of the ACC are long gone and we’ve all survived. “Sail with the pilot” will always remain a part of the league’s lore, but the ACC is changing, just like people and society continue evolving and in some cases it's progress.

If Swofford can get Notre Dame to put another foot in the ACC water, go for it. The Irish are the biggest of all football fish, so it might take more patience to make this happen, but there’s nothing like a trial run in the crazy year of 2020 to perhaps make that a forever reality.