(07-31-2020 10:44 AM)TerryD Wrote:  ACC commissioner John Swofford said Friday the scheduling arrangement with Notre Dame for the 2020 season is a win-win for both the Irish and the league, but he added that it is only a temporary deal.

On Wednesday, the ACC announced a 10-plus-1 scheduling model in which Notre Dame, an FBS independent, will play a full league schedule for the first time in its history and be eligible for the ACC championship game. In his first comments since the schedule was announced, Swofford told Packer & Durham on the ACC Network that he and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick started discussing the possibility that the Irish would play a full ACC schedule about a month ago.

Notre Dame already had a scheduling partnership with the ACC that facilitated the talks and is an ACC member in all other sports.

"This simply -- as it has been with other aspects of the ACC-Notre Dame relationship -- is a win-win," Swofford said. "We're in a difficult situation, all of us in this country and in sports, and in the ACC we're trying to find the best path. We've said over and over again, we're in it together. It was the best thing for the ACC, it was the best thing for Notre Dame, and that makes it pretty easy when you know that.

"It was not hard for us to come to an agreement on that in terms of the television money. It was not hard for us to come to an agreement that if they were coming in, they were bringing their NBC games, they would play the same number of games as everybody else in the league, then they would be eligible to play in the ACC football championship game as well as the Orange Bowl, if they turned out to be our representative in the Orange Bowl ... and obviously the College Football Playoff."

Swarbrick told ESPN.com on Thursday that the partnership is a result of the unusual circumstances brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and "unrelated to Notre Dame's long-term assessment of independence." Swofford reiterated that as well, saying, "It's a one-off for this year in these particular circumstances."


https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ry-win-win