Notre Dame AD: Realignment Without Stanford, Cal Is 'An Indictment' of College Sports

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told ESPN's Heather Dinich that the school advocated for Stanford and California to join the ACC amid the ongoing realignment across college sports that could spell the end of the Pac-12 conference.

"The notion that two of the very best academic institutions in the world who also play D1 sports could be abandoned in this latest chapter of realignment is an indictment of college athletics," he said, per Dinich.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Pete Thamel and Andrea Adelson reported that the ACC's pursuit of Stanford and Cal "hit significant roadblocks," adding that Notre Dame was advocating for the additions:

"Sources confirmed one school that has been pushing for the addition of Cal and Stanford is Notre Dame, which is a member in the ACC in all sports except football (independent) and hockey (Big Ten). Notre Dame does get a vote on expansion, and it has a long history with Stanford. The fit from an Olympics sports perspective is attractive, too. But multiple athletic directors have questioned why anyone in the league would listen to Notre Dame because the Irish remain so steadfast in remaining independent."

The likely roadblock is money. Because Stanford and California aren't traditional football powerhouses, the major revenue-driver in college sports, they weren't as appealing to major conferences as their former league mates like USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington (all headed to the Big Ten).

Even Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah were deemed more appealing to the Big-12, who scooped them up during the Pac-12 exodus, leaving only Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State remaining.

But the future of the ACC is itself hanging in the balance, per ESPN's report, as Florida State remains unhappy with the conference's revenue sharing and a number of schools—Clemson, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech and the aforementioned FSU—were "communicating about options outside the ACC earlier this year."

That uncertainty has reportedly made it difficult for the ACC presidents to come to a consensus on adding schools like Stanford and California. Twelve of the 15 schools would need to approve any expansion—at the moment, developing that level of consensus feels unlikely.