Notre Dame To Join ACC In All Sports Besides Football, Hockey

Notre Dame will be joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, according to the ACC's website. This change will affect all Notre Dame sports except football, which will play five games annually against league programs, and hockey, which had already made plans to join the Hockey East conference.

There had been rumors of this move over the summer, but no confirmed news had been released until now.

Notre Dame football will remain independent of a conference, though it will play more ACC opponents than in previous years.

Notre Dame's President, Rev. John I. Jenkins said, "The ACC is composed of some of the most highly respected universities in the country, and we at Notre Dame look forward to joining them."

Notre Dame joins Miami and Florida St. in the ACC, which welcomed the Fighting Irish.

"The ACC was founded on the cornerstones of balancing academics, athletics and integrity," according to Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford. "Our partnership with Notre Dame only strengthens this long-standing commitment."

The ACC does not offer a Division I hockey conference, so Notre Dame will likely continue its plans to join the Hockey East beginning in 2013-14.

For more on the Fighting Irish, head to One Foot Down. For Florida St., check out Tomahawk Nation. And for Miami, please visit our Seventh Floor Blog.