Here's the money quote:
"...the ACC has the first decision to make and that's whether they're going to stay at 14 teams or go to 16. I know that there's one school that they would like to get into the ACC that would guarantee them going to 16 teams and that's been speculated to be Notre Dame. I suspect that that's true."
Malloy said he believes Notre Dame -- a traditional independent football power with a national following and its own TV deal with
NBC that runs through 2015 -- is "not terribly likely" to join the ACC. Since 1966, it has sold out every home football game except one, in South Bend, Ind.
"So absent a Notre Dame is there a compelling reason to go to 16 teams immediately or to remain at the 14 they've enlarged to?" Malloy said. "Beyond that then you fall back to the Big East and the Big East has to rebuild itself to fill the loss of the two teams that left and has to worry about its ability to compete on the major sports of basketball and football in particular, as well as how we make that work for student athletes."
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