Notre Dame will be joining the ACC as a full-time member of the conference in every sport except football, which will bring several benefits to both the school and its new conference.
While the football team has always remained independent, the rest of the school's athletics had been a member of the Big East. The ACC is a better fit for Notre Dame academically as well as geographically, because the Big East will soon have members from the West Coast. In addition, the sustainability of the Big East as a major football conference is in doubt, so the transfer will help a Notre Dame program on the rise.
With the transfer, the football team will also play five games a year against ACC schools, allowing Notre Dame to expand its recruiting base.
Via SB Nation's college football hub:
Five games a year allows Notre Dame a good bit of latitude in preserving existing rivalries with USC, Navy, and Stanford, but also allows it to expand the recruiting base by reaching out into ACC territories -- most importantly Florida, one of the three chief talent pools for college football talent, and the talent-rich eastern seaboard.
The ACC will gain a highly-visible football program that may be able to help the conference expand into the Northeastern football market, which it has struggled to do. While the football program may not be part of the conference in name, they are certainly tied closer to it than any other division in college football.
For more on Notre Dame's switch to the ACC, read here.
For more on Notre Dame's move to the ACC, be sure to check out the Fighting Irish SB Nation blog, One Foot Down.