I would like the Notre Dame football program to be part of the ACC. Any game that Notre Dame plays against an ACC team, I always pull for the ACC team. First, Notre Dame is not joining a conference where the teams are not competitive. Second, when Notre Dame can not go to bowl games because of loses to ACC teams, they will look to join the conference. Money will drive the decision to join a conference. So, as much as I dislike Georgia Tech, I will be pulling for the jackets to beat Notre Dame this weekend.
Money has nothing to do with Notre Dame decision making, they have all they could ever want. They want to be independent as long as they have equal access. The Big 12 scenario sent a message last year that they may not have the same access as a team that plays 13 games or wins a conference. they will join when they are convinced they must in order to compete for national championships and will probably have to be first hand knowledge of being left out. the most obvious way is for 4 conference champions to be undefeated and get in while ND is left out. This is unlikely but if it happens they will announce their move within months.