The article seems to be about why UConn would be a great ACC member if an affiliate like ND became a full member. Think the two points you raise make this unlikely to be a "serious" talk if there is dialog going on at all. My initial thought about FB signing on to the ACC has to do with money. Given ND puts its sports (mostly FB) "profits" in the general fund and a major source of those revenues is the NBC contract would have put a bit more credence in the article if how that would work if the ACC gets its own TV deal. If I wanted to speculate like the author I would say "there are talks involving NBC, the ACC and ND about a TV package that would like is beneficial for ND to sign on as a full member." Humorously if there were everyone would deny it or say we talk to a lot of people about a lot of things. Bottom line to ND think is they will only be come a full member of any conference if the "profit" expectation is higher than any alternative and, learning from the Big 10 debacle, the whole university esp the faculty agree this is good for the institution.