Notre Dame did nothing for the Big East. They were parasites. Should have been left on an island (for all non- football sports) years ago.
THIS is why I loathe them. I respect the fact that they hold their student-athletes to a higher standard and actually have them interact with the general student population. They want everyone to think they hold their student athletes to a higher standard than they actually hold them, but when all is said and done-they do a much better job of treating them like "real" students than almost all big time schools. For this, I definitely respect them.
For the first time in forever, their play actually matches the hype. Give credit where it's due, they've earned it this year.
I will never, ever respect them for the reason you note-the BE gave them a home for all their "other" sports and allowed them a platform to maintain/raise their status in all of those sports. They rarely threw the BE football schools a bone (to think of how much they benefitted for YEARS of being able to say they played UCONN in hoops for both men and women....) despite the huge benefits they reaped from playing in the BE.
I don't like gold diggers, whether they are individuals, or entire universities.