ACC Ready to Abandon Championship Game in Florida

The ACC championship game has seen diminishing attendance from the 70,000 plus in the first game in 2005 down to a dismal sub-28,000 in 2008. The problem, it seems, has not been the fact that the ACC has been a collective morass of mediocrity that makes it less attractive for fans to want to make last-minute travel plans to the game. It has nothing to do with teams with smaller alumni bases like Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College making appearances.

How about the fact that they have been held in Florida and only once has Florida State or Miami appear? Good luck getting the ACC to admit that was the expectation when they set it up for the first four games to be in Florida.
It seems the problem is that no one wants to go to Florida. Charlotte, North Carolina is the place to be.

"Charlotte is more in the middle of our footprint," North Carolina State athletic director Lee Fowler said Monday following meetings involving ACC athletic directors, football coaches, basketball coaches and faculty representatives, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Amelia Island. "We've tried Jacksonville, and we're trying in Tampa. I'd like to see how the game performs in North Carolina."

Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver, whose football team has played in three of the four ACC title games, was even more direct.

"We've got to get to Charlotte," he said. "That doesn't mean Jacksonville and Tampa haven't done good jobs. It's simply too hard for people to get to Florida for a weekend game, then plan on going to a bowl game - especially now, in this economic downturn."

The ACC championship game is not scheduled to make an appearance in Charlotte until 2010. The championship does not have a permanent location. The ACC has instead taken to soliciting bids from potential host cities to try and get the most money.

Charlotte, North Carolina is the most central location for most programs in the ACC. It is also not far from the league's offices in Greensboro. But the ACC has been sensitive to accusations that it favors holding events in North Carolina and providing an advantage for the programs in the state.

It seems unlikely that the ACC will be able to pull out of Tampa for this year. Tampa and Raymond James Stadium would likely, not be eager to lose any events that could produce some extra revenue.

It also seems unlikely that the ACC will be willing to pay any escape penalties to move it this year. So get ready for lots of empty seats for at least one more year. Just do not expect a return to Florida until FSU or Miami shows some sustained success.