November 13, 2007
Three cities vie for ACC Championship
Tampa, Charlotte and Jacksonville submitted proposals to the Atlantic Coast Conference on Tuesday for the right to host the 2008, 2009, and 2010 conference championship game.
Jacksonville, which has hosted the game for the past three years, believes they need a sell-out this year to keep the game.
The concern is ticket sales. When Jacksonville won the bid in 2005, the Gator Bowl Association guaranteed a sell out stadium. The first year, it did with 72,000 fans. Last year however, there were only 55,000.Catlett says, "We need 65,000 people in the stadium to keep the ACC Championship game."
A decision on the 2008-2010 host city is expected following this year's title game.
Comments:
Cane Mutiny
posted on November 13, 2007 10:10 PM — 65.12.247.141 — link — abuse?
said:
FSU-Miami every year...boy, wouldn't that be nice? Miami hasn't even sniffed the ACC championship, and the Noles aren't exactly lighting the conference on fire either of late.
Let's hope both programs can rebuild - but let's hope Miami rebuilds faster :D (I think they will, Randy Shannon is a recruiting machine)
It's great to be a Miami Hurricane!
gatorhippy
posted on November 13, 2007 10:51 PM — 70.121.185.56 — link — abuse? said:
Charlotte makes the most sense as it is the most centrally located city of the three choices...
The down side of course is the weather in Charlotte could possibly be pretty nasty at the time of the year...
However, for the most part while cold it is only terribly harsh occasionally that early in winter...
The truly "wintry" weather really doesn't set in until after the first of the year...
1st_and_NOLE
posted on November 14, 2007 8:41 AM — 71.14.108.232 — link — abuse? said:
Canes... you have TALENT. You've brought in great talent and recruiting classes in the recent past. It's not like Coker couldn't recruit.
Miami and FSU's problem has been talent development. Patrick Nix sucks and he should be FIRED. If Shannon can upgrade his OC Miami will be great but... Nix is awful. He can't develop talent and he's especially bad as a QB coach. If Miami can hire an offensive guru they'll be back to their old ass kicking ways. Until then, I think FSU has the better assistant coaches that can develop the talent faster to get the program back on track.
Back on topic of the thread though.......
I'd like to see the game stay in Jacksonville (seeing I'm originally from there). However, I now live close to Charlotte so I wouldn't complain if the game moved here. I wouldn't have to drive as far once the Noles rebound and get back to the game.
Ramblin' Gator said:
posted on November 14, 2007 9:40 AM — 65.74.223.105 — link — abuse?
#5: 1st, I'm with you on Patrick Nix. I suspect he was hired because he managed to beat Miami while at GT and he earned their respect. Other than that, I can't imagine how he was the right choice for that job.
For recruiting purposes, there's nowhere I'd rather have a school than Coral Gables. UM has NO excuses for not bringing in the motherload of talent every year.
ATL-ien said:
posted on November 14, 2007 6:07 PM — 160.10.98.207 — link — abuse?
Well even for the ACC the best location would be Atlanta. Tons of ACC grads in the area and even an ACC school. Too bad though that the ACC officials are too scared to challenge the SEC for supremacy of Atlanta when the ACC even has a school in the middle of downtown.But out of the choices given Charlotte is the best. (Either way you put it Miami, or Boston College fans, or both have a long drive)
Ramblin' Gator said:
posted on November 14, 2007 6:26 PM — 143.127.131.4 — link — abuse?
#9, It's not fear, it's the calendar (why on earth would one conference be "scared" of another as you suggest). The SEC has the date contractually locked down in Atlanta and the ACC doesn't want to (or need to) schedule around them. Better to have three locations bidding for the game than to push for Atlanta. If the SEC ever pulls out of Atlanta - which I doubt they ever would - it would be a good place for the ACC championship.
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Ramblin' Gator said:
posted on November 13, 2007 9:41 PM — 65.74.223.105 — link — abuse?The ACC Championship game did not sell out last year because it was Wake Forest against Georgia Tech, not because of the location of the game. Wake Forest is one of the smallest schools in the division formerly know as "1" and GT alums tend live outside of Georgia after they graduate. GT also has not been good enough in recent years to attract a fan base beyond the alumni association.
The Gator Bowl organizers probably thought the championship game would be FSU vs. Miami every year (a guaranteed sellout) when they made the original seat commitment.