According to ESPN's Andrea Adelson, Orlando is already making a pitch
- Thread starter UPitt '89
- Start date
Let's have it somewhere that you won't have embarrassing screenshots floating around like from the VT/ Boston College games. The conference is finally starting to shed the 2nd-tier image. No need to relive that.
I find it pretty hilarious that you say a fan base wouldn't be energized about having the #10 team in the country playing in a conference championship game. Those are some awful damned demanding Georgia Tech fans!
Georgia Tech was playing for its first conference championship in 19 years. Clemson for its first in 18. And you're telling me the fan bases weren't excited.
You just demonstrated the entire problem with this scenario. How often are you actually going to get #1 Louisville and #2 Pittsburgh in the CCG? When has that happened in any conference, let alone the ACC? You can't plan the title game based on the best-case scenario. That is EXACTLY what went wrong with the CCG before. The ACC thought they would have #1 Florida St. vs. #2 Miami every year, and they put the CCG in Florida based on that assumption. Well, guess how many times Florida St and Miami played in the CCG? Zero. What you ended up getting was a steady diet of mid-ranked Virginia Tech/Boston College and Wake Forest/Georgia Tech in Jacksonville/Tampa. Go do a quick Google image search to see the results.
Why are we debating Charlotte vs Orlando? Everybody knows Charlotte is the best location but major sports leagues have decided not to contribute to the NC economy until the bill is repealed. The ACC is not above the NBA or NCAA. The decision has been made.
When the bill is repealed, the CCG will move back to Charlotte. Unless they play it on a neutral field, the ONLY option is Orlando. Its not a great option, but its the only one.
Well, here's why we are debating it.
1) The idea was stupid in the first place. The ACC doesn't have to do what the NCAA or NBA do.
2) It's a doubly stupid since the ACC still has the conference headquarters in Greensboro, NC. So yeah, "We're moving our events out of North Carolina because they discriminate!" (But we're still going to keep our headquarters there.) That sends a tough message alright.
3) Orlando isn't the only option. I'm not sure why some people have such a hard on for Orlando. It's a conference championship game. You don't need a metropolis to host the game. Any decent sized city with a good stadium will suffice.
4) Playing the game at a site where you have a bunch of no-shows in the stands is just going to be more bad publicity for the conference. As I mentioned in an earlier post, screenshots from the Virginia Tech/Boston College game still make the rounds on the internet.
Sort of revisionist history as regards 2009.
First off, Georgia Tech won an ACC conference championship in 1998. Which was only 11 years ago. And it is what it is --- their home loss to Georgia, which knocked them out of the fringes of the National Championship race --- deflated their fans. Less excitement for the game vs. Clemson. Besides: if GT won they were going to the Orange Bowl. Save some $ for the better trip. An Orange Bowl Trip to Miami just after New Year's to play an actual Top 10 team certainly beats a trip to Tampa in early December to play a fringe Top 25 team that you already beat earlier in the year.
You Clemson fans meanwhile --- I know you love Dabo now but it is a fact that in 2009 you were still full-bore singing the refrains of "Fire Dabo, get this clown out of here! Let's go throw $500,000,000 at Nick Saban or Urban Meyer to bring one of them into town!" Conference championship game or not, you guys weren't exactly rallying behind your #25 ranked team and flocking to a title game --- be it played in Tampa, Charlotte or wherever.
Further proof of the lack of interest from Clemson fans in that 2009 team: Kentucky has played in 4 Music City Bowls, and generally draws well being right next door to Nashville. Yet that 2009 Music City Bowl vs. Clemson is the lowest-attended of all 4 of Kentucky's Music City Bowls. Over 10K lower vs. the 2006 Music City Bowl, also CU vs. UK. UK brings who they bring, Nashville is an easy trip --- I attribute the lowest attendance directly to 2009 Clemson fans.
My point remains --- conference Championship game attendance is driven by many things. Chief among them the attitudes of the fan bases of the 2 schools playing in the game. Just look at the attendance differences for the last 6 games in Charlotte. Nearly without fail, if there's a top-ranked team playing, attendance is in the 70,000s. If not, it's in the 60,000s.
Last edited:
Orlando makes sense on short notice. Nice stadium now and not too large and can drum up interest there locally.
1. Universities are very liberal by nature so although the ACC doesn't have to do what the NCAA and NBA are doing, it looks bad not too. Im not going to debate the political decision to move it.
2. The ACC is not going to move offices and employees for a bill that will be repealed. If it doesn't get repealed, I'd imagine they'd relocate.
3. Tell me other options besides Orlando.
4. If Clemson or FSU make the game and are playing for the CFP, the game would sell out.
Have it at FedEx Field, 10 miles away from the U of Maryland's campus, and use their buyout money for free beer.
Of course they wouldn't but I'm just listing all stadiums in the footprint. RFK is such a dump. I went to a DC United game there a few years ago and it felt like the stadium hasnt been touched since the Redskins left. It felt dirty and like it was falling apart. I even got that homesick feeling and felt like this is not a place I really want to be. Since I was there to see a soccer game, I was imagining that this might be the type of stadium you might see in Central America.
So, yea, it wont be in RFK. But it also wont be in the state of Maryland at FedEx Field
Process of elimination. Orlando is only option
I would play it in Columbia.
Nope, it's not revisionist history. Florida St won the ACC title in 1998. You brought up another interesting point. You said Georgia Tech fans didn't make the trip because they would be going to the Orange Bowl if they won, so they skipped the CCG to save money for the bowl game. Well, you have the exact same scenario in play now.
Now let's get your "fact" about Dabo. Nobody was calling for Dabo to be fired. That's 100% made up on your part. Sorry, but I live here. Nobody was calling for Dabo to be fired. Sorry, it just didn't happen.
Now getting to the bowl game. You want to talk about fan bases not being excited about a game. The 2009 Music City bowl was Kentucky's 3rd trip in 4 years. You also have to account for their fans being tired of making the same trip. Naturally, their level of interest in going to a bowl game will drop off if they are making the same trip for the 3rd time in 4 years.
Another interesting point about your assertion. Clemson had played Kentucky in the Music City bowl in 2006. Since 2009 had Kentucky's lowest attendance in the MCB, according to your theory, Clemson fans should have been more interested in the 2006 game. Well, let's examine that. In 2006, Clemson started off 7-1, and was ranked #10. Then, they proceeded to loose 3 of the last 4 games (including to South Carolina) to finish at 8-4, and lose the Atlantic Division to Wake Forest. So, you're telling me that Clemson fans were not excited about the 2009 (which actually won the division), but were excited about the 2006 team (which flamed out at the end of the season)? Sorry, your theory doesn't hold water. The most logical explanation for the 2009 MCB attendance is that you had one fan base that was tired of making the trip to the same bowl.
1. Doesn't matter if they are liberal in nature. In all honesty, nobody would really notice if the ACC still held the game in Charlotte. If the bill is going to be repealed anyway, the ACC could have easily said they couldn't move the CCG this year since it was such short notice (a valid reason), and just waited for the bill to be repealed.
2. If the bill doesn't get repealed, the ACC won't relocate. The NCAA still has its offices in Indiana.
3. Columbia for starters.
4. Again, you can't plan for the best case scenario.
Similar threads
