Earlier this week, the ACC announced that its Championship Game would remain in Charlotte through the 2019 season. Very logical, in my opinion, since it is an "ACC city", much like how Indianapolis is a "Big Ten city" or how Atlanta is an "SEC City" (despite the presence of an ACC team).
I think some folks were hoping that the ACC would go the route of Conference USA and the PAC-12 and play at one of the schools. The likelihood of a sellout would perhaps be greater, but it would also be so much tougher to plan - particularly in years where a team doesn't clinch its divison until the last week!
Now, I'm fully in support of the neutral-site plan. But I thought I'd do a little blog series and play "what if" concerning the different conference championship games over the years.
I'll start with the ACC, since that's where the most recent news came from. Looking back at the previous 9 ACC Championship games, how might they have fared if held AT the school with the better conference record?
2005 - Florida State at Virginia Tech. Obvious sellout. Perhaps the Lane Stadium atmosphere keeps the Hokies energized enough to avoid being upset by a somewhat skidding Seminole team.
2006 - Wake Forest at Georgia Tech. Close to sellout. Georgia Tech's first shot at its first outright ACC Title in 16 years, Wake excited about its chances. Plus, Atlanta is certainly closer to Winston-Salem than Jacksonville!
2007 - Boston College at Virginia Tech. Another Lane Stadium sellout. Even though BC got the last minute win during the regular season, the Hokies finished 7-1 in the ACC, compared to the Eagles' 6-2. If VT could get revenge in Jacksonville, I'm confident they do the same in Blacksburg.
2008 - Virginia Tech at Boston College. Both at 5-3, so this time the head-to-head matters. It'd be tough to say how this one turns out at BC in terms of a winner. One thing's for sure: attendance would have been a whole lot better than the joke that was Tampa!
2009 - Clemson at Georgia Tech. Likely sellout, compared to a modest (but somewhat improved) showing in Tampa. Two long-time rivals, with a rematch of an early season down-to-the-wire game. I like GT's chances of winning here, since they "won" in Tampa (later vacated by the NCAA), in probably another great game.
2010 - Florida State at Virginia Tech. You know, I may want to rethink my position on preferring the neutral-site game. In any case, a clear sellout had this been in Blacksburg. But then again, Charlotte did very well itself, despite some cold dampness during the day. I suspect the game result would have been the same.
2011 - Clemson at Virginia Tech. Similar to 2007, when we had the better ACC record despite losing to our ACC Championship Game opponent in the regular season. Attendance in Charlotte was stellar, so a game in Blacksburg would have been a wash. And I'm kinda glad we played away from home - the way we played this game, Clemson may have beaten us in Lane Stadium for the 2nd time that season!
2012 - Georgia Tech at Florida State. Now, I wonder if Miami would have given up their spot if they knew the game would be in Tallahassee instead of Charlotte? I'll guess "yes", knowing that they were really trying hard to ensure no more bowl bans after 2012. As far as the game itself, which was kinda "meh" in Charlotte (though the Yellow Jackets made a game of it toward the end), I think a game at FSU would have been better by default, but probably with the weakest attendance (percent-wise) of any on-campus ACC CG thus far.
2013 - Duke at Florida State. Likely sellout, considering the high stakes for the Seminoles. The game did fine in Charlotte, and FSU whooped the Blue Devils there anyway. No real difference to be made by changing the venue.
I'll concede that Jacksonville and Tampa were pretty rough spots for the game (though 2005 did fine, while the Hokies were at the peak of their traveling ability and FSU was close by). If I had to choose between those venues and home stadiums, the home stadiums would probably be preferable (though Miami and Pittsburgh might have some logistical issues with getting their NFL stadiums with such little notice...and Syracuse had better not schedule a hoops game in the Carrier Dome that weekend).
But I'd also have to say that Charlotte has been a fantastic spot for the ACC Championship Game. One game that did well (2013), two that did really well (2010 and 2011), and one that did somewhat poorly due to unusual circumstances (2012). I think all four of those results (attendance and game winners) would have been the same had they been played at home stadiums. But most of all, I like the thought of a mini-bowl game experience - especially if I can't afford/have time to make it to the actual bowl game. It'll be interesting to see how the Charlotte experience continues to play out.
Next up, the Big Ten and PAC-12. With such short histories, I'll tackle both of these in my next post, hypothesizing what might have been if each conference did things the other way (on-campus for Big Ten, neutral site for PAC-12).
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