ACC Championship Game Sells Out
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference football championship game, held on December 3rd and at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, has sold out of general public tickets.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Wednesday it has sold out of general public tickets, with the only tickets left being the 10,000 that will go to each of the participating colleges.
It’s the third time in the game’s seven-year history it’s been sold out. It was a sellout in its first year of existence in 2005, when Florida State and Virginia Tech played in Jacksonville, Fla. For the next four years, the game did not sellout in Jacksonville and Tampa, Fla., before coming to Charlotte in 2010.
With two consecutive sellouts of the title game in Charlotte, some feel that Charlotte should become the home for the ACC Championship game for an extended period of time, if not permanently.
The ACC had awarded the game to Charlotte for two years. Now, two sellouts later, the league again will make a decision on the game’s future. But it’s not going to come until December, at the earliest, according to a league source.
But Charlotte is an obvious choice to continue as the game’s host, according to Will Webb, executive director of Charlotte Collegiate Football, which operates the game for the ACC.
“We’ve done what we’ve committed to do,” said Webb. “Hopefully this will make a good impression with the athletics directors and the conference and we will be able to extend the game in Charlotte. I think Charlotte is a good place because of the logistics, the stadium, the hotels we have right here in uptown, the proximity of the schools. We’re dead-center in the middle of the conference. It all just works.”
One fact that makes this year’s sellout even more impressive is the fact that neither competing team has been determined yet. If the season ended today, Clemson (5-1) would face Virginia Tech (4-1), but there are still three weeks of conference play remaining, including Virginia Tech’s nationally televised game against Georgia Tech (4-2) on Thursday.
The game will be surrounded by several events in uptown Charlotte, including a banquet honoring the league’s “legends” Friday at the Convention Center. On Saturday, there will be road race, a speech by former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden at the Convention Center and a fanfest near the stadium featuring a concert by country singer Dierks Bentley.
How do you feel about Charlotte becoming the long term home for the annual ACC Championship game? Let us know by leaving comments below.
Please Like CH’s New Facebook Page! New Giveaways Coming Soon! www.facebook.com/charlottehappeningcom
Follow CH on Twitter! www.twitter.com/charlottehappen
