Colleges

Tampa is ACC title town

The football championship game is moving to Raymond James in 2008 and 2009.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published December 13, 2007

TAMPA - For more than a month before their final presentation, bay area officials sent ACC leaders a couple of puzzle pieces each week that would form a vision for the future of the league football championship game.

The final and 11th piece - one handed to each athletic director by former Virginia and current Bucs star cornerback Ronde Barber at a meeting in November - finally completed the picture:

It was of Tampa Bay.

Well, the ACC agreed that its event would fit rather nicely here, announcing Wednesday that its schools had voted unanimously to award the 2008 and 2009 games to Tampa and Raymond James Stadium and the 2010 and 2011 games to Charlotte, N.C.

"This is an exciting day for the Tampa Bay community, one that has been many years in the making," said Jeff Adams, chairman of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, referring to his group's efforts to build relationships with the ACC since the early 1990s and coming up short on winning this event in 2005.

The ACC had said it planned to award three years, but both cities wanted two years in succession to best show what it can do. Tampa got the first shot in part to build upon the excitement of the Super Bowl coming in early 2009.

"I couldn't be more pleased the game will be in Tampa," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "I sure am glad we were able to keep it in Florida."

The game began in 2005 with the first three editions played in Jacksonville and although the city received high marks for how it staged the game, it struggled to fill its mammoth stadium the past two years. That includes an announced 53,212 two weeks ago in the 76,000-seat facility on a sunny, mild day for a matchup of ranked teams, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

There were far fewer bodies in the stands than that.

That assured a change of venue.

"What we want is the best opportunity for the game to be successful regardless of who's playing in it," ACC commissioner John Swofford said, recognizing that other than the FSU-Virginia Tech inaugural game, one of the league's smaller, private schools Wake Forest and then BC had reached the finale. "As we look ahead, I'm extremely excited about both venues and think that the experiences at each will be outstanding for our conference and the participating teams and fans as well as, importantly, local fans."

While Charlotte is in the traditional epicenter of the league and within driving distance of three-fourths of the schools, Swofford said Tampa has "a lot of pluses across the board in terms of attractiveness."

The area justsuccessfully staged the ACC's marquee event, the men's basketball tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum in March, and he touted the local support for the Outback Bowl (more than 60,000 are expected for the eighth straight year) and a top-shelf stadium.

Raymond James Stadium seats about 65,000, significantly less than Jacksonville and Charlotte's Bank One Stadium (73,500). With the participating schools each receiving 10,000 tickets and the league getting 2,000, the burden for the rest is on the local football fans and that's lessened in the bay area, which also is the largest market of the three.

"Matchup is not going to be an issue," Adams said. "It's about marketing and the market."

Bay area organizers quickly had a Web site up, acctampabay.com, and several hundred fans had gone there to apply for tickets for the Dec. 6, 2008 game. Club seating isn't available yet;other tickets range from $25 to $85. In Jacksonville, the non-premium seats were $60 to $80.

"This is a community that's poised and passionate about taking the championship to the next level," Adams said.

"There's great fans; there's great football atmosphere around town here all year long," echoed Barber, who will be a special adviser for the Sports Commission to the ACC as it prepares for the game. "They don't care about hockey as much as they care about football. They don't care about baseball as much as they care about football. This is a beautiful fit for this community and I imagine going forward, Tampa Bay will be a big part of the ACC's plans."

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

Fast facts

ACC championship game history

Year Site Matchup Attn

2005 Jacksonville FSU-Virginia Tech 72,749

2006 Jacksonville Wake Forest-Ga. Tech 62,850

2007 Jacksonville Va. Tech-Boston College 53,212

[Last modified December 12, 2007, 23:07:28]