ACC ticket sales lower than necessary

[RiversideGator]

Tallahassee, Gainesville and Tuscaloossa are not exactly 'traveling'.  The Gator Bowl can pick and choose who attends.  Not exactly the same. 

After having tried Tampa and Charlotte for two years the ACC will know what 'theory' holds, climate or geography.  I still say that once Charlotte gets it, it won't move again.  Basically, Jax just got unlucky, but CLT will make its own luck.   

Tuscaloosa isnt traveling??  It is an 8 hour drive to Tuscaloosa from Jacksonville - about as long a drive as it was for some of the ACC participants - yet they probably had as many or more fans in the game vs. FSU than did the Seminoles.  That is an example of a football fan base, my friend.  Being from South Carolina, you probably just wouldnt understand.

As for Charlotte, time will tell.  I dont think the problem is climate or geography either.  I predict the game will be a dog no matter where it is played unless certain schools play each other in it (FSU, Clemson or VA Tech mainly).  The ACC just isnt a good football conference and doesnt have a good fan base.  This is the bottom line with this game.

BTW vic, you sure sound like a Charlotte booster.   

[tufsu1]

significantly reduced ticket prices will make a big difference....I bet many more folks in Jax would have paid $25 for an upper level seat vs. the $60 or $70 they wanted this year

[RiversideGator]

significantly reduced ticket prices will make a big difference....I bet many more folks in Jax would have paid $25 for an upper level seat vs. the $60 or $70 they wanted this year

Nice of the ACC to make ticket prices reasonable after they leave town.  Now if sales increase as a result, they can credit the new city instead of the lower prices.  Oh well...

[Steve]

Seriously - I could care less.  I went in 06 (the game in the rain), but not this last year.

I'm sorry - if BC gets to the game again, and has another 3,500 empty seats, this will show you that it wasn't Jacksonville.

The ACC just doesn't really have much tradition as a conference, unlike the SEC (or even the Big 12).  Personally, I think for the first few years it should be a rotating show, hosted at or near a campus of someone who is likely to make it.

[vicupstate]

Tallahassee, Gainesville and Tuscaloossa are not exactly 'traveling'.  The Gator Bowl can pick and choose who attends.  Not exactly the same. 

After having tried Tampa and Charlotte for two years the ACC will know what 'theory' holds, climate or geography.  I still say that once Charlotte gets it, it won't move again.  Basically, Jax just got unlucky, but CLT will make its own luck.   

Tuscaloosa isnt traveling??  It is an 8 hour drive to Tuscaloosa from Jacksonville - about as long a drive as it was for some of the ACC participants - yet they probably had as many or more fans in the game vs. FSU than did the Seminoles.  That is an example of a football fan base, my friend.  Being from South Carolina, you probably just wouldnt understand.

As for Charlotte, time will tell.  I dont think the problem is climate or geography either.  I predict the game will be a dog no matter where it is played unless certain schools play each other in it (FSU, Clemson or VA Tech mainly).  The ACC just isnt a good football conference and doesnt have a good fan base.  This is the bottom line with this game.

BTW vic, you sure sound like a Charlotte booster.   

8 hours is still a day's drive.  The AL state line is only 100 or so miles farther than FSU.  Regardless, it doesn't compare to a flight from Boston to JAX.  Do they even have direct flights?

Obviously you haven't spent much time in SC, or know much about college football, to make a statement like that.  Clemson and USC both are known for their loyal fan base.  Both have a long tradition of being highly coveted for Bowl games.  SC is as football-crazy as AL, OK, TX or FL.  I doubt you can name one team anywhere, that sells out every home game in a large stadium, good years and BAD (usually bad) as USC.   It took something like 8 bowls games for them to win one, but they sold all their allotted tickets every time.   Clemson's fan base is comparable to that as well.   

Speaking of Bowl games, if the ACC is so weak of a football conference, full of teams with no loyal following, how has the Gator Bowl survived all these years? 

The truth is except for BC, Wake Forest, and Vandy, ALL the teams in both conferences would easily fill a large stadium.     

As I said before, Jax just got dealt a bad hand.   

As for Charlotte, I call them like I see'um.  If Charlotte can't keep the game, then TRULY no city can.  It is easily the most civic-minded city I know of, and it wouldn't lose prestige and a tourism windfall over $700,000.         

[Steve]

8 hours is still a day's drive.  The AL state line is only 100 or so miles farther than FSU.  Regardless, it doesn't compare to a flight from Boston to JAX.  Do they even have direct flights?

Actually yes - via Delta Connection.

I believe twice a day.

[blizz01]

Don't forget the $10-$50 Skybus directs from Boston/Jax daily via St. Augustine.............

[I-10east]

Man, we really blew it! Boy, Jax has really messed up now! Dang, I can't beleive that Jax lost the ACC Championship to Tampa, and Charotte; Oh the humanity! This is definitely a big blow to the city of Jax! Just Kidding . No one in Jax gave a damn about that game anyway. I hope that the next year's ACC champ game features the two powerhouses BC & Wake Forest to the tune of about 25,000 at the Ray Jay.

Good riddance.

Exactly.

[vicupstate]

The game itself is not what is important.

Jax lost a chance for national exposure for three consecutive years.

The biggest thing is the economic impact.  Had the game been closer to a sellout, Jax would have had the game three more years.  At 10 million a year for three years, that's significant. 

The key to getting more hotels DT is occupancy and rates, and early December is normally slow for hotels.   

[Steve]

The game itself is not what is important.

Jax lost a chance for national exposure for three consecutive years.

The biggest thing is the economic impact.  Had the game been closer to a sellout, Jax would have had the game three more years.  At 10 million a year for three years, that's significant. 

The key to getting more hotels DT is occupancy and rates, and early December is normally slow for hotels.

I'm with you on that, and it would be great for the hotels to be full during that game.  The problem is that in my opinion, the event just doesn't work for Florida (unless the event is a "home" game, with an FSU or Miami in the game).

Think about it - there is almost no tradition in the ACC (especially when you compare it to the SEC), so when you take two teams, who really aren't rivals, and play a game in a city that could really care less about the game, it just won't work.

The Super Bowl is different - many locals don't go to the game (mainly because they can't), but corporations use it as an event for clients and vendors.  The ACC doesn't have that (and it probably won't unless one of the following things happen):

1. College Football goes to a playoff, where you have to win your conference to be part of the dance.  Georgia almost made it to the title game, and didn't even play in their conference championship.

2. We wait 15+ years for tradition to develop.

Seriously, if next year the ACC championship game is between Boston College and Wake Forest, good luck Tampa.  Tampa doesn't have THAT much stronger of a corporate presence than JAX does, but I guess they are a shorter drive from Orlando and south florida.

I still think this game will struggle because of Geography - the ACC is so much more spread out than the SEC.  I listened to some local sports talk guy say that he couldn't believe that the BC fans didn't come down here for the game.  Yes, that's a tough one to believe.

For two people:
1. 2 Last Minute Airline Tickets at $250 each - $500
2. 2 Tickets to the game at $80 each - $160
3. Two nights hotel downtown at $150 each - $300
4. Transportation to/from the airport at $30 each way - $60
5. Miscellaneous Money - $100.

Yes, I'm shocked that more people didn't drop over $1,100 last minute at christmas time.

[thelakelander]

ACC puts hopes for championship game in move to Charlotte

With Jacksonville abandoned after three years of hosting the Atlantic Coast Conference championship football game and Tampa a dismal failure in its first attempt last year, ACC officials don't have many specifics for how they will try and sell more tickets and generate more interest in this year's game at Raymond James Stadium.

And they might simply shrug their collective shoulders and wait for 2010 and 2011, when the game is played in Charlotte, N.C., a location more geographically central to the ACC and in the middle of the conference's traditional base in North Carolina.

"Charlotte is more in the middle of our footprint," North Carolina State athletic director Lee Fowler said Monday following meetings involving ACC athletic directors, football coaches, basketball coaches and faculty representatives, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Amelia Island. "We've tried Jacksonville, and we're trying in Tampa. I'd like to see how the game performs in North Carolina."

Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver, whose football team has played in three of the four ACC title games, was even more direct.

"We've got to get to Charlotte," he said....

The issue of the championship game wasn't on the agenda Monday, but ACC commissioner John Swofford said efforts are ongoing to figure out a way to boost the attendance higher than the 27,360 turnstile count last year when Virginia Tech defeated Boston College 30-12.

"We're constantly talking about what we can do," he said. "It might not come up this week."

The 2008 title game was one year after just over 30,000 watched Virginia Tech beat Boston College 30-16 in the third of three games in Jacksonville. In 2006, an estimated 40,000 showed up in the rain to watch Wake Forest defeat Georgia Tech 9-6.

Only the inaugural ACC title game sold out. That was in 2005, when 72,749 saw Florida State beat Virginia Tech 27-22.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/sports/college/florida_state_seminoles/2009-05-12/story/acc_puts_hopes_for_championship_game_in_move

[copperfiend]

The game has been a disaster since the first year. Funny how many people piled on Jacksonville but Tampa barely got 20k last year.

[reednavy]

Look at the teams playing though. Only 2 teams have very large fan bases that will travel, FSU and UM.

[hanjin1]

It will be real smart move to take it to Charlotte when FSU and Miami make their comeback and no one goes up there to watch it.

[copperfiend]

Look at the teams playing though. Only 2 teams have very large fan bases that will travel, FSU and UM.

Va Tech, NC State and Clemson normally travel well.