ACC Championship Game - Site Selection

Site Selection

Even before the announcement proclaiming the ACC's expansion to 12 teams, several cities and sports organizations were preparing bids to host the ACC Championship Game. To a host city, the prospect of tens of thousands of visitors could provide a multi-million-dollar economic boost to the city and region while requiring few, if any, additional facilities. One early contender was the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. Even before Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College were chosen as the ACC's picks to expand, Carolinas Stadium Corporation, the owner and operator of Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium (as it was called then) lobbied heavily for Charlotte's selection. Other early options included Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, and Jacksonville.

Shortly after negotiations for the location of the game began during the spring of 2004, the ACC announced that it had signed a new, seven-year television contract with ABC-TV and ESPN. As part of the deal, the ACC would earn over $40 million in revenue a year in exchange for the networks' exclusive right to televise the ACC Championship Game and several so-called "big-name" games. The income was to be divided among all 12 member schools.

In July 2004, the ACC began deliberations about which offer to select. After several months of negotiations and discussions, the ACC made its decision. On August 19, 2004, the league announced that Jacksonville, would host the game in 2005 and 2006. The league would then have the option to re-select Jacksonville for an additional one or two-year contract. League officials said Charlotte was the first runner-up in the competition to be the host of the game.

For its first three years, the championship game was held at EverBank Field (known as Alltel Stadium in 2005 and 2006, and Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in 2007). That contract expired after the 2007 season. In December 2007, the ACC awarded the next four games to Tampa, and Charlotte. Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was location of the game in 2008 and 2009, and the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte was the location of the game in 2010 and 2011.