The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced yesterday that its football championship game will remain in Charlotte for the next six seasons, through 2019.
The four Dr Pepper ACC Championship Games which have been held in Charlotte have been extremely successful from a fan experience and attendance standpoint, as the games have averaged nearly 70,000 fans per contest (69,632). That includes sellout crowds in both 2010 and 2011 and an ACC Football Championship record crowd of 73,675 in 2011. Over the last four years, the ACC ranks second among all conferences in total attendance at its football championship games.
The announcement between the ACC and the Charlotte Sports Foundation was made yesterday at Bank of America Stadium, the Charlotte Panthers facility which has hosted the game for the last four years and will continue to host it. BOA Stadium is undergoing a $112 million renovation.
The ACC Championship Game has been played since 2005. The first three seasons were in Jacksonville, Florida, and the next two were in Tampa Florida. In response to lagging attendance, the ACC decided to move the game to Charlotte, and in the last four years, attendance has increased dramatically and the game is widely regarded as a huge success in Charlotte.
Here are the figures for tickets sold over the history of the game (source, Wikipedia):
Jacksonville, Florida (Ave. Att. 62,937)
- 2005: FSU 27, VT 22 (72,749)
- 2006: Wake Forest 9, GT 6 (62,850)
- 2007: VT 30, Boston College 16 (53,212)
Tampa, Florida (Ave. Att. 48,371)
- 2008: VT 30, Boston College 12 (53,927)
- 2009: Georgia Tech 39, Clemson 34 (42,815)
Charlotte, North Carolina (Ave. Att. 69,632)
- 2010: Virginia Tech 44, Florida State 33 (72,379)
- 2011: Clemson 38, Virginia Tech 10 (73,675 – record)
- 2012: Florida State 21, Georgia Tech 15 (64,778)
- 2013: Florida State 45, Duke 7 (67,694)
BOA Stadium also hosts the Belk Bowl, which was recently extended through 2019 as well. Since it came into existence in 2002, the Belk Bowl has hosted an ACC team every season and has an average attendance of 58,000 fans.