Goodbye, Greensboro, N.C. Hello, palm trees and sunshine.
That’s the summary of the ACC tournament’s most recent move, from the traditional site in Greensboro to this year’s site at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.
Tampa is the southernmost locale for the tournament in its 52-year history, a history that has been written almost entirely from inside Greensboro Coliseum – down the street from ACC headquarters and in the middle of the conference’s four North Carolina teams.
And while some boosters and alumni from some of those schools have complained about the tournament being played in Tampa, many ACC coaches have deemed it a positive. Terrapin coach Gary Williams said the mobility of the tournament fits with the conference’s growth.
“I think it is [fair] in terms of the way the league is now,” Williams said. “With expansion, we pretty much go tip-to-tip on the East Coast.”
Since Miami and Boston College joined the conference, the driving distance between the ACC’s northern and southern borders is more than 1,500 miles. That spread has changed the dynamics of the conference, which had been sarcastically dubbed the All-Carolina Conference.
The nickname has been warranted. Since the ACC tournament was first held in 1954, it has taken place in North Carolina 45 times. Of those 45, teams from the Tar Heel state have won the tourney championship 40 times.
There’s plenty of tradition that has accumulated during the past five decades, and some purists believe the ACC tournament should never be held away from the Greensboro Coliseum, which has hosted 21 of the 54 tournaments.
The arena holds magical memories for the Terps, too. In 2004, John Gilchrist carried the Terps through the ACC tournament all the way to an improbable title, which bumped them up to a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. And as hot as the Terps are now, riding a seven-game winning streak, that run represented something really special.
“I don’t think you could play much better than we did in 2004 in that tournament,” senior center Will Bowers said.
The ACC has marketed and built itself on tradition, so Greensboro personifies a lot for people in the conference. ACC commissioner John Swofford said a lot of factors were considered when discussing holding the tournament in Tampa – a decision that was made before the conference expanded to 12 teams.
“It was part of a broader discussion about the tournament touching the other parts of our geographic footprint and the fairness from an institutional standpoint – the wiseness, if you will, of branding our league while still remaining anchored here in North Carolina,” Swofford said.
Coaches have been optimistic about the rotation, and Williams said he was OK with the tournament’s temporary move to Tampa.
“I know the traditions of the league probably as well as anybody,” he said. “But at the same time, things change, and this is a good thing for the league right now.”
Added Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt: “To move it around, it makes sense. It’s healthy for the tournament. … Obviously you’ve got four teams there in North Carolina, so to play it there more often than not probably makes sense, but I think taking it to Florida, moving it to D.C., having it in Atlanta, maybe have in someplace in Virginia sometime, I think would be a good thing.”
Boosters from North Carolina schools aren’t so thrilled. Heads of alumni groups from Duke, Wake Forest and N.C. State have complained about the location in stories in the Greensboro News & Record and the Washington Times.
“Distance is a factor,” Jack Winters – director of Duke’s booster club, the Iron Dukes – told the Washington Times. “We’re used to having it in Greensboro or Charlotte, and your fans get accustomed to that. The thought of getting on a plane is a deterrent.”
Those newspapers reported that interest from those schools’ alumni has been down – obviously because the tournament has gone the farthest from the state than it ever has before.
In response to that criticism, Swofford said it was just a matter of human nature.
“Anybody probably prefers to have the tournament closer to where they are,” he said. “I think what you have to do is step back and look at the bigger picture.”
The bigger picture for the ACC is now a league that includes 12 teams, with nine teams that have a legitimate chance of making the NCAA tournament this season.
As for this university’s students, there have been fewer tickets sold, though fan interest may be the highest it has been in years. Associate Athletics Director Brian Ullmann said even when the tournament was in Greensboro, only 14 student tickets were sold. But the extra distance has caused a decrease in demand and only three tickets had been purchased as of midday Monday.
“As you can imagine, moving to Tampa does impact student interest more than general fan interest, because general fans have more money to spend on airfare,” Ullmann said. “But the main thing keeping it down is the ticket price. It’s $363.”
Ullmann said students often buy tickets later in the year, and he expects the number of tickets sold for this year’s tournament to get close to last year’s total. Still, 94 student tickets were purchased in 2005 when the tournament was held at the then-MCI Center – a short Metro ride from the campus, compared to the drive or flight to Greensboro or Tampa.
The St. Pete Times Forum is a much newer arena than Greensboro Coliseum, having opened in 1996 as the home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. Greensboro Coliseum was built in 1959 and has been renovated multiple times, most recently in 1994. The St. Pete Times Forum holds 3,000 fewer people (capacity 20,500) than Greensboro Coliseum.
Though he shared some doubt about what Tampa will be like, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams emphasized that he and other teams simply have to play the games, no matter the location.
“It’s fine with me that we move it around,” he said. “I’ve got zero problems with it. You gotta be able to play on gameday regardless of where you’re playing.”
History is on Roy Williams’ side, too. The ACC tournament has been won by North Carolina teams six of the eight times it has been held outside that state.
As for the future, the tournament will be held in Greensboro five times in the upcoming eight years, although not again until 2010. Next year it will be held in Charlotte, N.C.
Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.
