Still No ACC Baseball Tournament at Fenway

by furrer4heisman on May 5, 2009 4:00 PM EDT Comment 3 comments

Yes, this is your second baseball post in a day. And yes, it will equal the number of baseball posts you'll probably get over the next 12 months.

Earlier today I said the improvement of the Hokies baseball team was promising because next year's ACC tournament was going to be held at Fenway and that seemed like a fun road trip. Well, um, yeah, about that.

Next year's tournament will be held in Greensboro instead of Fenway. This year's tournament was moved to Durham after MLB and Fenway Sports Group forgot to black out the dates for the ACC tournament and Red Sox conflicted with the ACC tournament.

So why is it being moved to Greensboro in 2010, Mr. Swofford?

“Cost-containment is very much universal at this point, and our conference and our schools are no exception,” Swofford said. “With so many issues at the moment in terms of budget and travel, we simply felt it was in the best interests of all concerned to hold the 2010 event at a more centrally located venue. As we look to the future, we do foresee holding the ACC Baseball Championship in Boston, and we are thankful to the Fenway Sports Group for their understanding and for maintaining a strong working relationship."

I'll believe that when I see it. So, forget the fact that the ACC has been wanting to go to Fenway Park for the last two years and forget the budget and travel for BC, who has to come South for every other conference tournament in every other sport. Just like everyone else, the ACC is using the economy as an excuse so its other members aren't inconvenienced by a trip to the conference's northern most outpost.

My guess is you'll never see the ACC baseball tournament in Boston. You'll see it in Camden Yards or Nationals Park long before it makes the trip all the way up to Fenway.

I'd also like to see the ACC basketball tournament in Boston at some point. The Garden did a great job of hosting a regional this year. It will be tough to do because of scheduling conflicts with the C's and B's, but the ACC was able to work around the Caps and Wizards when the tournament went to DC in 2005.

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Fenway is a bad idea anyways

I was in Jacksonville when it was held there and they struggled to get fans to go to that game. Putting it in Boston AWAY from 11 of the 12 teams won’t bring near enough people. You’ll be able to hear the echoes of the pings throughout the entire city.

by Winfield Featherston on May 5, 2009 5:18 PM EDT reply actions

its the same at every conf tournament

here in OKC, the crowds are pretty small except for when ou and osu play. i think it would be fun for the players and it would be something different to bring exposure to the league. youd have to get fenway sports group to market the thing in boston, though. marcus from acc football report said there was no marketing for the acccg in tampa and look what happened.

i think you’d be surprised how many people would go to games at fenway. the red sox are a tough ticket and the ability to see games for cheap at fenway has some draw. they play a minor league doubleheader there each year and it draws just because there are a lot of people that that’s the only day each year they can afford to see a baseball game at fenway park.

by furrer4heisman on May 5, 2009 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Sorry, but I'm calling shenanigans on this one ...

Travel costs? Greensboro is central to 5 ACC teams, and if you look at this year’s standings, 3 of the 5 likely won’t qualify (Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, NC State) and a 4th (Duke) is currently in 7th place.

So for argument’s sake, let’s just say that the same 8 teams make the tournament next year. 5 of those 8 are going to fly to Greensboro – GT, FSU, Miami, BC, Maryland, maybe UVA … It costs just as much, if not more, to fly to a smaller airport like Greensboro than it does Boston. These teams fly all the time, almost every weekend.

I think this is just a case of the league office being gun shy for having a conference championship at one end of the geographic spectrum. Look at the reaction to the first five years of the ACCCG in Florida. If I’m BC and the AD, I’m pissed.

by bcinterruption on May 5, 2009 8:31 PM EDT reply actions

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