It would benefit the ACC Network (therefore ESPN) since part of that’s run from Charlotte. And that’s expected to become a huge part of the ACC’s revenue stream, too, right? Revenue interests, alone, seem to work in their favor for this case.
One more thing on a “neutral” site: the flip side to “no one will be happier” is “no one will be particularly pissed”. I’m not a huge sports person so I’m not sure just how big of a deal Syracuse’s freakout was in the ACC’s eyes, but isn’t that more pressure for making “safer” decisions?
Other than bragging rights against Charlotte, I’m not getting the vibe that we’d lose that many opportunities from not becoming the ACC’s new home. So I’m really not that disappointed.
After all.. (click me!)
…it looks like other conferences’ headquarters aren’t all that big, either. Their locations just seem to be carefully chosen.
For example, the Big 10’s home since 2014 is an office building shared with a steakhouse that’s right next to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Likewise, the Big 12’s is an unassuming office halfway between halfway between downtown Dallas and DFW. Even the NCAA’s HQ is a plainly nice-looking office that’s 20-30min away from Indianapolis’ airport.
Compare all of that to the ACC’s current HQ, a renovated mansion in the Grandover Resort.
I started out writing this post to say why 15-501 is too much of a mess to be the ACC’s new home (Durham and Chapel Hill want to give it the Capital Blvd. North treatment, but they botched that planning study and are currently struggling to redo it). But in light of this, maybe that doesn’t even matter? (I don’t think that makes the Triangle’s case any stronger, but it’s still a useful thought exercise, right?)