If the ACC were smart, they’d do some showmanship and song-and-dance and move to the heart of Tobacco Road in order to placate UNC/Duke. Not sure it would work, but it would at least be trying to use a nothing move into something. Moving it to Charlotte really does nothing. Empty gesture that makes no one happier. Boeheim won’t be more chipper, FSU won’t be merrier, Clemson won’t be more enthusiastic. Charlotte is probably where this is going, to the benefit of no one.
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Except the inevitable sabre rattling that UNC Charlotte will do to get into the ACC because “We’Re tHe HoMeToWn ScHo0l” once they outgrow the AAC. I wonder if Tobacco Road would do to them what BC/VT/Clemson/Cuse did to UConn…
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?)
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ACC moves to Charlotte, then UNC and Clemson bolt to SEC. Heh heh, that would be greaaaaaate!
The ACC network’s revenue comes from households paying for it. The filming location of a couple shows doesn’t pay anything to anyone. There is certainly no bump by having the headquarters close to the studio. If there was, the ACC would have announced a move to Bristol a decade ago along with UConn being promoted.
And the fact is Syracuse has no options. They can be mad all they want, but the B10 isn’t coming for them. The ACC’s future earnings hinges basically on the UNC-Virginia-Duke trio and the FSU-Clemson duopoly staying happy. Not sure an ACC hq move would help, but it wouldn’t hurt either. It would also push the narrative of arguably the best asset the ACC has, which is Triangle basketball.
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As a Charlotte grad, I don’t think there are aspirations of being in the ACC anymore. The school knows it’s already oversaturated with NC schools. I would say the SEC is the likely final destination, but that is DECADES away. And the SEC would love to chip away at the ACC’s geography.
But with College Football constantly in a state of flux and drives for greater cash supremacy, who knows what might happen.
Hoo boy decades is right. They’ve got years before they even get to Louisville’s (thinking of the closest P5 comp that had a relatively recent rise into relevance) level of sports and academic fandom/infrastructure/history/etc and the SEC is entirely state flagships and historic land grant schools outside of the academic figleaf that is Vanderbilt.
Taking a city school with no statewide fandom would be a very new direction for them.
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Yaallllll… waaay off topic but these jerseys are 
After the Canes do their Carter-Finley game in Feb 2023, they should totally try to put one in the DBAP and wear these!
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UNCC will not receive an invite from the SEC or ACC…ever.
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IMO the SEC would bring in ECU before even considering Charlotte.
But it’s kind of a moot point, as I think neither is very likely in near term.
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If Wake Forest hadn’t moved to Winston Salem in 1957 it would really be a short drive.
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As a NC State grad I’m not backing Louisville here, but even they have a decent athletic history that Charlotte would love to have. Multiple national championships, a recent Heisman winner, and being ranked nationally in multiple sports not too long ago. Agreement on the SEC point, I don’t see how on planet Earth Charlotte could compete in the SEC for a looooooong time. Can you imagine them vs Alabama (football) or vs Kentucky (basketball)?
Perhaps taking the App State route might work better for them? App State was successful at the I-AA/FCS level for a while then made the jump. I know they broke into the top 25 for football if I’m not mistaken in the not too distant past?
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Also, in all sincerity and not trying to come across as a d*ck, who does Charlotte consider their biggest rival? ACC rivalries are pretty well established and I was just curious who Charlotte considers theirs? Davidson? Or is it another school that I’m forgetting.
I forget Charlotte has a football program to be honest.
Not many. For football, perhaps App State, but the program is so new (2013) that it hasn’t developed many notable rivalries. This may change as they join the AAC and play East Carolina and South Carolina more often, though.
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South Carolina is in the SEC. Perhaps you are thinking either SC State or Coastal Carolina
Ooops, good catch. ECU played South Carolina this season so for some reason I got it stuck in my head that we’re in the same conference 
.
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ACC nor SEC will not add a “directional school”. Despite the insecure “charlotte usa” crowd’s attempt to change the name the school’s real name is “UNC-charlotte”……or its true name UNC-southwest. They can try to brand it however they want but it is basically a commuter school.
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The responses to your statement couldn’t do a better job of reinforcing exactly what you were saying. Classic “white moderate” talking points that, once again, reinforce the problem and are problematic. I’m with you.
Mayor and those universities could team up to threatened them with something like that, that could make us more competitive.