The ACC Is Leaving Greensboro For Charlotte

Sep 21, 2022 - 1:00 PM

It could have been worse. It could have been soulless Orlando.

The ACC announced Tuesday that it would be moving headquarters from Greensboro to Charlotte, leaving 70 years of history behind.

Greensboro was willing to change the name of the Greensboro Coliseum to the ACC Coliseum, but what they should have promised was a major airport.

It has been home for 70 years and the conference got comfortable, perhaps too comfortable there. If you look it up on a map - 4512 Weybridge Ln, Greensboro, NC - you’ll see when they moved last time, they moved to a building where they could literally walk out of the door and be on a golf course.

Make of that what you will, but the soul of the ACC has always been in Greensboro.

What will it be like in Charlotte? Greensboro is sleepy and provincial where Charlotte is and has been gunning for the big leagues for years. Commissioner Jim Phillips cited the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. It’s not next to a golf course but it is within walking distance of the Bank of America Stadium where the ACC Football Championship is played and about 11 minutes from the airport.

So there’s that, and it’s understandable.

We know things have changed and the ACC has to change too, but we would hope that Phillips remembers the painful lesson that NASCAR learned when it expanded: getting bigger is fine, but if you push things too far, you’ll lose your original base. And that’s a crippling blow.