Bye-bye Boise (hello D.C.?)
Column by Patrick Hite
patrick@accnation.com
Most of the news coming out of the ACC’s spring meetings was expected — no 18-game schedule in basketball or 9-game schedule in football– but I thought the best news this week was that, after 2008, the ACC won’t be affiliated with the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho.
Despite what John Swofford said about the “excellent experiences” Boise provided for ACC teams, no one — not the players or the coaches or the administrators or the fans — wanted to go to Boise. Exactly what were those experiences? A chance to see the second-largest ball of twine west of the Mississippi? The annual cow-tipping contest? A potato-carving convention?
ACC teams basically got stuck playing a road game (against a WAC team in a WAC stadium, sometimes against Boise State in Boise State’s stadium) in a place where none of their fans wanted to travel (especially to see an eighth-place team).
The Boise bowl will be replaced in 2009 by either the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., or the Congressional Bowl in Washington D.C. The ACC already has a deal to send it’s ninth-place team (if it’s bowl eligible, which doesn’t seem likely) to the Congressional Bowl in 2008.
Not that the ACC listens to me (or even hears me), but please align with the Congressional Bowl in 2009. I’d even urge the ACC to drop the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco — home now to the ACC’s seventh-place team — and replace it with the Congressional Bowl. Then, perhaps, the GMAC Bowl can be home to the conference’s eighth-place team.
D.C. may be cold in December, but the last time I checked football is a cold-weather sport. The big advantage D.C. has over Mobile or San Francisco is that it’s within easy driving distance of seven of the ACC’s 12 schools. Fans from Clemson and FSU would also travel to D.C. Miami fans wouldn’t travel if the bowl was in Miami. That leaves Georgia Tech and Boston College, which I’m guessing would be split on the Mobile vs. D.C. battle. Jacket fans would rather got to Alabama, while the BC fans that travel would choose D.C.
Plus, D.C. offers opportunities outside of football that Mobile doesn’t (although, in all fairness, I’m guessing here because I’ve never been to Mobile). Spend one day in D.C. at the Smithsonian or the White House or the zoo and the next at the game (Mobile doesn’t have the White House or Smithsonian, although it may have a zoo).
The bottom line here is the, well, bottom line. If the ACC would like to see these stadiums close to full for bowl games, they need to make the destination both easy to get to and attractive for the fans. Outside of FSU, Clemson and Virginia Tech, ACC football fans don’t travel well, especially when it’s to watch a team that is barely over .500 on the season. So the closer the location, the better. Throw in a few tourist attractions and it makes it that much better.
The ACC doesn’t make many smart decisions these days, but maybe, just maybe, choosing the Congressional Bowl in 2009 will be one of its few.
Filed under: 01-Football, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest | Tagged: UVa., Yellow Jackets, Cavaliers, ACC, atlantic Coast Conference, UNC, BC, N.C. State, Wolfpack, Eagles, FSU, Seminoles, Terps, Hokies, Tar Heels, Blue Devils, Hurricanes, VA Tech, Tigers, sports, Demon Deacons, GA Tech, bowls, VT, GT, terrpains, boise, washington, congressional bowl
There were times when I looked at the blue turf and thought everyone was walking on top of a swimming pool that had yard markers on it.
OK, so the blue turf is cool. The ACC will miss that. But that’s all it will miss about Boise.