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Coming to an ACC Stadium Near You: The Excitement of the ACC Title Game

Jul 13, 2009, 7:20 PM UTC

Coming to an ACC Stadium Near You: The Excitement Of The ACC Title Gameâ†µThe brief, largely miserable existence of the ACC title game has beenâ†µmarked with a distinct lack of je ne sais quoi...â†µ

â†µ â†µ

â†µâ†µOh, right, I do know quoi: fans.â†µ

â†µâ†µTreated to games like Wake Forest-Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech-Bostonâ†µCollege in Jacksonville, fans have turned on the TV and enjoyed a niceâ†µnap in the middle of the third quarter instead of driving/flyingâ†µhundreds of miles to find out which ACC team gets to face Pittsburgh inâ†µthe BCS game everyone pretends doesn’t exist. The thing has all theâ†µatmosphere of the Humanitarian Bowl, without the Humanitarian Bowl’sâ†µexcellent excuse. (“It’s Boise in December,” it says, “what do youâ†µexpect? At least I’m not named after a website.”)â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd now you might get that lack of quoi everywhere else in the ACC.â†µ

â†µâ†µVirginia:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥As of Friday, Virginia officials said current season-ticket salesâ†µâ‡¥for the upcoming slate are at 30,140, a drop of 14.6 percent fromâ†µâ‡¥the same date in 2008.â†µâ†µâ†µFlorida State:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Florida State’s season ticket numbers are down 13.4 percent fromâ†µâ‡¥matching last year’s total of 38,400 season tickets sold last year.â†µâ†µâ†µClemson (articleâ†µpossesses oh-snap photo from the spring game displaying wholly emptyâ†µupper deck, to boot):â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Clemson has experienced a 12 percent decline in season-ticket salesâ†µâ‡¥this season, which school officials pin almost exclusively on theâ†µâ‡¥nation’s economic downturn.â†µâ†µ

â†µElsewhere, N.C. State is down four to six percent, Virginia Tech had aâ†µtougher time selling out than usual -- sales opened to the public -- andâ†µGeorgia Tech ... well, Tech fans went nuts after beating Georgia for theâ†µfirst time in forever and ticket sales are up. The overall picture,â†µhowever, is well down. Notoriously fickle Miami fans are probablyâ†µdefecting to Cuba as we speak.â†µ

â†µâ†µThough the ACC is far from alone here -- USF is down almost 20 percent andâ†µeven glamour schools like Michigan are offering season tickets to theâ†µgeneral public, if on a one-time basis -- I doubt there’s going to be an increase in emptyâ†µseats at SEC and Big Ten games this fall. The prices people pay on theâ†µsecondary market will fall and schools will cut more deals to lessâ†µwell-heeled donors, but the people will be there. The ACC, Big East, andâ†µPac-10, on the other hand, might have some embarrassing moments when theâ†µcamera pans the crowd only to find a confused exchange student trying toâ†µget some peace and quiet after his roommate sent him into sexile.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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