‘A transformational day’: ACC to relocate league office from Greensboro to Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — After calling Greensboro home for close to 70 years, the ACC is headed to the Queen City.

On Tuesday, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced that its board of directors unanimously decided to relocate its headquarters to Charlotte.

The decision follows a comprehensive review and assessment under the direction of the board and executive committee.

“Today is a transformational day for the ACC and for our 15 world class institutions,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D., said in a news release. “We truly appreciate the state of North Carolina for its dedication to keeping the conference headquarters in the state, and the Charlotte leadership for their commitment and ongoing partnership.”

Phillips said Charlotte “not only meets, but exceeds, the needs of the ACC.”

Some of the criteria the league focused on during its deliberations included a location within the Eastern time zone, population size with positive growth trends, growth and diversity of population, and access to a large hub airport with accessibility to and from all ACC member schools.

The new headquarters will be in Legacy Union’s Bank of America Tower in Uptown Charlotte.

The building includes the world headquarters of Honeywell and other corporate offices, including Bank of America, Deloitte, JLL, Robinson Bradshaw and Parker Poe.

The league will use the 2022-23 academic year as a transition period to complete the relocation process.

Channel 9 has confirmed that the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County offered incentives to the ACC to make the Queen City its headquarters.

According to government officials, the city is providing the ACC with $41,295 over three years. This will be a 90% reimbursement of net new property taxes generated by the ACC’s capital investment in Charlotte. The county is providing $40,282 over three years, which is a 50% reimbursement of the new property taxes.

The ACC and Charlotte have enjoyed a long partnership that includes the Queen City hosting a significant number of ACC events and championships. In April 2018, the ACC and the Charlotte Sports Foundation announced a 10-year agreement that keeps the ACC Football Championship Game in Charlotte through the 2030 season.

During the previous 11 ACC Football Championships hosted at Bank of America Stadium, the game has sold out five times and averaged nearly 70,000 fans.

The ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament has been played in Charlotte on 13 occasions, including in 2019 at the Spectrum Center. The 2021 and 2022 ACC Baseball Championships were played at Truist Field in Uptown, and the league has participated in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl since its inception in 2002.

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Charlotte watches for ACC’s next move amid college sports realignment

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