The Evil Empire loses one to the Red Sox...
ACC baseball tournament moves to Fenway Park
By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports Writer
May 17, 2006
BOSTON (AP) -- The Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament is heading to Fenway Park.
The league will play its 2009 championship in the home of the Red Sox and down the street from the ACC's newest member, Boston College. It will be the first league tournament to be held in Boston since BC joined the conference in 2005.
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Tampa Courting ACC Baseball Tournament
By SCOTT CARTER scarter@tampatrib.com
Published: May 17, 2006
AMELIA ISLAND - The always-intense Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is playing out in a most unusual place this week. Rather than the familiar surroundings of Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, the two historic franchises are squaring off at a swanky hotel here on Florida's east coast.
Atlantic Coast Conference officials conclude their annual business meetings today at the Ritz-Carlton of Amelia Island, and though a decision is not expected on the site of the 2007 and 2008 ACC baseball tournaments, Tampa's Legends Field is a strong contender along with Boston's Fenway Park. The ACC's baseball committee also is considering bids from First Horizon Park in Greensboro, N.C., and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, home of the Double-A Jacksonville Suns.
"They are all very strong bids," Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman, chair of the ACC baseball committee, said Tuesday. "Tampa is very attractive because it's within the footprint of the ACC, Florida is a great baseball state, of course the weather is very good, the facilities in Tampa are outstanding and they have the support of the city and Mr. Steinbrenner.
"All of those combined produced a very strong bid for the tournament."
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, whose club holds spring training at Legends Field, is backing Tampa's bid with his deep pockets. While Tampa officials opted to keep the amount of their offer private until the ACC makes a decision - most likely later this month or in early June - it is believed to be significantly more than the $75,000 offered by Greensboro and currently paid by 2005-06 host Jacksonville.
For perspective, Steinbrenner pays Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez approximately $154,000 per game as part of his 10-year, $252 million contract. A longtime Tampa resident and supporter of local sports events, Steinbrenner sounded optimistic Tuesday about the tournament coming to Legends Field.
"I think it would be great to get it here," Steinbrenner said from his home. "Bringing the ACC down here would be tremendous. I think we have a good shot. Anything the Yankees can do to help, we're going to do."
To win the bid to host the tournament for the next two years, the Steinbrenner group will have to defeat a familiar foe in the Red Sox, who made a joint bid to host the tournament with Boston College.
Fenway Park, which now seats more than 36,000 with recent improvements, is by far the largest venue in the mix. Legends Field and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville each have a capacity of 10,000, while First Horizon Park seats 7,500.
"You don't want to be too big where you are lost in it," Wellman said. "Ten thousand would be about a capacity crowd for us. That would just be about perfect."
Wellman added that the league is already a fan of Tampa, site of the 2007 men's basketball tournament, and that the ACC is also open to finding a more permanent site for the tournament.
"If we find a great place where the crowds are great and the atmosphere is what we want it to be and the experience for the student-athletes is positive, then we would certainly look at making it a bit more permanent than two years," Wellman said.
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