ESPN.com · Nov 12, 2015
Clemson, North Carolina success make ACC title game hot ticket
When the ACC played its first football championship game in 2005, it was held in Jacksonville, Fla., and the conventional wisdom suggested that, more often than not, Florida State or Miami (or both) would be playing in it. Regional heavyweights playing for conference titles would spark ticket sales, and the ACC would have a juggernaut on its hands.
That, of course, isn’t what happened. Miami never appeared in the game, and Florida State was there just once -- in 2005 against Virginia Tech, a game that drew well -- before the game moved to Charlotte in 2010.
As such, the ACC championship game has never been the hot ticket the league hoped it would be -- until now.