by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Jacksonville is hosting its second ACC Baseball Tournament and based on how things went last, not much can improve this year, except the field — which it did.
“We have eight of the USA Today’s top 25 coming,” said Mike Sullivan, the director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s Sports and Entertainment Board. “You can’t beat that.”
Teams from Virginia to Miami rolled into town Monday and outside of an expected hot week, everything else should go well. The weather forecast calls for a dry week. But, it’ll be a busy week for Sullivan and his staff. As tournament director, Sullivan’s job is to make sure everything runs smoothly during what promises to be a long, but rewarding week.
“We will work 15- to 18-hour days,” said Sullivan. “We have to make sure we get rental cars to the coaches. There are coaches meetings and medical meetings. Every team will practice at the ball park on Tuesday. They each get 50 minutes on the field and 10 minutes in between to redrag the field. So, we should be done by 7 on Tuesday.”
That will be Sullivan’s and his staff’s shortest by far. Monday started early and ended well after the welcome dinner and reception. Wednesday, the batting cages will come alive with the familiar ping of aluminum bats at 7:30 a.m. with Florida State and Virginia playing the opening game at 10. The last game of the day starts at 7 p.m. and features top-seed Clemson against Wake Forest.
Last year, opening day was Tuesday with three teams playing to see who would advance to the final eight. This year, the tournament field was limited to eight meaning Virginia Tech, Boston College and Duke aren’t making the trip to Jacksonville. The City reached an agreement with Bolles, Episcopal, Bishop Kenny, Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida to serve as practice sites throughout the week.
Sullivan said the JEDC informed the schools about area hotels and rates. After that, the teams and fans were on their own to find rooms, get tickets and book other things such as tee times at area golf courses.
Jennifer MacPhee, the director of communications for the Jacksonville and the Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the CVB sent press releases to all the media outlets in ACC towns in an effort to let the schools and fans know what will be going on this week in Jacksonville.
“We sent images of the city and directed people to our Web site where they can find information about hotels,” said MacPhee, adding typically media outlets wait to see who will be covering the event before setting up interviews.
“This is a new event and we are waiting to see what works best,” she said. “We are lucky in that it’s Memorial Day weekend and there is so much going on.”
The ACC and the JEDC recently signed a deal that will bring the tournament back for the next two years before a one-year stint at legendary Fenway Park in Boston. However, Sullivan said he’s not sure that deal has been signed and he’s doing everything he can to wrestle the tournament away from Boston and keep it in Jacksonville on a longterm, if not permanent, basis.
“I am pursuing that now,” said Sullivan of bringing the tournament back to Jacksonville in 2010. “I am trying to talk them out of going to Boston period.”
Sullivan said his main selling point is the weather here as opposed to the Northeast.
“Last year this week, it was in the high 30s and low 40s,” said Sullivan, adding that if a longterm deal could be reached with the ACC (five years or more), things such as a fan fest could be added. “We would also have an outreach program through the ACC where we’d have a speaker come in and talk about education and staying off steroids.”
Baseball isn’t the only thing going this week in the Sports Complex area. Several high schools are holding graduations at the Arena, the Spring Music Fest is at Metro Park and the Goodguys car show is at Alltel Stadium. Sullivan said the graduations won’t be much of a problem and that there’s plenty of parking in the Sports Complex area, especially with the two new parking garages. He also said the other events should help walk-up ticket sales.