by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Last year’s ACC baseball tournament at the Baseball Grounds generated an attendance of about 72,000 over five days. While some who bought full tournament passes stayed in town through Sunday’s championship, other fans of eliminated teams went home.
This year’s round-robin format means all eight teams will play at least three games and everyone plays until least Saturday. With great weather in the forecast and six teams ranked in Collegiate Baseball’s top 30 — including Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia ranked 3, 4 and 5, respectively — in the eight-team field, it’s no wonder Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Sports and Entertainment Coordinator Mike Bouda is excited about this year’s tournament.
“We are ahead of last year’s ticket sales,” said Bouda, who spent Tuesday shuttling between his Adams Street office and the ball park. “I look for ticket sales to take off.”
Unlike last year’s double-elimination format in which teams only knew their first-round opponent, the teams and their fans know who’s playing who and when, all the way until Sunday’s title game.
“There are some tremendous matchups this year,” said Bouda. ”N.C. State plays North Carolina, FSU and Miami play. I look for some tremendous crowds.”
Bouda, who is serving as the tournament manager while the Jacksonville Suns help host the event, says the ACC did a nice thing scheduling the Florida State games during prime time. The Seminoles play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday and at 4 p.m. Saturday. Bouda also said every game will be televised by one of five media outlets including Fox Sports Net, Sunshine and Sports South.
“We may have to close Georgia Street because there will be so many TV trucks,” said Bouda.
The last college game played at the Baseball Grounds was a match-up between state rivals FSU and Florida April 3. The game followed Florida’s win over Ohio State for the NCAA men’s basketball championship and the game drew over 12,000 fans. Many complained of slow and inadequate concession service, something Bouda said has been addressed and will not be an issue this week, regardless how big the crowds get.
“Part of the problem was it was the first game and many of the volunteers were new,” said Bouda. “We have talked to the Suns, they realize it and I think we should be fine. There will be no alcohol sold at the games except in the Sundowner Lounge and you have to stay in there to drink. The ACC will not allow the sale of alcohol in the lower bowl.”
Suns General Manager Kirk Goodman said it’s a busy week, but his staff is prepared to help the City and the league.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the ball park to be showcased throughout the region and we welcome such a highly-touted conference as the ACC,” said Goodman, adding his club oversees ticket sales, promotions, merchandise and concessions. “The ACC knows we know the ball park better than anyone. But, they pretty much take over (the other facets). It’s their tournament.”
Jacksonville will host the 2008 tournament before it shifts to Fenway Park in Boston in 2009. Bouda said when Boston College joined the conference a couple of years ago, Boston pushed hard to host the conference tournament. After Boston, Bouda said the ACC will re-bid the tournament and he likes Jacksonville’s chances of getting it on a long-term basis.
“I feel very comfortable we can get this championship back,” said Bouda. “We are already talking about it. It’s a great event for the city and in the future I’d like to see us add something like a fan-fest, but only if we get the tournament long-term. I’d like to bring in Rawlings, Wilson and Mizuno and their interactive exhibits.”
The tournament schedule
Here’s the schedule of games for this week’s ACC baseball tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The games are listed by day and includes the teams’ seedings.
Division A consists of Florida State, Clemson, Miami and Wake Forest
Division B consists of North Carolina, Virginia, N.C. State and Ga. Tech
Today
No. 3 Virginia/No. 6 N.C. State — 10 a.m.
No. 2 North Carolina/No. 7 Ga. Tech — 1 p.m.
No. 4 Clemson/No. 5 Miami — 4 p.m.
No. 1 Florida State/No. 8 Wake Forest — 7 p.m.
Thursday
No. 3 Virginia/No. 7 Ga. Tech — 4 p.m.
No. 2 North Carolina/No. 6 N.C. State — 7 p.m.
Friday
No. 4 Clemson/No. 8 Wake Forest — 4 p.m.
No. 1 Florida State/No. 5 Miami — 7 p.m.
Saturday
No. 6 N.C. State/No. 7 Ga. Tech — 10 a.m.
No. 2. North Carolina/No. 3 Virginia — 1 p.m.
No. 1 Florida State/No. 4 Clemson — 4 p.m.
No. 5 Miami/No. 8 Wake Forest — 7 p.m.
Sunday
Title game: Division A winner/Division B — 1 p.m.