IN MY OPINION
Any big college game is good for Charlotte. We have to hope that when the ACC football championship game finally comes to town in 2010 it qualifies as big.
Clemson vs. Virginia Tech would be enormous. The Tigers and Hokies would fill the city with passion and noise, and show us what big-time college football looks like.
But if we get, say, Boston College against Miami, the passion will be manufactured. Tickets will be sold because concerned employers will be encouraged to buy mass quantities.
Their concern is that if they don't, they'll be blackballed from such A-list opportunities as a tent at the Wachovia Championship, a prime table at Fight Night for Kids or the chance, should he go out in public (in Charlotte, not Chicago), to mingle with Michael.
Tampa, a terrific sports town, will host the ACC title games in 2008 and '09, and Bank of America Stadium in 2010 and '11.
Can you imagine this town if North Carolina qualifies? Charlotte loves and hates the Tar Heels, but it always shows up when they play. The only drawback will be the salary of coach Butch Davis. If he gets a raise for this season's work, think of the boost he'll get if he plays for the conference championship.
You think N.C. State fans would respond to an appearance by the Wolfpack? How about N.C. State vs. North Carolina? Fans would be in line now. What about Wake Forest? Under Jim Grobe, even Wake Forest is a football school.
Access will be superb. There are seven football-playing ACC schools within 275 miles of Bank of America Stadium, eight if you count Duke.
Unfortunately, the ACC is not a football conference. Even peripheral fans knew about basketball stars such as J.J. Redick, Julius Hodge and Chris Paul, and they know about North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough.
They might think Hansbrough is the hardest working player in ACC history and they might think he's a bully who travels every time he touches the ball. But they know him. They know him enough to care.
Do they know Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper? You think he's a good guy or a bad guy? What year is he and did he throw for more touchdowns this season than Boston College's Matt Ryan?
Do you care?
Most of us don't, which is why the game is a risk.
"It is a risk," says Tim Newman, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. "Anything is."
But it's a quality risk, and kudos to Newman and Johnny Harris and everybody else behind the venture for taking it.
If the right teams qualify, Charlotte will be golden. We have an actual downtown now, and the synergy among the hotels and parties, restaurants and bars, BOA and the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be so intense you will feel it in Waxhaw.
And if the wrong teams qualify, Charlotte will make the game feel big. The city can do this. Especially if it throws in basketball tickets.
IN MY OPINION Tom Sorensen
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