Remember a few years ago when the ACC and Big 10 scheduled several years of their conference tournaments in same locales?
The ACC was going to Washington, DC in 2016, and the Big 10 was going in 2017. In 2017 the ACC was going to New York City, and next year the Big 10 goes there too. So who won the first battle for these big east coast cities.
The ACC won round 1 in a landslide. These are the attendance figures pulled from last year’s ACC Tournament in Washington DC. That’s a total of 125,142.
| Session | Game | Time* | Matchup# | Television | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Tuesday, March 8 | |||||
| Opening Day | 1 | 12:00 pm | #12 NC State 75 vs #13 Wake Forest 72 | ESPN2 ACC Network |
7,302 |
| 2 | 2:00 pm | #11 Florida State 88 vs #14 Boston College 66 | |||
| Second round – Wednesday, March 9 | |||||
| 1 | 3 | 12:00 pm | #8 Pittsburgh 72 vs #9 Syracuse 71 | ESPN ACC Network |
18,561 |
| 4 | 2:00 pm | #5 Duke 92 vs #12 NC State 89 | |||
| 2 | 5 | 7:00 pm | #7 Clemson 85 vs #10 Georgia Tech 88 (OT) | ESPN2 ACC Network |
18,561 |
| 6 | 9:00 pm | #6 Virginia Tech 96 vs #11 Florida State 85 | |||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 10 | |||||
| 3 | 7 | 12:00 pm | #1 North Carolina 88 vs #8 Pittsburgh 71 | ESPN ACC Network |
18,561 |
| 8 | 2:00 pm | #4 Notre Dame 84 vs #5 Duke 79 (OT) | |||
| 4 | 9 | 7:00 pm | #2 Virginia 72 vs #10 Georgia Tech 52 | 20,719 | |
| 10 | 9:00 pm | #3 Miami 88 vs #6 Virginia Tech 82 | |||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 11 | |||||
| 5 | 11 | 7:00 pm | #1 North Carolina 78 vs #4 Notre Dame 47 | ESPN ACC Network |
20,719 |
| 12 | 9:00 pm | #2 Virginia 73 vs #3 Miami 68 | |||
| Championship – Saturday, March 12 | |||||
| 6 | 13 | 9:00 pm | #1 North Carolina 61 vs #2 Virginia 57 | ESPN ACC Network |
20,719 |
By comparison here are the Big 10’s numbers.
| 1 | 1 | 4:30 pm | No. 13 Penn State vs. No. 12 Nebraska | ESPN2 | ||
| 2 | 7:00 pm | No. 14 Rutgers vs. No. 11 Ohio State | BTN | |||
| Second round – Thursday, March 9 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3 | 12:00 pm | No. 9 Illinois vs. No. 8 Michigan | BTN | 12,189 | |
| 4 | 2:45 pm | No. 13 Penn State vs. No. 5 Michigan State | ||||
| 3 | 5 | 6:30 pm | No. 10 Indiana vs. No. 7 Iowa | ESPN2 | 12,408 | |
| 6 | 9:00 pm | No. 14 Rutgers vs. No. 6 Northwestern | ||||
| Quarterfinals – Friday, March 10 | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | 12:00 pm | No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 1 Purdue | ESPN | 12,334 | |
| 8 | 2:30 pm | No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 4 Minnesota | ||||
| 5 | 9 | 6:30 pm | No. 10 Indiana vs. No. 2 Wisconsin | BTN | 15,624 | |
| 10 | 9:00 pm | No. 6 Northwestern vs. No. 3 Maryland | ||||
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 11 | ||||||
| 6 | 11 | 1:00 pm | No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 4 Minnesota | CBS | 13,984 | |
| 12 | 3:30 pm | No 6 Northwestern vs. No. 2 Wisconsin | ||||
| Championship – Sunday, March 12 | ||||||
| 7 | 13 | 3:00 pm | No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 2 Wisconsin | CBS | 12,902 | |
The Big 10 did not release attendance figures to their opening round games. It’s no wonder why, there were a ton of empty seats. The Big 10 reported a total 79,441 fans at their tournament. If we take out the opening round for the ACC so that we compare Apples to Apples, the ACC still outdrew the Big 10 19,640 – 13,240 per game. The ACC Tournament was better attended by 30% over the Big 10.
A few things were at play… the ACC is the country’s best basketball conference, while the Big 10 is suffering a down year lacking an elite team. The Big 10 may have over-valued the influence of Maryland in this region. While some feared the ACC would lose their influence in the mid-atlantic, with the loss of Maryland – that is clearly not the case.
DC is geographically for the most part out of the Big 10’s region. This is the danger of going to far outside your home fan bases. I’m not saying the Big 10 shouldn’t haven tried, but they certainly lost this battle for Washington DC.
Oh and for NYC, the ACC has landed the first blow.
What a week. #ACCTourney brings 18,109 for tonight’s games — largest crowd ever for a college basketball event here @BarclaysCenter!
— Barclays Center (@barclayscenter) March 11, 2017
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