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After two years at PPL Park just outside of Philadelphia, the ACC is moving its conference tournament to Kennesaw State University outside of Atlanta for 2016. The event, produced in conjunction with the Atlanta Sports Council, Kennesaw State Sports and Entertainment Park, and LB3 Lacrosse, will run from April 29th through May 1st.
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), in conjunction with the Atlanta Sports Council (ASC), Kennesaw State Sports and Entertainment Park and LB3 Lacrosse, have announced that Fifth Third Bank Stadium will be home to the 2016 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship. This marks the first time the ACC Championship will take place in metro Atlanta and the sixth time in the event’s 28-year history that it will be held at a neutral site.
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The 8,300-seat stadium is home to Kennesaw State University’s collegiate athletic programs competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Fifth Third Bank Stadium has a rich history hosting professional and collegiate lacrosse matchups, recently serving as a host to LB3 Lacrosse’s Cobb County Classic featuring Denver vs. Duke and Syracuse vs. St. Johns. Additionally, Major League Lacrosse (MLL) selected Fifth Third Bank Stadium as the site of the 2014 and 2015 MLL Championship.
"The ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship is the perfect fit for our venue, the design of the stadium sets up very well for lacrosse and the ancillary event space outside the stadium provides for an overall great fan experience," said Fifth Third Bank Stadium’s General Manger, Marty Elliott.
All five ACC teams (Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia) will participate in the championship with the top four finishers from the regular season competing for the title. The four-team tournament will begin with the semifinals on Friday, April 29, and the championship game will be played on Sunday, May 1. The fifth-place team that does not qualify for the tournament will play a non-conference opponent to be named at a later date on Saturday, April 30 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
While this is exciting for southern-based lacrosse fans, Syracuse.com's Patrick Stevens may have come up with an even better plan for the league to both raise its profile and superficially increase its NCAA Tournament potential:
Realistically, best path for the ACC to take with a five-team men's lax league is to scrap the tournament and play six regular season games.
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) May 14, 2015
So you play every team in the league three times over a two-year span, and everybody gets a strength of schedule boost.
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) May 14, 2015