WRAL Sports Fan

ACC Tournament

Want a ticket to the ACC Tournament? You can get one - now

By Sam Rosenthal

Feb 13, 2009

Interest in the ACC Tournament is so intense that the league has not had a public sale of tournament tickets before the event since 1966, but tickets for this year’s tournament in Atlanta may be more available than ever before.

In fact, you can buy them right now.

Virginia Tech is advertising tickets for the general public on its Web site. A spokesman in the Hokies’ ticket office said the tickets are in the upper deck of the Georgia Dome – not exactly a prime seat, but still a pass to get in.

The fact that tickets are available at all is a dramatic change for the event. There are several factors involved. The Georgia Dome is an NFL stadium, and each of the 12 ACC schools is being allotted around 2,600 tickets for the event. Last year, that number was around 1,500 for the event at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

The economy is also hitting fans, who appear less likely to spend, and travel, than in past years. Even Jack Winters, the director of Duke University’s Iron Dukes, said this is the first year Duke tickets have been available to people not in the Iron Dukes club since he started working full-time at Duke in 1989.

Winters said Duke has about 100 ACC Tournament tickets left. The tickets are available now only to Iron Dukes, Duke employees, alumni and students.

“It’s a unique opportunity that we’ve got this year … to offer tickets to folks who are not Iron Dukes members,” Winters said.

“Right now, it’s not open to somebody that’s just walking off the street,” however.

Dick Christy, associate athletics director for external affairs at N.C. State, said the Wolfpack Club is still taking orders from members for its allotment. He did not have exact numbers for how many State has sold, but noted the tournament doesn’t begin until March 12. The championship game is March 15.

Clint Gwaltney, associate athletics director for ticket operations at the University of North Carolina, could not be reached for comment.

Interest in the tournament tends to be more intense when it's in North Carolina, with its four ACC schools. For example, tickets were actually available at the arena in Tampa in 2007.

Still, the tournament was an enormous hit when held at the Georgia Dome in 2001. The tournament averaged a league-record 36,000 fans for each session over the four-day run.

Karl Hicks, associate commissioner for men's basketball operations, said the ACC is  keenly aware of the ticket issue and is monitoring it closely.

“I don’t think it's typically a challenge,” he said of ticket sales. “But this year has been an extraordinary time. …

“We’re keeping an eye on it. I think, in these times, you take it for granted at your own peril.”