ACC reveals decision on headquarters change
The Atlantic Coast Conference, better known as the ACC, is taking the next step in exploring moving its’ headquarters outside of Greensboro.
The league’s 15-member Board of Directors chaired by Duke president Vince Price, announced the decision on Tuesday to proceed to phase two and expand evaluation of the conference office location to include cities beyond Greensboro.
The conference is being assisted by Newmark, a Texas-based real estate advisory firm, in evaluating the location of the ACC headquarters.
“Independent consultant Newmark has been leading the objective, data driven comparison and evaluation of the current conference office building and location for the recently completed phase one, which included extensive discussions with more than 100 conference office, league and City of Greensboro stakeholders,” the conference said in a release.
The next phase will include the evaluation of interested cities through Newmark’s request for information. The criteria will be focused on, but not limited to: location within Eastern Time zone, population size with positive growth trends, growth and diversity of population, access to a large hub airport with effective accessibility to and from all ACC member schools, anticipated benefit so the overall ACC brand and potential synergies to existing and prospective partners and financial considerations related to operational expenses.
Potential options for the new headquarters include Charlotte, as well as Atlanta, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., as previously reported by David Teel of the Richmond-Times Dispatch.
The ACC rarely hosts league meetings at their headquarters in Greensboro, rather rotating between all 15 campuses in annual fall gatherings while winter and spring meetings take place in Florida. As a result, the move will factor in business rather than accessibility.
Teel previously stated in addition to Newmark, former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney are assisting in coordinating the potential move.
The ACC, which was founded in Greensboro in 1953, has changed addresses in Greensboro multiple times before settling in their current headquarters, an 18,500-square foot building, which appraises for $2,755,100.
Exploring moving the headquarters is one of many ventures new ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is undertaking. According to Phillips, the appraisal is “a holistic and transparent review” of the league structure.
In addition to exploring a move of the ACC headquarters, Phillips’ top priority since taking over as commissioner in February has been making the ACC Network’s distribution a focus.
In August, Disney reached a deal with Mediacom, making the ACC Network available to Mediacom Communications Corporation subscribers in the fall.