GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro and Guilford County leaders are doing what they can to sweeten the deal for the Atlantic Coast Conference to keep its headquarters in the Gate City.
That includes an offer to change the name of the Greensboro Coliseum - to the ACC Coliseum.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan and Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chair, Skip Alston, issued a joint statement on Thursday.
"We have been assured that the ACC has not made a decision on its headquarters at this time and that Greensboro remains a finalist. We believe we have made a strong case for the ACC to remain in our community, one that addresses the conference’s need to accelerate its brand and respond to the changing times in intercollegiate athletics. This includes an offer to rename our arena, which is the largest arena in the ACC conference, the ACC Coliseum," Vaughan and Alston said.
News 2 spoke with the President of the Greensboro Sports Foundation about the effort to keep the ACC in town.
"This is the prime example of our commitment to the ACC and what the ACC means to Greensboro. We feel like the ACC in Greensboro is synonymous and putting their brand on our chairs coliseum is a big statement and of great value," said Richard Beard.
Nothing is set in stone. The Atlantic Coast Conference said Thursday it has not made a decision on whether it will move its headquarters out of Greensboro or stay put.
"The process surrounding the review and assessment of the conference office location is ongoing. No decision has been made by the ACC Board of Directors," an ACC spokesperson told WFMY News 2 in an emailed statement.
On Tuesday evening, North Carolina Republicans unveiled their 2022-23 state budget proposal. Among the $27.9 billion total, $15 million would go toward a deal to put a "collegiate sports employer" in North Carolina for the next 15 years.
The bill refers to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The item in the bill specifically states, "the entity will locate and occupy within the State its headquarters facility for a continuous period of at least 15 years".
Charlotte is the other contender for the league's headquarters.
If the proposed budget passes, the ACC will leave Greensboro, its home for 70 years, and set up shop in the Queen City, taking about 50 jobs along with it.
"I hate to see them leave Greensboro as a member of the Guilford delegation but our goal was to keep them in North Carolina. There's a possibility they could go to Florida, we don't want that to happen. If they do move to Charlotte it's certainly not my preference cause I'd rather them stay in Greensboro, but at least they are staying in North Carolina. We'll continue to have a lot of ACC tournaments in the Trad region," said Republican Representative Jon Hardister.
The city of Charlotte said they are interested in keeping the ACC headquarters in North Carolina as they believe their presence is important to the state as a whole.