CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the first time since 2022, the ACC baseball tournament is back at Truist Field in Charlotte, where 12 schools are battling for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The last title game in Charlotte drew in a sellout crowd of over 10,000, the largest ever for an ACC championship game.

What You Need To Know

  • ACC returns to Charlotte for its 50th baseball tournament  

  • Charlotte expects the ACC to generate a net revenue of over $200,000 

  • The championship game is on Sunday

Baseball fans are excited to bring back the energy for the tournament, some even skipping school to attend.

“I’m a junior at Fort Mill High School, and I'm really interested in Miami and some other ACC schools, so we're going to be here throughout the week just watching baseball,” said Isabella Palladino, a baseball fan watching the Miami Hurricanes as they defeated Louisville 8-5 in the first game of the tournament.

Palladino and her dad, Michael, are longtime baseball fans and have attended previous ACC tournaments.

“I’m happy that my 17-year-old daughter enjoys it as much as I do, because it's a great way to just spend the afternoon, and she can skip school, and we can watch some baseball,” Michael Palladino said.

The fan support is one reason Dan Rajkowski, chief operating officer of the Charlotte Knights, believes these games belong in the Carolinas.

“We've hosted two times before, tremendous success, almost 60,000 people attending on both times, both in '21 and '22 and those are one of the larger crowds that the ACC has seen over their history. So I think it shows what Charlotte can do to support college baseball and what the ACC means to our region,” Rajkowski said.

Since the ACC was headquartered in Charlotte last year, the city expects the ACC to generate a net revenue of over $200,000 over three years.

This season marks the 50th baseball championship and the 26th in North Carolina, bringing what Rajkowski says is an important economic impact.

“It’s the location. It's the energy that college baseball provides, and when you've got top-notch teams in the country playing here, as I mentioned earlier, seven in the top 25, I believe it's the most of any conference or very close to the ACC, tells you how impactful ACC baseball is here in the Carolinas but really in the southeast,” Rajkowski said.

As Rajkowski anticipates another big turnout this season, the Palladinos are excited to watch another showdown.

“We’ll come back on Friday to watch some more baseball and probably Sunday for the final two. It's always a big event, it's kind of nice to have this type of collegiate baseball level in our backyard,” Michael Palladino said.

ACC tournament games will continue throughout the weekend with the championship game at noon Sunday.