ACC: Rome is it … Again
The city will host the 2020 and 2021 ACC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships.
Rome will host the 2020 and 2021 ACC Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships.
When the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College served as temporary site of the ACC Tennis Championships last year, city leaders and local organizers knew it might lead to a more permanent arrangement.
That arrangement was made public on Thursday as the facility and Rome Sports officially announced the return of the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships. The five-day event will be held at the site along the Armuchee Connector in April 2020 and 2021.
The conference will complete its current contract with Cary Tennis Park in Cary,
North Carolina, next year before shifting to Rome for the next two-year cycle.
“We are honored to bring back the ACC
Tennis Championships to Rome,” said Tom Daglis, RTC executive director, in a release. “A tournament of this caliber is a catalyst to the local Rome economy and brings a level of tennis excellence to the Rome community. Hosting the ACC speaks volumes to the quality of the entire Rome tennis community.”
Brandon Neff, assistant commissioner of championships for the ACC, relayed the conference’s excitement of returning to Rome and the positive feedback it got from its student-athletes following last year’s tournaments.
“Not only was the tennis center a perfect place to host our event, but the community really embraced us,” Neff said in a release. “Our teams are still raving over the hospitality they received at local restaurants and hotels in Rome. We were blown away by the work of the volunteers who helped run our championships.”
Besides hosting the mostattended ACC Tennis Championships at the time, another plus for the Rome Tennis Center is the Rome City Commission’s decision last month to fund the construction of six indoor courts at the SPLOST-funded facility.
“Credit is due to our city commissioners and administration for recognizing the importance of adding enclosed courts at the tennis center to continue our ability to remain competitive in attracting top-notch tournaments such as the ACC,” said Ann Hortman, director of Rome Sports, in a release.
“Adding enclosed courts plus our renowned southern hospitality was certainly an influence on the ACC’s decision to return to Rome.”
The new courts, with an estimated cost of $4 million, will be climate-controlled and allow competition to continue in the case of inclement weather.
Rome received just a small amount of rain on one day of the tournament last year and the work of volunteers helped dry the courts to keep the schedule on track.
“The Rome Tennis Center at Berry College has continued to exceed our expectations,” Rome City Manager Sammy Rich said in a statement. “The recent decision by the Rome City Commissioners to fund enclosed courts at RTCBC solidifies Rome’s commitment to position our community as the epicenter of tennis tournaments in the Southeast.”
Rome first entered the conversation for hosting the event after the ACC’s decision in 2016 to relocate its neutral-site championships from North Carolina in response to the state’s controversial House Bill 2, referred to as the “bathroom law.”
When that law was repealed early last year, the tennis tournaments returned to Cary.
The 2020 ACC Tennis Championships are scheduled for April 15-19, while the 2021 dates are April 2125.