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Sorry Jim, ACC Tourney Not Coming To NYC Anytime Soon

The ACC Tournament will not move to Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center anytime soon as both arenas have passed on bidding deadlines.

Michael Heiman - Getty Images

Back when the Syracuse Orange and Pittsburgh Panthers announced they were leaving the Big East for the ACC, rumors started to swirl that institutions such as the ACC Tournament in Greensboro could be shifted to accommodate the northern expansion of the league. Specifically, the opportunity to play that tourney in the Big East's own backyard. ACC commish John Swofford flat-out said it at one point:

"I don't think there's any question that taking a look at New York and Madison Square Garden would be very appealing for Atlantic Coast Conference basketball fans," Swofford said last year. "And even more so now with even more teams in closer proximity. With that being the media center of the world, so to speak, we'd probably be remiss if we didn't think of it in those terms."

Well while the ACC might have been looking at MSG, MSG decided not to look back, per ESPN's Brett McMurphy:

The deadline to bid for the 2016-21 ACC's men's basketball tournaments has passed, and Madison Square Garden did not submit a bid, sources told ESPN. The 2013-15 ACC men's basketball tournaments will be held in Greensboro, N.C.

A decision for where the 2016-21 ACC tournaments will be held will be made in the coming months. The Barclays Center in Brooklyn also did not submit a bid.

So unless the ACC Tournament wants to hold the 2016 ACC Tournament in Albany, which I'm personally fine with, it ain't coming to NYC anytime soon.

I suppose if the ACC really wanted to be a dick about it they could consider holding the tournament in the Prudential Center in Newark but that doesn't have quite the impact as the other options.

Shaken hardest by this news has to be James Arthur Boeheim, he who favors the chilly confines of Manhattan's skyscrapers to the whatever-Greensboro-is-known-for-ishness of Greensboro. Break this news to him gently, DOC Gross.