ACC adds new Boston bowl game (vs. AAC) at Fenway Park for 2020

In the past, there have been some complaints (from these parts, at least) about the ACC’s bowl lineup. Well, it seems the league is at least trying to address it with some more feasible or worthwhile locations.

A few months back, it was reported that the ACC would face off with the Pac-12 in San Diego’s Holiday Bowl starting in 2020 — something that gets this Southern California-based #disloyalidiot excited. Now, we learn of another game that’s about as far away from San Diego as possible:

For the Syracuse Orange, this is potentially great news. Boston’s a big hub of alums, and super close to a large majority of the football fan base and all season ticket holders. So without having to factor in flights or hotels for most, this is a major win in terms of postseason possibilities.

On the other end of things, however: No more goddamn baseball stadium bowl games! Look, it’s nice and convenient for SU to get invited to the Pinstripe Bowl in the Bronx every so often, but it’s still in a baseball stadium in a cold climate. This now makes two such games. With the future of SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm Stadium) in doubt, who knows if the Holiday Bowl ends up pushed to the Padres’ Petco Park too. That could make three ACC bowls all locked into baseball stadiums. Seems... unfortunate.

There’s also the regional aspect here that likely means Syracuse ends up here more often than most ACC squads. With Boston College off limits, it’s going to be a lot of SU, Pitt and Louisville (plus maybe the Virginia schools). A Northern collection of bowl games — this, Pinstripe, Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit) could potentially lock that portion of the conference into a handful of admittedly pretty boring games.

That’s before we even get to the opponent in this game: the AAC. Assuming UConn doesn’t drop football and head back to the Big East, you’re looking at Temple as the nearest team in the league to Boston. The Southwest teams aren’t traveling for this. Neither are the Florida squads.

So... I don’t know. Seems fine from an Orange fan perspective, but not in love with the idea for the ACC. You’ll never get a better opponent in this game than Cincinnati or Temple. It’s probably going to be limited to handful of ACC teams. And it’s probably going to be lower in the bowl lineup. Syracuse can avoid this fate by just winning more than seven games, probably. Hoping we just do that instead.

If not, see you at the CHOWDAH Bowl/LOBSTAH Bowl/FENWAY PAHK BASEBOWL/TAWMMY BOWL PRESENTED BY TB12 once every four or five years.