Gwinnett May Make Pitch For ACC Baseball

Feeling like it may be spurned by the Southeastern Conference, Gwinnett County is instead turning its attention to attracting the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament.

A Gwinnett tourism official confirmed that a delegation of county officials is in Durham, N.C., this week to view the ACC tournament. Also, ACC officials have visited Coolray Field in Lawrenceville as a possible site.

The soonest that Gwinnett could host the tournament is 2014, said Lisa Anders of the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau. The conference has not issued formal proposal requests.

Gwinnett officials also had made an official bid for the SEC tournament, which is in the final year of its contract with its longtime home of Hoover, Ala. However, indications are that SEC athletic directors will vote to keep the tournament there.

The ACC tournament also would have a strong fan base in the Gwinnett area. Georgia Tech is an ACC school, and several other conference schools are just a few hours' drive away, such as Duke, North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State.

Durham is a frequent home to the ACC event (five times since 1996), though likely not as entrenched as Hoover, in the Birmingham area. The ACC had planned to hold the 2010 tournament in Boston's Fenway Park, but shifted it to Greensboro, N.C., to reduce travel costs.

In Durham this week to view the ACC tournament are Rob Patton (Gwinnett Sports Commission), Bill Blackwell (Gwinnett Center and a former Gwinnett Braves executive), Ryan Stoltenberg (Gwinnett Braves) and Dan Korso and Ken Chin (Atlanta Sports Council).

The current ACC event concludes Sunday.