ACC Considering Football & Basketball Games In Europe

The Atlantic Coast Conference is considering taking its #goacc product international. ACC commissioner John Swofford told CBSSports.com that the league is looking to the possibility of playing ACC football and basketball games in Europe.

"We need to think big," Swofford said. "One of the things we brought up to our schools last week was we may play football, we may play basketball in Europe. Across the pond, so to speak."

"The NFL is going to London, as is the NBA with some regularity," the commissioner said. "The Olympics are so successful over there. Basketball is an international sport. Football is not, but there is a growing interest in it in Great Britain.

For basketball, this isn't a horrible idea. It seems like the next evolution of college basketball's gimmicky, made-for-TV games. From playing in a cavernous NFL stadium with terrible sight lines to aircraft carriers to taking that aircraft carrier and heading overseas. Boston College had a successful trip to Spain last summer. I'm sure Patrick Heckmann wouldn't mind playing a game in Germany.

The trick will be in the timing; whether these hoops games happen early season or at some point over winter break to allow ample time to travel across the pond and back.

As for football, this seems to back up rumors of the possibility of Boston College and Notre Dame squaring off on the gridiron in Ireland. The timing becomes a little more of an issue given the yearly schedule, but it's not as if the ACC hasn't scheduled conference games for the first week of the season. Attendance should be a concern too as it's not like the league is selling out all these regular season home games to begin with. Why port theses games overseas if you can't fill the stadium at home?

The possibility of ACC football and basketball games seems appealing at face, but then you realize that these conferences have a way of taking a theoretically good idea, only to proceed to drive it over a cliff, do a few barrel rolls and drown it in a river. Can't wait for the storied Boston College-Wake Forest rivalry to hit the road and be played in front of tens of fans in Wembley.