ACC Sponsorship

Food Lion has been a proud partner of The Atlantic Coast Conference for 25 years (1986 to present).

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Food Lion give back to the community each year through Operation Outreachat the Men's Basketball Tournament. Outreach is a six-week newspaper based program that reaches over 25,000 students in over 600 classrooms. A special curriculum guide is prepared that utilizes ACC Men's Basketball articles in the newspaper as an instructional tool in the classroom. Lessons in language arts, geography and social studies are all included in the curriculum.

Food Lion works with the ACC Women’s Basketball tournament to give fans are the opportunity to interact with the mascots from each of the 12 ACC institutions during "Mascot Night presented by Food Lion."

The History of the Atlantic Coast Conference

The Atlantic Coast Conference was founded on May 8, 1953, at the Sedgefield Inn near Greensboro, N.C., with seven charter members -- Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest -- drawing up the conference by-laws.

The withdrawal of seven schools from the Southern Conference came early on the morning of May 8, 1953, during the Southern Conference's annual spring meeting. On June 14, 1953, the seven members met in Raleigh, N.C., where a set of bylaws was adopted and the name became officially the Atlantic Coast Conference.

On December 4, 1953, conference officials met again at Sedgefield and officially admitted the University of Virginia. The first, and only, withdrawal of a school from the ACC came on June 30, 1971 when the University of South Carolina tendered its resignation.

The ACC operated with seven members until April 3, 1978, when Georgia Tech was admitted. The Atlanta school withdrew from the Southeastern Conference in January of 1964.

The ACC then expanded to nine members on July 1, 1991, with the addition of Florida State.

The conference expanded to 11 members on July 1, 2004, with the addition of the University of Miami and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Boston College became the league's 12th member on July 1, 2005.

View the official ACC website