text: acc championship game the dr pepper acc football championship game is an american college football game held on the first saturday in december by the atlantic coast conference ( acc ) each year to determine its football champion . the game pits the champion of the coastal division against the champion of the atlantic division in a game that follows the conclusion of the regular season . the game 's corporate sponsor is dr pepper . the current champion are the clemson tigers of the atlantic division . history before the 2004 college football season , the atlantic coast conference determined its champion via round - robin play during the course of the regular season and there was no conference championship game . in 2004 , the atlantic coast conference added two teams — virginia tech and miami — expanding the league to 11 teams . at the time , college football teams were limited by the ncaa to 11 regular - season games , three or four of which typically featured teams outside the home team 's conference . following the 2004 season , the league added a 12th team — boston college — and became eligible to hold a championship game at the conclusion of the 2005 season . the conference was divided into two divisions of six teams each . the team with the best conference record in each division is selected to participate in the championship game . in the inaugural championship game , which took place at the end of the 2005 college football season , the florida state seminoles defeated virginia tech 27 – 22 at alltel stadium in jacksonville , florida . in the 2006 game , two other teams faced off as georgia tech played wake forest . wake defeated georgia tech 9 – 6 . for the 2007 game , jacksonville was awarded a one - year extension as host , and the game remained in jacksonville . virginia tech returned to the acc football championship game and faced off against boston college . tech won the game , 30 – 16 , and returned to the championship in 2008 to defeat boston college again 30 – 12 . in 2009 , georgia tech defeated clemson , 39 – 34 , but was forced to vacate the acc championship by the ncaa . following the 2007 game the gator bowl committee — organizers of the acc football championship game in jacksonville — announced they would not seek another contract extension due to falling attendance . with jacksonville 's withdrawal from future site selection , the acc selected tampa , florida and charlotte , north carolina as future sites of the game . the 2008 and 2009 games were held in tampa , while the 2010 and 2011 games were held in charlotte . in 2008 , the coastal division champion was the designated " home " team . conference expansion in 1990 , the eight - team atlantic coast conference added florida state to the league , creating a new nine - team acc . though florida state was the only school added to the conference , some league officials discussed offering one or more other schools — navy , pittsburgh , syracuse , south carolina , miami , west virginia , boston college , rutgers , or virginia tech — an offer to join the league . for various reasons , however , no other team was extended an offer . throughout the 1990s , the atlantic coast conference remained at nine members . ironically , south carolina was a charter member of the acc that left in 1971 . the nearby southeastern conference ( sec ) , which also encompasses college football teams in the american south , also expanded in 1990 . instead of adding one team , as did the acc , the then 10 - team sec added two — the university of arkansas and the university of south carolina . the expansion made the sec the first 12 - school football conference and thus the first eligible to hold a conference championship game under ncaa rules ( the first game was held in 1992 ) . the sec enjoyed increased television ratings and revenue through the 1990s and by 2003 was earning over $ 100 million annually , with revenues shared out among member schools . officials of other leagues took note of the financial boon that followed sec expansion to twelve teams . atlantic coast conference representatives began discussing expansion to twelve schools in the first years of the new century , who began publicly pursuing the possibility of expansion anew in 2003 . on may 13 , 2003 , representatives voted in favor of extending invitations to three schools . the only certain school was the university of miami , while the other two spots were still being debated . initially , the league favored admitting miami , syracuse university , and boston college . after a month of debate , however , the acc elected to extend formal invitations to miami , boston college , and virginia tech , which joined after initially being overlooked . this came years after these schools were considered for acc membership in the early 1990s but nothing had ever came to fruition . pittsburgh and syracuse would also eventually join the acc after rejections in 1990 and 2003 , becoming members in 2013 . miami and virginia tech began official acc play with the 2004 college football season . after the league settled a lawsuit resulting from the departure of the three former big east conference teams , boston college began acc play in the 2005 season . with the league officially at 12 teams , it became eligible to hold a conference championship football game . site selection even before the announcement proclaiming the acc 's expansion to 12 teams , several cities and sports organizations were preparing bids to host the acc football championship game . the prospect of tens of thousands of visitors could provide a multimillion - dollar economic boost for a host city and region while requiring few , if any , additional facilities . one early contender was the city of charlotte , north carolina . even before virginia tech , miami , and boston college were chosen as the acc 's picks to expand , carolinas stadium corporation , the owner and operator of charlotte 's ericsson stadium ( as it was called then ) lobbied heavily for charlotte 's selection . other early options included orlando , tampa , atlanta , and jacksonville . shortly after negotiations for the location of the game began during the spring of 2004 , the acc announced that it had signed a new , seven - year television contract with abc - tv and espn . as part of the deal , the acc would earn over $ 40 million in revenue a year in exchange for the networks ' exclusive right to televise the acc football championship game along with several high - profile regular season games . revenues would be divided among the 12 acc member schools . in july 2004 the acc began deliberations about which bid to accept . on august 19 , 2004 , league officials announced that jacksonville would host the game in 2005 and 2006 . the league would then have the option to re - select jacksonville for an additional one or two - year contract . charlotte was the first runner - up in the competition . for its first three years , the championship game was held at everbank field ( known as alltel stadium in 2005 and 2006 and jacksonville municipal stadium in 2007 ) . that contract expired after the 2007 season . in december 2007 , the acc awarded the next four games to tampa ( first two ) and charlotte ( next two ) . raymond james stadium was the venue for the tampa games in 2008 and 2009 , while the bank of america stadium provided the venue for the charlotte games in 2010 and 2011 . charlotte hosted the game again in 2012 and 2013 . in february 2014 it was announced that charlotte would continue to host the game through at least 2019 . team selection following the absorption of virginia tech and miami into the acc , questions arose about how an 11 - team league could fairly select participants in the conference championship game . a divisional structure involving two six - team divisions competing for two championship - game slots would not be possible . in addition , the acc could not continue to select its champion via round - robin play since there were now 11 teams and only seven or eight conference games available per team . even the ncaa 's addition of a 12th game to the regular season did little to relieve the conference 's problem . prior to the 2004 college football season , the acc requested a waiver to the ncaa 's rule requiring conferences to have 12 - plus teams before having a conference championship game . before the season began , however , the ncaa rejected the acc 's application , and the league had to use a semi - round - robin format to select a champion during the 2004 football season . after that season , the inclusion of boston college as the acc 's 12th team solved the problem of enabling the acc to have a championship football game . on october 18 , 2004 , the acc announced its new football structure with two divisions . each six - team division plays a round - robin schedule within the division and a rotation of three conference games against teams from the opposing division . the two teams with the best conference records in each division earn places to the championship game . in the event of a tie in records within one division , divisional records and the results of head - to - head games are considered . also , in the games between the two divisions , each team has a permanent rival team that is played every year . hence , every year , there are these football games : georgia tech vs. clemson ; north carolina vs. north carolina state ; louisville vs. virginia ; syracuse vs. pittsburgh ; duke vs. wake forest ; florida state vs. miami ; and boston college vs. virginia tech . notre dame joined the conference as a non - divisional member in 2014 and , while playing five acc teams each season , is not eligible for the championship game . divisions non - divisional : notre dame results winners are listed in bold . rankings are from the coaches poll released prior to the game . * georgia tech was forced to vacate this win due to ncaa violations . results by team * georgia tech appeared in four acc football championship games , but the yellow jackets ' one win was later vacated . louisville , miami , north carolina state , pittsburgh , syracuse , and virginia have yet to make an appearance in an acc football championship game .