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GREENSBORO — The ACC announced Tuesday that the 2010 ACC Baseball Championship will be held in NewBridge Bank Park, a move brought on by economic concerns and the stadium's proximity to the league office. Meanwhile, the Grasshoppers said they have no intention of it being here for only one year.

John Swofford, the commissioner of the ACC, first announced the decision at a meeting of the Greensboro Sports Council, and a burst of applause seemed to take him by surprise. He seemed genuinely proud.

That's a growing sentiment over at the ACC offices, especially now with the uncertainty over the economy and universities making short-term decisions based on long-term projections.

"We're fortunate our partnership with Greensboro allowed us to make this transition so smoothly," Swofford said.

The truth is, the Grasshoppers have wanted to get the tournament here all along. Donald Moore, the president and general manager, said he would like to see it stay here forever.

"I think it's a great day for Greensboro," Moore said. "We're right in the heart of ACC country, the home of the ACC. We don't want this to be a one-and-done deal. We want to be the home of the ACC Baseball Championships."

He said it's in part a fulfillment of a promise made to the city before the construction of the ballpark, a promise that it would draw more than just minor-league baseball, a promise that it would become part of the city's social fabric. The addition of the ACC tournament would be a logical move.

"It's a natural fit," Moore said.

Greensboro will host four conference championships next year: both the basketball tournaments, the women's golf tournament at Sedgefield and now the baseball championship. Swofford said the fact that Greensboro is in the geographic center of the league made it very appealing to schools looking to save money until the economic situation improves.

"We're lucky to have a terrific ballpark to play in here in Greensboro, a city that is so supportive of the Atlantic Coast Conference and our member schools," he said. "And it's also very supportive of baseball, so I think this is a terrific opportunity for the league as well as for Greensboro."

The tournament had been scheduled for Boston's Fenway Park this year, but the stadium's scheduling conflicts pushed the one-time deal back one year. The schedule for the South Atlantic League, of which the Grasshoppers are members, was already in place, too. So the tournament this year will be held in Durham.

"We really wanted it when we talked last year," Moore said. "But it was just impossible. We have a bid on the table for 2011-13."

The deal with Fenway is a one-year contract, and both the ACC and the Boston Red Sox have been up front with each other through the long process of trying to get the tournament moved to the oldest park in the major leagues. When the organization came to the ACC last year and needed to push the tournament back one year, the league agreed. When the league's members began looking at the possibility of cutting travel costs for tournaments on the geographic fringe of the conference, the ACC asked the Red Sox to push back the agreement another year.

"Baseball was one that was on the geographic periphery of the league," Swofford said. "Hopefully this is a postponement of going to Fenway as we look toward the future. But for the immediate future, our schools felt the savings of coming to the center of the geographic footprint was significant enough that we should make that move. In talking with the Red Sox, they were fully understanding of that and cooperative with it."

The tournament has been played in Jacksonville, Fla., for the past few seasons, and was played in old Durham Athletic Park before that. The tournament originally was played at on-campus sites.

The league has become one of the best in the nation in recent years. The current national rankings have six ACC teams in the top 25, including North Carolina, the No. 1 team in the nation.

"It's probably at an all-time high when you look at recent years," Swofford said. "I think what that means is when fans come to NewBridge Park to see ACC baseball, they're going to be seeing, relatively speaking, a quality of baseball that equates with the quality of basketball they're used to seeing at the coliseum with our men's basketball tournament and our women's basketball tournament."

He said it might be a one-time opportunity to see what college baseball is all about at the highest level. If the Grasshoppers have anything to do with it, we'll see it year after year after year.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com