The 2016 ACC football championship will be played at Orlando's Camping World Stadium, the conference announced Thursday.

  • ACC football championship to be played at Camping World Stadium
  • The game is set for 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, in Orlando
  • FHSAA will move high school football championships to Dec. 8-10

The 12th-annual title game between the division champions will be played at 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. At this time, the move to play the ACC title game in Orlando is for 2016 only.

"It's one year right now, but they move that game around," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Thursday. "But I think once they play here, they're probably going to think, 'That's a pretty good place to be.'"

Community leaders think hosting the ACC football championship is a victory for Orlando because it's another chance to show off Central Florida as the nation's top sports destination.

"This opportunity was put in front of us, and we seized it," said Steve Hogan, CEO of Florida Citrus Sports.

Central Florida sports leaders said earlier this month that they were pursuing NCAA and ACC championship games after the two organizations announced they were moving the games out of North Carolina because of the state's controversial House Bill 2.

Hogan said he thinks it would be "pretty hard at this point now to reverse course" regardless of what happens in North Carolina.

"As far as I know, there's not anything standing in the way of this game occurring in Orlando," Hogan said.

The approximately 62,000 people filling the stands at Camping World Stadium are expected to bring a $25 million to $40 million economic impact on Central Florida.

"A lot of these folks are driving, spending a couple of extra days while they're here, so the return on investment for our bed tax is significant, as well as the other investments," Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said.

The Florida High School Athletic Association will move its football championships, which will also be played at Camping World Stadium, back a week to accommodate the ACC's move.

The games will be played Thursday, Dec. 8, through Saturday, Dec. 10 — eight games in three days.

Florida Citrus Sports hopes that with a strong performance with the ACC championship, other sports will follow in the years ahead.

"If after this game we do a great job, we would be open to having that conversation," said Hogan, "but that hasn't even entered the discussion at this point."

"We have tremendous weather, we have terrific facilities," said Jason Siegel, interim president and CEO of the Central Florida Sports Commission. "We've got a vibrant tourism community and we've got an incredible community."

The Central Florida Sports Commission is currently bidding on Division I golf, Division II baseball and Division III tennis championships — all of which are being relocated from North Carolina.

"Two of the championships are in Seminole County, one is in Osceola County, so certainly for our partners in Seminole and Osceola, we're working hard to bring business their way," Siegel said.

The ACC football title game has previously been played in Tampa and Jacksonville. However, Orlando leaders think their track record with bowl games and the recent Camping World Stadium Kickoff will make Orlando a successful host of a championship event.

In 2016, the Central Florida Sports Commission expects 93 events, nearly 300,000 visitors and a $135 million economic impact in Central Florida.

Florida Citrus Sports officials said they are going to have to pay about $300,000 to bring the ACC title game to Orlando.