The 2026 ACC Football Championship Game has a new kickoff time, the conference announced Monday.
The ACC’s top two teams based on regular-season conference winning percentage will square off on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The contest will be nationally televised by ABC and will kickoff at 12:00pm ET.
“We are excited this year’s ACC Football Championship Game will be a noon kickoff on ABC as it places our game in an exceptional television window and allows for our attending fans the opportunity to experience an afternoon game in Bank of America Stadium,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. “Being the first conference championship to kick off on Championship Saturday allows us to lead the day on a national stage, showcase our student-athletes and programs and deliver a marquee event to fans across the country.”
The noon timeslot for the ACC Football Championship Game was opened up this year after the Big 12 Conference moved its contest to Friday in primetime.
The 2026 ACC Football Championship Game will mark the tenth consecutive season the game is played in Charlotte and the 16th time overall. It will also mark only the second time in the last 18 years that the game is not played in primetime.
Last season, the Duke Blue Devils upset the 16th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, 27-20 in overtime, before an announced crowd of 41,672. It was the second appearance for Duke in the ACC Football Championship Game and its first victory.
Clemson leads all ACC members with ten appearances and nine victories in the championship game. Only six other members have won the ACC Football Championship Game — Florida State (5), Virginia Tech (3), Duke (1), Georgia Tech (1), Pitt (1), and Wake Forest (1).
California, North Carolina State, Stanford, and Syracuse are the only current members of the ACC that have yet to make an appearance in the championship game. California, SMU, and Stanford joined the ACC in 2024.
The first three ACC Football Championship Games were played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla., from 2005 through 2007. The game then moved to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., for the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte hosted the game from 2010 through 2015 before the game was moved to Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla., for the 2016 season. The ACC Football Championship Game returned to Charlotte in 2017 and is currently contracted to host the game through the 2030 season.
The ACC is set to announce its 2026 football schedule tonight at 6:00pm ET on a two-hour edition of ACC Huddle on the ACC Network. The first hour will be simulcast on ESPN2.
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If any college football game ever deserves to be on the CW, it’s the ACC title game.
I would not mind ABC showing MAC championship game.
This Big Ten fan credits ACC by switching its championship game in mid-day time slot.
Excellent move ACC!!!