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The ACC Tournament is usually a tough ticket. This year, it was a tough sell.

This week's ACC men's basketball tournament is not in North Carolina or Washington, D.C., but way down in Tampa, Fla. As a result, Virginia Tech and Virginia officials had to go farther down their lists of donors than usual to find fans who wanted to buy tickets.

This is Tech's third year in the ACC, and the first time the school got a full share of tickets -- about 1,700 books of tickets. The Hokie Club, Tech's athletic fundraising arm, got 1,500 of those books to sell to its top donors.

Two years ago, when the tournament was at the MCI Center in Washington and Tech got a one-third share, only Hokie Club members who donated at least $50,000 in their lifetimes got the chance to buy tickets. That was also true last year, when the tournament was in Greensboro and Tech got a two-thirds share.

This year, Tech went farther down the list, to "Golden Hokie" donors who give at least $2,000 a year. Athletic development director Lu Merritt said that was more of a reflection of the tournament's Tampa location than Tech having more tickets to sell.

"Had it been Greensboro or Charlotte, we would not have gone this far [down the list]," Merritt said. But this year, "people have to make a commitment if they're going to fly down there. They're probably going to stay four days. It's not like you might go and leave if Tech would get beat and sell somebody your tickets."

Rennie Lynch of Roanoke was one such "Golden Hokie" who got an application in the mail for the first time. He obtained tickets the past two years by buying them from someone who decided not to go at the last minute.

Lynch said he decided to buy two books this year, but only because he has relatives in Atlanta that he and his wife can visit to break up the drive to and from Tampa.

Eligible Tech donors could buy six books at $363 apiece.

UVa went "a little bit further down" its donor list to sell its share of tickets, said Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletic Foundation.

"Some people that hadn't been getting tickets over in Greensboro, say, were able to get tickets," he said. "But we still had plenty of people on our wait list that didn't get tickets. ... A lot of our top-end donors are all going. They've taken almost a week's vacation."

Not expecting to sell all its tickets, UVa did not reserve as many rooms for fans in the team hotel as it usually does. When it wound up selling out, UVa had to scramble to find additional hotel rooms in Tampa.

"It's spring break down there," Katstra said. "The hotel-room crunch has been a little tough to deal with."

UVa donor Dave Gorsline Sr. of Richmond bought tickets but was undecided last week on whether he'll go. He said he would definitely go if the tournament were closer to home.

"It's more convenient being in Greensboro as opposed to Tampa," he said. "I would be more likely to change my business plans to go to Greensboro."

Virginia donor Rob Hargest of Richmond will go to the tournament with seven of his buddies. He sees the Tampa locale as "a real plus."

"We're going to play some golf, and there's a casino down there," he said. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

Other ACC schools also wound up selling tickets to donors who don't usually get the chance to go to the tournament.

Usually, a Duke booster must donate $10,000 a year to have a shot at tournament tickets. But the Greensboro News & Record reported that Duke's booster club sent letters to donors in the Tampa Bay area last month, informing them they could buy tickets no matter how little they have given.

Wake Forest also went further down its donor list than it ever has. Wake is not only struggling in basketball this season but also is coming off a successful football season that included trips to Florida for the ACC championship game and the Orange Bowl.

"Our people have had a lot of trips," Wake assistant athletic director for athletic development Barry Faircloth told the News & Record. "Now this is right back there. They're still paying credit-card bills."

Neither Tech nor UVa will play in Thursday's first round thanks to byes. Merritt said the Tampa Bay Sports Commission offered to buy fans' Thursday tickets so it could sell them to Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tampa Bay Lightning season-ticket holders.

Demand will be higher for tickets next year. Not only does the tournament return to Charlotte for the first time since 2002, but schools will get fewer tickets because Boston College will get a full share.

Charlotte Bobcats Arena seats 20,200 for college basketball, about 300 fewer seats than the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa and 3,300 fewer than the Greensboro Coliseum.