I agree. The two biggest reasons Charlotte can't host the Super Bowl is that Charlotte doesn't have a dome and not enough hotel rooms in the area. If the Super Bowl were held in Charlotte today, hotel rooms would be booked as far a way as Greensboro or Columbia. Thats simply too far away for game fans to stay and people who can afford those super bowl tickets may not want to stay in a Motel 6. It appears as though team owners of the Panthers have informally discussed a major renovation or a new stadium for the Panthers even though Bank of America Stadium is only 15 years old. But in stadium years, Bank of America Stadium is approaching the golden years. In about 15 years, Bank of America stadium will be 30 years old and will likely be outdated by then. Even though Charlotte's stadium is only 15 years old, its already among the oldest in the NFL now. My guess is owners would likely lean towards a new stadium in about 10 years and it will probably be a dome stadium so the Queen City can host the Super Bowl. In about 10 or 15 years Charlotte should have more hotel rooms by then as well. There is one problem though. By the time Charlotte gets a new NFL stadium, it probably won't be uptown. The reason is limited available land. There is about 20 acres of land available near Bank of America Stadium on West Morehead St but that land will likely get snapped up by developers long before there is even serious talk for a new stadium. So Charlotte may be put in the position to either renovate the current stadium to keep it downtown, or build a new dome stadium with a retractable roof not in the downtown area so the city can one day host the Super Bowl. Its a tough call unless they can figure out how to put a dome over Bank of America Stadium, but I doubt that's possible because then you might as well build a new stadium. You could demolish the current stadium and build a new one in its place but where would the Panthers play for 3 years while its being constructed? But right now a lot of NFL teams are envious of the new stadium in Dallas and the New Meadowlands Stadium near New York City. With those new stadiums they have more ways to generate revenue and that contributes in raising the salary cap. That pretty much forces many cities to upgrade or build new stadiums.
But this has happened before with Charlotte. When the Charlotte Coliseum opened for Charlotte's new NBA team it was state-of-the-art. In less than 20 years it was already out of date and a new arena with more luxury boxes had to be built. So whispers of a new stadium for the Panthers doesn't surprise me one bit. Thats just the way Charlotte rolls. But You can bet when the time comes for a new stadium to be built, Charlotte will go all out to try to make it the best in the league and it will probably be more than just a stadium but an entire NFL sports and entertainment complex with a 75,000 seat retractable roof stadium, five star hotel, retail, restaurants and other entertainment venues, something to make it a year round destination and provide more revenue for the team owners. That concept would definitely keep Charlotte on the rotation list for super bowls. Thats where the future of NFL stadiums are headed and its going to get super expensive. Unless Charlotte gets a new NFL stadium with a retractable roof, there will be no Super Bowl in Charlotte. This time of year is just to cold in Charlotte to host a Super bowl in an open air stadium and no one wants to spend $500-$3,000 on a ticket to watch a super bowl game in sleet, freezing rain or even snow. The weather is just too unpredictable here in North Carolina this time of year.
Edited by cityboi, 06 February 2011 - 08:50 PM.
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Spartan, on 30 December 2009 - 03:34 PM, said:
1) Next to the Duke Energy Center where the condo tower was supposed to go or 2) Where TWELVE was set to go next to Catalyst.
