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Bank of America Stadium Renovation

kermit

By kermit
in Charlotte

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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I wonder if we could just do a cantilevered covering, like virtually all soccer stadiums in Europe. I'll use Anfield since I'm a Liverpool fan. That way, the fans stay dry but the players still get the elements and affects of weather. A superbowl would work in this situation I believe.

anfield_road.jpg

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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Certainly there is a lot of benefit to put in some reasonable upgrades to keep both the team and the current stadium in town and in use respectively for the coming decades. With the money , assuming they bring the stadium up to a level to be eligible for the Super Bowl, we would also sign a contract with the team to stay. This may be the ideal time to do it, while Richardson is alive and in control. Also, agreeing to upgrade the current stadium also would likely keep us out of a fight or bidding war for a brand new stadium that often happens with sports teams.

There is a clear economic generator for the Panthers, and if the upgrades allow us the possibility for the Super Bowl with an even more clear economic generation, then it makes it a good investment. I would love to see the upgrades funded by a combination of the team resources, city resources (hotel-motel), and state funds.

I agree with the comments that a full-cost retractable roof is unnecessary in our mild climate. Certainly, though, we do have winter weather, so if there is a roofing concept that would be of a benefit to our situation (not a full fledged roof, but perhaps more of a membrane dome), then I am all for it.

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kermit Metropolitan Area

kermit

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Seems like the core of the issue is that BofA stadium upgrades would be most appropriately funded via the hotel room night tax. Unfortunately those funds have been seriously depleted by the HOF, its operating deficits, and baseball. Ultimately it looks like the upgrades will be paid for from a property tax hike (that possibility is suggested by the theatre of asking the state and surrounding counties for cash). This will almost certainly end up as a local property tax item, and nothing causes more anger than a property tax hike.

I would be very surprised if both stadium renovation costs and the streetcar are paid for with property tax revenues. The city really needs a [another] magic pot of money.

EDIT: I agree with you Southsider.

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jednc Burg

jednc

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Everyone keeps citing Charlotte's mild climate as a reason we do not need a retractable roof stadium. Houston has a retractable roof stadium and they def. have a milder climate than we do. Dallas has a mostly enclosed stadium, and the same applies to their climate. In other words, it's not all about climate but rather guaranteeing certain conditions inside the stadium. Not sure why all this discussion has broken out now (since I suggested the retractable roof several comments back, but whatever). I'll say it again...I really hope we decide to correct the mistake we made years ago by not adding a retractable roof to the original design. Charlotte will be in a position to attract several main-line events with an enclosed (or semi) stadium. I personally want to see another Final Four here...soon.

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Missmylab4 Whistle-Stop

Missmylab4

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Final Four isn't held anymore in venues that only hold 19k. The precedent for basketball to be played in an outdoor football stadium hasn't happened ever. The dome is completely necessary for larger basketball events.

P.S. jus looked it up there are only 9 venues, all NFL stadiums with domes that can host the Final Four. Cowboys, St.louis, Detroit, Atlanta, Indy, New Orleans, minny, Houston, and Phoenix. For us to have the final four again the nfl stadium has to be domed.

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Niner National Burg

Niner National

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Don't get too hung up on the dome / final four relationship. The NCAA is making noises about moving away from domes in the future:

http://espn.go.com/m...ve-domes-arenas

Good. Ticket revenue is a drop in the bucket for the NCAA anyway. The real money is generated by the NCAA tournament television rights.

Having the tournament in those huge domes is a bad experience for anyone not sitting in the lower bowl and it seriously limits potential host locations.

For example, NYC can't host an NCAA Final right now if their fixation on domed football stadiums remains. That's insanity.

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HopHead City

HopHead

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I've never seen a basketball game in a football stadium, so I don't have a basis for comparison. However, I think this would not sit well with cities like Indianapolis. Part of their reason for building a dome such as Lucas Oil Stadium is so they can host events like the Final Four. Indy and San Antonio are great convention and tournament towns. They won't be able to hold a candle to New York or LA for these events. Not to mention that will probably mean more fans will get priced out with such a reduction in the number of available seats. I hope it doesn't come to this. Seeing the Final Four in front of 70,000 people on TV at least is far more exciting to see IMO.

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Spartan Gigalopolis

Spartan

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The Stadium holds 4 times as many people as NBA or Hockey, and people are more likely to spend money at bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores than other sports just celebrating the culture of Professional Football. Also it is wildly popular and garners ratings unlike any other sport, and sells merchandise unlike any other sport.. There is a reason that 80% of the most valuable sports franchises are NFL.

73,000 average attendance for 8 games is 584,000 people.

15,000 average for bobcats for 41 games is 615,000 people.

Not too big of a difference if you ask me.

The economic impact of the Panthers extends well beyond Charlotte. You also have tons of people who get together at friends houses and bars to watch Panthers games across the Carolinas. You have people in both states that buy their jerseys and other stuff with that logo on it. Then there are the intangibles of the social connections and networking that occurs because of the commonality of discussing the local team.

The 'Cats are strictly Charlotte. People outside of this city probably couldn't care less about them, and quite frankly most of the people who live here could fall in that same category.

Yeah, that is a good point. Do you know why USC declined?

USC declined because our former Athletics Director, Mike McGee, suffered a severe case of myopia. His opinion was that the Gamecocks should be the only football team in Columbia. The only worthwhile thing he did for USC was to hire Steve Spurrier.

Everyone keeps citing Charlotte's mild climate as a reason we do not need a retractable roof stadium. Houston has a retractable roof stadium and they def. have a milder climate than we do.

Houston is more 'swampy.'

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mad_park Whistle-Stop

mad_park

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Looking at the overhead picture of BofA stadium, is there even room to add a retractable roof? You'd have to relocate the train tracks, move streets, etc to allow room to build the supports for the roof. Plus you have to seal the rest of the stadium and have space for the heating/cooling systems.

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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It is amazing how expensive Football stadiums have gotten.

I was reading an article in the Atlanta paper about the Falcon's quest for a new stadium (1.2b btw) and someone made a good point that once you have a stadium (even if it is paid off) the costs are always there in refurbs and repairs and the like. I'm not questioning us having the stadium - as the point has already been made - it is good for both our economy and image, but it does seem to be a never ending expense to a degree.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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Building a few escalators, scoreboards and possibly a roof is vastly cheaper than the billion dollars it would cost to build a new stadium overall. I would absolutely support keeping it uptown. It does support a lot of businesses, and the uptown grid and transit is able to handle the burst in traffic.

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Building a few escalators, scoreboards and possibly a roof is vastly cheaper than the billion dollars it would cost to build a new stadium overall. I would absolutely support keeping it uptown. It does support a lot of businesses, and the uptown grid and transit is able to handle the burst in traffic.

God can you imagine how the clusterf*ck if an extra 74,000 people descended on

Eastland Mall (already City owned)? Tyvola Coliseum (failed City Park development)? University City Blvd. Station (vacant land surrounding IKEA)? Tanger Outlets site (if Stallings is built instead)?
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You don't think 74 or 29 could handle the traffic!?!?!?

/sarcasm

oh god. I would advocate the usage of the BLE for N. Tryon area but speaking as a Brooklyn Resident. you should see Atlantic Terminal before a Nets Game toward the end of rush hour, and thats a 19k arena in one of the highest capacity transit terminals in the country. Imagine the poor lynx if it was in such a far away place!

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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Wouldn't be even worse than Concord during any major NASCAR event.

I would beg to differ. The track is in the middle of nowhere( no businesses in any direction for roughly a mile) anchored by 29, 49 and concord mills blvd, all of which are built to manage heavy, event driven, traffic. it also hosts 2 major events a year, which are still a mess. It also has parking facilities in place.

A panthers game at eastland (ironically auto corrected to "wasteland" on my phone) would have to rely on 74, Sharon amity and Harris/albemarle. Whereas up near ikea, it could utilize 85 and 29, but also deal with all the businesses. When a race happens, they shut down everything and open roads in one direction. In or out. I'm sure that IKEA or Walmart would just be delighted with 8-10 all day interruptions on Sundays in the fall. Or people tailgating in their parking lot.

The stadium is perfect in uptown. Businesses rely on it, the infrastructure is already in place (77, 277 and 74 access) and parking is still readily available. Why mess with success?

Imagine 70,000 drunk college students stuck at eastland mall after the ACC championship game...

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HopHead City

HopHead

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I think the current uptown location is perfect now... Great access to highways and mass transit. No need to change that IMO. But when the Panthers stadium was built, wasn't one of the proposed locations out by Carowinds so it would saddle the NC and SC border? Thought I remember hearing that at some point.

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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I've got a question that is/isn't related to the stadium refurb - What are thoughts about the current location (which I think is perfect) and the diminishing places for tailgating?

Now - not to take my question out of context - I'm not talking about no tailgating spaces, or am I talking about in-fill within the next year or so removing mass amounts of spaces - but I think it is something that is going to become an issue within the next decade.

Since game day experience is only half in the stadium, you wonder what is the long term plan for this situation?

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southslider Town

southslider

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The stadium is perfect in uptown.

I also think the stadium is nice as-is. But as soon the question of public funding is asked, you risk the public asking for a new location, especially if any funding comes from a more regional source than Charlotte. That's what makes the Carowinds vicinity attractive-- more funding!

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