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Everyone has probably already seen the renderings for the new stadium by now, but I noticed a link to them wasn't yet posted in the thread.

http://gmine.blogspo...renderings.html

Thanks for posting. I had briefly seen these renderings on the news (well, one of them) but had not had the time to go digging for them. I have mixed feelings about the project as laid out on the link. I'm excited UNC-Charlotte is getting football. I also realize they can't build everything they want at once. I do wish the stadium was going to include lights and a video scoreboard from the beginning. I completely understand the decision to build it first to hold 15K with the possibility of expansion to 40 or 60K later. BUT, the renderings of the 15K size do look a little underwhelming. I'm not too sure about the architecture of the project either. I can't say really what I'd rather see, but again, it's a little underwhelming. I'm sure the first time I see it in person, I'll get over any concerns. I can't wait until 8/31/13.

I'd be interested to see what others with some architechtural credentials think of this stadium. I'll be honest, I think I'd like to see some glass and perhaps a more modern look (regardless of the current campus push for classical architechture).

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The only problem with glass and modern is they look like hell in 20 years and people clamor for them to be replaced. This certainly isn't the most outstanding architectural structure, but it blends with the research institute at least.

The no lights is no big deal. Ohio State and many of your other older stadiums do not have lights either. They simply bring in temporary lights whenever they have to play a night game.

One positive about the 15,300 seat capacity setup is that there is a lot of space left in the area above the seats. This will allow the school to bring in temporary bleachers if demand warrants it. Duke did this last week against Alabama and increased their capacity by 4,00. With abundant space all around the horseshoe shape, it wouldn't surprise me if Charlotte could get it's stadium capacity up to 22-25000 before expansion.

If Old Dominion can average 20,000 at their place, there is no reason Charlotte can't do the same or better. Both schools are in similar standing in their respective states, but Charlotte has the advantage of being located in a larger city that 40,000 alumni call home.

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  • 5 months later...
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  • 5 months later...

It was announced today that the football field (not stadium) will be named McColl-Richardson field.

In his speech, McColl says this:

UNCClt_News: McColl says he and Richardson haven't failed at much and this 49er Fball will be no exception.

Very excited to see two of the most influential figures in Charlotte get involved in the program!

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^^^^^^^^^

You WANT the stadium to have a corporate name?? Man, I couldn't disagree more. I long for the days when stadiums just kept their given names. College in paticular still holds on to this tradition, Charlotte would be one of a small few that would have a corproate entity as it's title if it goes in that direction.

That being said, I'll take Cleveland Municipal Stadium, The Boston Garden and Candlestick Park over the crap they have out there now.

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As an App grad, I'd upgrade my donation in a heartbeat to prevent renaming Kidd Brewer Stadium if we needed money. But I suppose if the UNCC football is brand new, it's not like they are dumping tradition for dollars. Just getting dollars for the sake of it.

Everything in the stadium is up for naming rights pretty much. The field house as a price of $2.5 million and the stadium is $5. I believe the press box and other more minor areas are up for naming as well.

Someone that has proven to be in the know over at the 49ers board has said that Jerry and Hugh have taken this on as a personal project and their involvement will go beyond this initial donation. They want it to be successful.

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I wouldn't be surprised if there will be several more new FBS teams in the next 10 years that were previous commuter colleges without football that transitioned into major urban universities. UT San Antonio is one relatively new FCS team that will play FBS next year, as I noted years ago the college I went to Georgia State is now playing FCS & could be planning on a jump to FBS in the next several years. One thing that does seem to be common is that for these large universities, it doesn't matter at all if they are necessarily successful in FCS to jump to FBS, but they have deep financial pockets & can fill a 15-20k stadium.

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^

As an avid App supporter, I can assure you the shift is coming. I've heard quite a bit of blabbering around the ASU message boards about the "big move". I could live w/out seeing App in the Sunbelt due to the match-ups and with the potential for ECU heading to the Big East, CUSA is less appealing.

The point of all this is what I would really like to see... App, UNCC, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and company all forming a new FBS conference. Add in Old Dominion, James Madison, Nova if they don't go Big East, Richmond and maybe a Sunbelt team or two (think MTSU, EKU or Troy) and I think you have a very nice regional conference that would include immediate rivalries within driving distance (which I believe is the key to a great conference). Also would be a nice basketball conference (Charlotte, ODU, Richmond and Nova being the flagships).

It's a pipe dream, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

Edited by ah59396
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^

As an avid App supporter, I can assure you the shift is coming. I've heard quite a bit of blabbering around the ASU message boards about the "big move". I could live w/out seeing App in the Sunbelt due to the match-ups and with the potential for ECU heading to the Big East, CUSA is less appealing.

The point of all this is what I would really like to see... App, UNCC, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and company all forming a new FBS conference. Add in Old Dominion, James Madison, Nova if they don't go Big East, Richmond and maybe a Sunbelt team or two (think MTSU, EKU or Troy) and I think you have a very nice regional conference that would include immediate rivalries within driving distance (which I believe is the key to a great conference). Also would be a nice basketball conference (Charlotte, ODU, Richmond and Nova being the flagships).

It's a pipe dream, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

I want some teams in there with basketball success. I'm personally not a big college football fan. Hard to be when the average margin of victory for D1 football is 31 points.

Richmond and Nova cannot support a D1 team. ECU is not getting into the Big East. Contrary to what ECU supporters will have you believe, they're not a good program. They have 4 winning seasons in 10 years. 4. Other than baseball, their other sports teams are terrible. They're in a crappy town with no TV market. They have applied to the Big East 27 times! They've been passed on 27 times!

I'm hoping Temple and Memphis do not make it into the Big East and UTEP jumps to the Mountain West Conference. Would love to see Charlotte, App, Temple, and ODU get an invite to CUSA. That league becomes more East Coast centric and adds two quality basketball programs in Temple and ODU and another (Charlotte) that performed very well while previously in CUSA. App brings attendance that exceeds the conference average and provides close by rivals for Charlotte and ECU.

That is likely just a pipe dream as well, but it'd be a good basketball conference and decent for football.

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  • 5 months later...

Charlotte will be going back to Conference USA in 2013.

Rumors out there that the stadium will be expanded quicker than anticipated.

We have expansion to 40,000 in the budget for 2014, but temporary seats may be introduced to bring capacity to 25,000 until a permanent structure is completed.

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They do realize they actually need people to sit in the stands first right? UCF, Houston and ECU are the only 3 teams in that conference that average over 30k, and about half the conference averages 20k or less a game. I think it'd be a lot better for the school to pack out a 15k field for 3-5 years as opposed to building for 40k and having 50% capacity...

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These renderings mysteriously popped up last week without ever being officially released. The black seating is what we are assuming to be temporary bleacher seating.

What renderings? I haven't been able to find anything new.

I'm glad they're eyeing FBS quicker than anticipated. Being an independent FCS team will not do well for the team if only for a few years. I'm saddened that they did not find a conference to fit in, if even only for a couple years.

On a side note, I hate to bring back up an age-old argument (and for the sake of not resurrecting that thread, I'll mention this here,) but UNC Charlotte really needs to change its name. Today I overheard somebody talking about the football program; he called it the University of Chapel Hill at Charlotte. I'm pretty sure I almost threw up. I had no choice but to interrupt. I'm really sick and tired of people treating the university like it is just a satellite location of UNC-CH. The man looked at me like I was crazy when I corrected him. I had to explain to him that Charlotte was not affiliated with Chapel Hill in any way outside of just being another school in the University of North Carolina system. I had to compare Independence to Butler in order for him to understand how that could possibly be.

I have a friend who earned her MBA from Chapel Hill a few years back. To this day she is still convinced that Charlotte is a satellite of Chapel Hill, and any argument I make to the contrary is quickly met with anger that I’m even bringing it up.

What I’m trying to say is that Charlotte doesn't need the "NC" moniker. There is no reason for it. The University of Charlotte or Charlotte University would be just fine IMO. They're changing conferences, why not just take the opportunity to jump the brand and be rid of the satellite image? I'm tired of trying to educate the daft.

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^^^100% agreed. I don't know whythe Chancellor is so against this. I know he says that there is a lot of capital in the UNC brand but that is only for UNC-CH..."Carolina". I will bet that most around the country know little to nothing about the other schools in the system except for the ones that do not carry the UNC-X moniker. Those schools in my opinion will almost always be seen as satellite campuses of Carolina. UNCC needs to become University of Charlotte and make a name for itself.

Edited by cltbwimob
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What I’m trying to say is that Charlotte doesn't need the "NC" moniker. There is no reason for it. The University of Charlotte or Charlotte University would be just fine IMO. They're changing conferences, why not just take the opportunity to jump the brand and be rid of the satellite image? I'm tired of trying to educate the daft.

I get this very much. The Athletics for the University is officially marketed as Charlotte by the way (not UNC Charlotte) but of course the media and common knowledge knows it as UNC Charlotte.

^^^100% agreed. I don't know whythe Chancellor is so against this. I know he says that there is a lot of capital in the UNC brand but that is only for UNC-CH..."Carolina". I will bet that most around the country know little to nothing about the other schools in the system except for the ones that do not carry the UNC-X moniker. Those schools in my opinion will almost always be seen as satellite campuses of Carolina. UNCC needs to become University of Charlotte and make a name for itself.

I also get the part that I bolded as I do agree that the non-"UNC" prefixed schools are better known throughout the country.

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