Charlotte Knights AAA Ballpark in Third Ward

[navigator319]

As I mentioned MLB would need to make waivers. With those waivers in place I feel they would want a 30k stadium.

A 30k stadium can fit on that site. I don’t believe anyone who says otherwise. Will an architect need to be creative, hell yes! But not prohibitively creative. You add decks, actually wrap the stadium, cantilever of 10-20% to over hang, hell even sink the field another 20 feet, etc.

[Hunted]

1 hour ago, navigator319 said:

As I mentioned MLB would need to make waivers. With those waivers in place I feel they would want a 30k stadium.

A 30k stadium can fit on that site. I don’t believe anyone who says otherwise. Will an architect need to be creative, hell yes! But not prohibitively creative. You add decks, actually wrap the stadium, cantilever of 10-20% to over hang, hell even sink the field another 20 feet, etc.

It’s a horrible location. Even for a Triple-A team. 

[Nick2]

1 hour ago, Hunted said:

It’s a horrible location. Even for a Triple-A team. 

Why is that?

[Hunted]

9 hours ago, Nick2 said:

Why is that?

Mostly because it doesn’t allow for future expansion in the event we land a MLB team. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I think it’s in a very awkward location. I posted pics in the “MLB in Charlotte” thread when it was a hot topic about what I considered a superior location. Let me try and find it real quick.

[CLT>___]

 

I played around with adding extra seating to the BB&T ballpark. I would love a MLB team and have to say one of the reasons I moved to uptown was to be able to walk to things like baseball games. So if we did get a MLB team and they moved out of the city it would be a serious bummer.  I think the existing lot is plenty large enough to double maybe triple the current seating. 

You could extend the current stands over the existing structure along MLK, extend and wrap the stands around 4th street, and add box seating on top of where the stands would step down along Graham street

Edited January 10, 2018 by JSquare

[SouthEndCLT811]

Use this

https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm

The only comparable stadium to the site of the Knights is Wrigley which should be an exception to the rule due to the age/historical relevance.  Target Field in Minneapolis is around 11 acres, SunTrust 14 acres, Citi Field 12 acres.  This location comes up short for MLB.

Edited January 10, 2018 by SouthEndCLT811

[CLT>___]

13 minutes ago, SouthEndCLT811 said:

Use this

https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm

The only comparable stadium to the site of the Knights is Wrigley which should be an exception to the rule due to the age/historical relevance.  Target Field in Minneapolis is around 11 acres, SunTrust 14 acres, Citi Field 12 acres.  This location comes up short for MLB.

Acreage seems like a pretty arbitrary way to judge a stadium....

[SouthEndCLT811]

Gives a general idea of the space needed though...

Edited January 10, 2018 by SouthEndCLT811

[Hunted]

The fact that if it even could fit a major seating addition, it needing to use every possible inch of that block is another reason why it is NOT the best option going forward in the future.

 Y’all just like the novelty of it being smear the heart of Uptown. That appeal will wear off once everyone realizes it won’t work for MLB expansion.

[JoshuaDrown]

Interesting Sports Illustrated article on the next MLB expansion to 32 teams... but the two new clubs being in Montreal and Portland. This is the third time I’ve read that Portland is inevitable and most baseball writers think Montreal will be next. 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/10/19/major-league-baseball-expansion-proposal-realignment

[eastsider]

34 minutes ago, Hunted said:

Y’all just like the novelty of it being smear the heart of Uptown. That appeal will wear off once everyone realizes it won’t work for MLB expansion.

Everyone already realizes BB&T won’t work for MLB. It was stated many times by the Knights before and during construction.

As far as a future MLB ballpark, there will be a large plot of land available a couple blocks south in a few years.

[DMann]

If you think that new owners of the Panthers would want a new stadium, what makes you think that a MLB franchise coming here would settled to a reconfigured MILB stadium?

[KJHburg]

^^ the county owns the land under the BofA Stadium so who knows if it will be available or not. 

[jednc]

On 1/10/2018 at 1:22 PM, KJHburg said:

^^ the county owns the land under the BofA Stadium so who knows if it will be available or not. 

I don't think that is correct.

[KJHburg]

^^^ No  it was county owned land there was an old hospital on the site that that county had owned and the county's (and city"s contribution) was the land on which the privately financed stadium was built on.  The land is leased for like a $1 a year for 99 years. 

Here is a story that mentions the land lease of the stadium land from the city to the Panthers. http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=5256

another mention of the leased land http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/apr/22/carlos-gimenez/carlos-gimenez-says-miami-dolphins-are-only-proper/

history of the stadium deal http://football.ballparks.com/NFL/CarolinaPanthers/

Edited January 12, 2018 by KJHburg

[videtur quam contuor]

The land under which the stadium was built was for a century or more an African American area of the (much smaller) city. The Isabella Wyche elementary school, the Third Ward recreation center and Good Samaritan Hospital made up much of this property. The school closed in 1970 or so and had become a work release jail site by the 1980's with men spending the night in the building and going to their job in the daytime. Razor wire was around the site. It was an area that no one could imagine would be attractive and thus could be packaged by the city and county for the stadium.

https://perry1644.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/good-samaritan-hospital/

The current practice field was part of the Smith Metal and Iron yard, a "junkyard" that was from the Civil War as it was on the rail line. A century of dumping metals, distillates, and chemicals of every kind made it whatever worse-than-brownfield could be.  The soil was removed, much of it "cooked",  much more acceptable soil replaced the former dangerous ground now used as the Panthers practice area.

This is why the municipal boards could provide this land as they could not otherwise even give it away.  The Panthers had no intention of buying land that could be potentially dangerous, thus the 1$/year. It was a good deal for everyone.

I worked with the daughter- in-law of Isabella Wyche. I played basketball at the Third Ward Recreation center around 1980.  (Atrocious lighting even with large lamps that hung so low that one had to adjust his shot or pass to a teammate.)

 

Edited January 12, 2018 by tarhoosier

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

The land under which the stadium was built was for a century or more an African American area of the (much smaller) city. The Isabella Wyche elementary school, the Third Ward recreation center and Good Samaritan Hospital made up much of this property. The school closed in 1970 or so and had become a work release jail site by the 1980's with men spending the night in the building and going to their job in the daytime. Razor wire was around the site. It was an area that no one could imagine would be attractive and thus could be packaged by the city and county for the stadium.

https://perry1644.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/good-samaritan-hospital/

The current practice field was part of the Smith Metal and Iron yard, a "junkyard" that was from the Civil War as it was on the rail line. A century of dumping metals, distillates, and chemicals of every kind made it whatever worse-than-brownfield could be.  The soil was removed, much of it "cooked",  much more acceptable soil replaced the former dangerous ground now used as the Panthers practice area.

This is why the municipal boards could provide this land as they could not otherwise even give it away.  The Panthers had no intention of buying land that could be potentially dangerous, thus the 1$/year. It was a good deal for everyone.

I worked with the daughter- in-law of Isabella Wyche. I played basketball at the Third Ward Recreation center around 1980.  (Atrocious lighting even with large lamps that hung so low that one had to adjust his shot or pass to a teammate.)

 

I love your contributions. Thank you for the info, you give a perspective that not many of us can. I hope everyone is as thankful as I. Very cool

[jednc]

On 1/11/2018 at 9:13 PM, KJHburg said:

^^^ No  it was county owned land there was an old hospital on the site that that county had owned and the county's (and city"s contribution) was the land on which the privately financed stadium was built on.  The land is leased for like a $1 a year for 99 years. 

Here is a story that mentions the land lease of the stadium land from the city to the Panthers. http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=5256

another mention of the leased land http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/apr/22/carlos-gimenez/carlos-gimenez-says-miami-dolphins-are-only-proper/

history of the stadium deal http://football.ballparks.com/NFL/CarolinaPanthers/

So the land is city-owned, not county-owned. Either way, it is leased for $1/year. Thanks for the info!

[KJHburg]

^^ Yes I had it reversed but both the city and county participated in the land deal but I guess the city owns it and leases it.  It is another dynamic in the whole stadium deal with any new owner. 

[KJHburg]

This is indeed a good thing more college baseball at BB&T Ballpark.  

From Business Journal subscriber article 

""the Triple A team’s top executive met with reporters to discuss what will be the most ambitious slate of college games hosted by the Knights since the ballpark opened in 2014. South Carolina faces Appalachian State on March 6, starting a six-game college schedule this season at BB&T BallPark. 

All six games are scheduled on Tuesdays in March and April. Here is rest of the college lineup: Charlotte 49ers vs. Wake Forest (March 13), Charlotte 49ers vs. Arkansas (March 20), Charlotte 49ers vs. North Carolina (March 27), North Carolina vs. South Carolina (April 3) and Davidson vs. Duke (April 24).""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/31/why-the-charlotte-knights-have-made-college.html

[dylansukkert]

10,320 for opening Knight this evening. If only there were more seats we could have even bigger crowds for the popular Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night crowds. Hopefully attendance jumps up again from last season. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

8 hours ago, dylansukkert said:

10,320 for opening Knight this evening. If only there were more seats we could have even bigger crowds for the popular Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night crowds. Hopefully attendance jumps up again from last season. 

I forget the exact time frame for the upgrade, but the most recent stadium upgrade included the addition of the Right Field Home Run Seats.  I have always thought it would be cool if the Home Run Porch wrapped around the entire outfield of the stadium.  It would not only provide some height to that side of the stadium but provide additional capacity.  Could add some extra premium Club 93 HR Porch seats too up there.  The stadium would look bigger, but importantly during weekday games (when attendance isn't as high), won't look like an empty ballpark with the HR Porch vs say an empty left field grandstand.

[DMann]

Plenty of folks sitting on their balconies on The Mint, TradeMark, and Ascent catching the game.

[dylansukkert]

52 minutes ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

I forget the exact time frame for the upgrade, but the most recent stadium upgrade included the addition of the Right Field Home Run Seats.  I have always thought it would be cool if the Home Run Porch wrapped around the entire outfield of the stadium.  It would not only provide some height to that side of the stadium but provide additional capacity.  Could add some extra premium Club 93 HR Porch seats too up there.  The stadium would look bigger, but importantly during weekday games (when attendance isn't as high), won't look like an empty ballpark with the HR Porch vs say an empty left field grandstand.

I would be all for extending the Home Run Porch. That is my favorite place to hangout and possibly the most popular in the stadium. Maybe start in left field where the suites end, imagine that view of the game and skyline from a perch. 

[deleted]

10 hours ago, dylansukkert said:

If only there were more seats we could have even bigger crowds for the popular Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night crowds.

Better as it is, IMO.  Rather have it mostly full on weekdays and at capacity on weekends than half empty ever.  I hope that when we get MLB (now convinced it will happen in the next 20 years), we build the smallest ballpark in the country (~30,000).  I love the intimacy of the smaller parks and the lack of empty seats that were built strictly for weekends and opening day.