Charlotte Knights AAA Ballpark in Third Ward

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

2 hours ago, a2theb said:

Do I think a stadium smaller than current standards somewhere along blue line or future silver is doable? Yes, but I think it would take a relocation (Rays) as opposed to expansion. With the NC media market belonging to Braves, gnats, O's and Reds (to some extent) it would be tough to get an expansion team.

 

That is a positive. Those teams don't own the media markets. MLB has inter-market about 100 miles and outer-market. No team has NC or SC 's media rights, those teams just break up the tv broadcasting in the Carolinas. 15m people living in the Carolinas is certainly attractive to MLB.

[eastsider]

6 hours ago, go_vertical said:

I don't really want a MLB team here. There really needs to be sports options at all price ranges. Panthers games are expensive. If the Hornets were to get consistently good then certainly ticket prices will go up. I think MLS is going to happen here. That leaves us with our minors; Hounds, Checkers, Knights, and Independence. 

Side note but the Hounds have folded, though they may possibly come back in 2 years after renovations to Memorial Stadium are complete.

[KJHburg]

FYI just heard over 10,000 at the opening game tonight!  final score CLT 12 Durham Bulls 11 

 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

8 hours ago, KJHburg said:

FYI just heard over 10,000 at the opening game tonight!  final score CLT 12 Durham Bulls 11 

 

We stopped by Alive After 5's home opener too yesterday lol.  It's in a new location, parking lot next to Duckworths where the xmas village was last year.  Interesting location for AA5.  But the game was a lot of fun.  If all butts were in seats, that place would be packed full in the stands...but we know that MiLB baseball is just as much of a social thing/walking around concourses as it is for actual baseball watching (even though AAA is a very high level of baseball).  It ended up being a great game.  Concession stands and beer stations def seem to increase to help alleviate long lines.  There is a  new 2 level private party/patio setup this season in the back left outfield, which is pretty cool.  New food vendors (like Sabor).  Seems like the Knights know what to do each and every year to spruce things up and keep fans coming.  Non-Knights related, but I was disappointed the Taphouse wasn't open at the Mint.  I thought I read online that they would be open in time for the home opener.  Walked by and looked like it was still under construction. 

[CLTProductions]

1 hour ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

 Non-Knights related, but I was disappointed the Taphouse wasn't open at the Mint.  I thought I read online that they would be open in time for the home opener.  Walked by and looked like it was still under construction. 

yeah there is still quite a lot of work to do, not sure what insane human over there thought theyd be open by opening day. 

[dylansukkert]

10,656 official attendance making it the largest crowd for any Opening Knight uptown and 10th largest crowd at BB&T Ballpark. The concourses were slammed and long lines at most concession stands. Like normal all the seats were sold but majority of the time they were half full. They really should look at adding another Home Run Porch type thing out in left field for more standing room only and trying to add 500-1000 seats would really make a big difference. 

[dylansukkert]

I was at the USC & UNC game tonight. 6,700 in attendance, good crowd.... but I noticed, there is no seat in that stadium that doesn’t have a view of a crane. From FNB to the courthouse to the Bohemian, cranes are everywhere from BB&T Ballpark. 

[Nick2]

On 4/17/2019 at 12:08 AM, dylansukkert said:

I was at the USC & UNC game tonight. 6,700 in attendance, good crowd.... but I noticed, there is no seat in that stadium that doesn’t have a view of a crane. From FNB to the courthouse to the Bohemian, cranes are everywhere from BB&T Ballpark. 

The skyline is massively different from when the stadium opened. I love it.

On another note, GO COCKS!

[15895]

So, no hotel in outfield yet?

[Guest]

So, no hotel in outfield yet?

It’ll be office now


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[King of the Queen City]

[KJHburg]

Day game for the Knights and I knew something was going on when I saw a mom and her son walking with a baseball glove uptown. 

[DamicoKaren]

Any insight into when they might kickoff the office building behind the field?

[KJHburg]

6 minutes ago, DamicoKaren said:

Any insight into when they might kickoff the office building behind the field?

Not yet they are still designing it last I heard and parking is somewhat of an issue.  It is a really tight spot. 

[kermit]

FWIW this is a rendering for an office tower at the Greensboro Grasshoppers ballpark. I don't believe there is any onsite parking.

Based on the few renderings I have seen it does a very good job of making the ballpark feel connected to the city on non-game days -- something we really need to work on.

Edited May 4, 2019 by kermit

[KJHburg]

Project Slugger up in Greensboro will have some spaces in a parking deck the city is building across the street.  I do think the Knights tower is viable it is just more complicated. 

[Nick2]

29 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Project Slugger up in Greensboro will have some spaces in a parking deck the city is building across the street.  I do think the Knights tower is viable it is just more complicated. 

The office tower in Greensboro has also been scaled back to 6 floors. They already have a tenant lined up which is helping this project go forward. 

The deck they're building keeps going up in number of spots available. I think the most recent I saw was 1,050. 

[dylansukkert]

Record crowd last night for the 4th, 10,848. 

[kermit]

So I know that the impermanent nature of ballpark concessions makes this tough but.... it sure would be great if one of our better breweries (or maybe Gilde) set up a -brewing- brewpub outpost on the grass hill in the outfield (or maybe the small corner parcel at Mint and 4th) It could serve as an interface to the ballpark on game days (at least with a patio where you can see (some) of the game) and it would be open all the time which would help make the ballpark less of a black-hole on non game days. In addition it would help the ballpark establish a bit more craft beer cred — something they are kinda lacking since they have gone all in with AB (its harder to get local beer now although Hop Drop is still around if you ask vendors). Being able to actually see inside the ballpark on  non-game days is an asset that restaraunts  and bars should take better advantage of. 

While this plan is probably unrealistic as a stand-alone facility, it would certainly be easy to do at the base of the vaporware office building. 

[Blue Moon was initially brewed only at Coors Field]

Edited July 8, 2019 by kermit

[elrodvt]

The brewery at Coors field does a lot of experimental small batch brews. When the big boys want to they can make an excellent beer. The price is higher though and with all the breweries in that area it's not that popular. I would always just stop at great divide on the walk over. Here there isn't much down there so it might work.

[dylansukkert]

Knights are tied for a Wild Card spot. They haven’t made the playoffs once since moving Uptown. 

[KJHburg]

 

[carolinaboy]

Apparently a story on ESPN that the Oakland A's are possibly looking to relocate. Sorry I don't have a link.

I hope Tepper or someone else makes a play to get them to Charlotte. North Carolina is a very good baseball state.

Would be great if this stadium could be expanded for MLB.

[Norm2]

2 hours ago, carolinaboy said:

Apparently a story on ESPN that the Oakland A's are possibly looking to relocate. Sorry I don't have a link.

I hope Tepper or someone else makes a play to get them to Charlotte. North Carolina is a very good baseball state.

Would be great if this stadium could be expanded for MLB.

Unfortunately this stadium wasn't built with the ability to be expanded

[InSouthPark]

3 hours ago, carolinaboy said:

Apparently a story on ESPN that the Oakland A's are possibly looking to relocate. Sorry I don't have a link.

I hope Tepper or someone else makes a play to get them to Charlotte. North Carolina is a very good baseball state.

Would be great if this stadium could be expanded for MLB.

Tepper isn't going to pour 1/3 of of his net worth into Major League sports.  He is already in for $3+ billion.  Buying a MLB would be another 1.5+ bil plus a stadium, plus other facilities.   Jordan sees on a daily basis what a small market does for an average (on a good year) NBA team attendance and NC is a WAAAAAY bigger basketball market than a baseball market. 

IMHO, Charlotte wouldn't support a MLB franchise yet.  We need the young millennials we have now to age up into "+2.5kids" and still have that kind of population growth with Gen Z.  Baseball is an older generations game. There is only so much money to go around for 2.5mil people as it is.