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Raleigh with a Pro-Football Team?

ERJ170

By ERJ170
in The NC Triangle

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ncwebguy Burg

ncwebguy

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In the early/mid 90s, the Durham Bulls were flirting with moving to RTP, but Durham gave incentives to build the DBAP in its current location. They wanted to be the "Triangle's team" with easy I-40 access, lots of adjacent parking, and push the Mudcats further east. But it didn't turn out that way and I think they are better for it.

Tickets are hard to come by for non-alumni/boosters for the area university's teams, so there is a large untapped market for football fans who can't make those games. The league could be stacked with more than NFL castoffs if it allows 18 year olds who don't want to go to college and offer near star salaries for current NFL backups.

Carter-Finley is the only facility in the area that could house games *and* be available on Friday nights (eliminating Durham County stadium). I think the first or second year would be a good barometer for if the league will survive. If so, then building a Shaw/St. Augs/UFL stadium (with potential to expand to attract NC State) south of downtown would be a good fit. This could be served by the existing rail tracks that run under Wilmington Street. Downtown Durham is "landlocked", though if one of the car dealerships near 147 moved, a stadium could be weged in.

To differentiate it from the other major leagues, they should try something different with team names. Maybe something like "Triangle Football Club/United (Triangle FU)", "NC Pigskin/BBQ", "NC Research" or "NC Bees" (off the state motto -- To be, rather than to seem).

I don't think that if the area doesn't land a "founding franchise" of the league, it won't be out of the running for an expansion or relocated franchise in season two or three. That being said, if people want it, let them apply for season tickets when that comes online.

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bj-26 Unincorporated Area

bj-26

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I just can't see a minor league football team coming back to Raleigh after what happened with the Skyhawks. It's hard to make money when no one is in the stands. There's too much competition around here with NCSU, UNC, Duke and East Carolina. The IceCaps and Hurricanes offered something different and managed to build a fan base. But there is just too much football being played around here to expect 30k more to show up for a minor league football team. I think Virginia Beach/Norfolk would be a better fit - fewer college teams in their area.

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Subway Scoundrel Hamlet

Subway Scoundrel

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Interesting! Were it still there, it would be nicely placed for the activity in Glenwood South.

I had to research from my original post on the subject(and many of you probably already know) but the reason Zebulon has the ball park is because there was/is some rule about having minor league baseball teams less than 30 miles apart.

More to the point of this thread - maybe it would be better for the city to do something about that rule, draw the Mudcats to downtown, and not worry about the USFL... i mean, the UFL.

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JeffC Hamlet

JeffC

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There was another article last week about this UFL franchise where one of the league officials was quoted as saying they were looking for places with available 20,000-25,000 seat stadiums. We don't currently have anything like that in Raleigh, although the Shaw/St. Augs stadium proposed for SE Raleigh was about that size...although the location would kill UFL's marketing efforts (who wants to tailgate in the hood?)

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Subway Scoundrel Hamlet

Subway Scoundrel

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There was another article last week about this UFL franchise where one of the league officials was quoted as saying they were looking for places with available 20,000-25,000 seat stadiums. We don't currently have anything like that in Raleigh, although the Shaw/St. Augs stadium proposed for SE Raleigh was about that size...although the location would kill UFL's marketing efforts (who wants to tailgate in the hood?)
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Transplant Hamlet

Transplant

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From a marketing standpoint, I would not go with Raleigh XYZ.. why? because there are SOOO many people out there who call anywhere in North Carolina "Carolina".. how do I know? because I work with them and I am in Maryland. When people say where I am from, they do not say Raleigh or Arapahoe or whatever, North Carolina.. they do not even say North Carolina.. they say "Carolina".. and I think it broadens the market to call it Carolina XYZ because there really isn't the grand, big, whopper population in the Triangle to have a team just called Raleigh something.. This is not just a Raleigh team.. it is one for the whole state.. and they should market it to the whole state... because they are going to need statewide support.

Just like people travel from mountain and from water to go to a UNC, DUKE, and NCSU football/basketball game.. they are trying to get that same kinda of committment for the pro football team.. so they need to make it so that EVERYONE in the states feels it's their team and not just one area. Does someone from Raleigh or Wilmington or Fayetteville feel the Charlotte Bobcats are their team? Not really because it's "Charlotte's" team.. it's just not the same kind of ownership..

But, that's just my opinion.. others?

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