MLS in Charlotte - 2021

[KJHburg]

Yes I do think people will travel to Vegas for their NFL's teams games that makes sense.  As for NHL and MLS I seriously doubt it.    Charlotte its location, tv market size, location of other teams, and potential corporate sponsorships not to mention population growth, ownership and ready made stadium should make us the #1 pick for a MLS team of those cities I see. 

[kermit]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Yes I do think people will travel to Vegas for their NFL's teams games that makes sense.  As for NHL and MLS I seriously doubt it. 

  Roughly 420% of Canadian hockey fans travel to NHL away games every year. 

Even slacker American NHL fans make pilgrimages frequently ( I was once the only non-Predators fan on a train between Montreal and Toronto). 

Edited July 10, 2019 by kermit

[TheOneRJ]

4 hours ago, Crucial_Infra said:

New article in CO on Tepper’s wooing of MLS.  Says the team name will be Carolina and not Charlotte. 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article232256247.html

Tragic. 

[KJHburg]

From Business Journal exclusive and all I can say KABOOM   If the MLS wants to be a major sports entity in the USA this is how it is done.  We should be awarded a franchise hands down to Mr Tepper.

""If a Major League Soccer team comes to Charlotte, there are at least 60 companies willing to spend $100,000 annually to buy luxury suites, Carolina Panthers executives told the Charlotte Business Journal this week. The pledges for suites would dwarf many existing teams in the league, whose soccer-specific stadiums typically have a total of 30 luxury boxes.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/07/10/exclusive-panthers-execs-to-tell-mls-they-have-60.html

I would like to see what Sacramento has in this department. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by KJHburg

[SouthEndCLT811]

34 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

From Business Journal exclusive and all I can say KABOOM   If the MLS wants to be a major sports entity in the USA this is how it is done.  We should be awarded a franchise hands down to Mr Tepper.

""If a Major League Soccer team comes to Charlotte, there are at least 60 companies willing to spend $100,000 annually to buy luxury suites, Carolina Panthers executives told the Charlotte Business Journal this week. The pledges for suites would dwarf many existing teams in the league, whose soccer-specific stadiums typically have a total of 30 luxury boxes.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/07/10/exclusive-panthers-execs-to-tell-mls-they-have-60.html

I would like to see what Sacramento has in this department. 

This group is using the only pitch the MLS cares about $$$

For as much posturing fans talk on twitter and reddit about supporters groups and lower division attendance, when it comes down to it and a city like Nashville shells out $300M in private funding for a stadium or do what Tepper is doing on top of whatever funding he'll get for future stadium plans, in the end that'll be what wins us a franchise

[kermit]

honest question: Why would MLS care about stadium configuration (purpose built vs. shared) if the team is making metric-craptons of cash? The suites announcement was certainly a power move by Tepper.

[SouthEndCLT811]

29 minutes ago, kermit said:

honest question: Why would MLS care about stadium configuration (purpose built vs. shared) if the team is making metric-craptons of cash? The suites announcement was certainly a power move by Tepper.

The league debuted in 3/4 empty NFL stadiums and I think for a bit that made the MLS care deeply about soccer specific venues that the optics were better and owners could grow revenue by controlling the stadium.

Enter Seattle and Atlanta which were owned by the same (or shared) owners as their NFL counterparts who showed they were capable of filling the venues more so than say legacy MLS owners like the New England Revolution.  I think the league might realize not all NFL stadiums are bad, especially if part of Tepper's pitch will be a new shared facility build to accommodate both NFL and MLS while using a proven venue in BoA in the interim.  

Heck just yesterday the Chicago Fire announced their move back to Soldier Field

Edited July 10, 2019 by SouthEndCLT811

[js4life]

If the numbers I have heard thrown around are accurate in terms of potential season ticket holders & corporate sponsers then a Tepper led team would be top 10 revenue wise in MLS

[dylansukkert]

Will be interesting to see what the attendance is for the ICC match. As of right now LOTS of lower level seats still available. Hopefully we can get at least 50k. Roma backing out could have hurt ticket sales. Also I always bought my tickets on Groupon for the ICC Matches at an extremely discounted price, have yet to see it on there.

[Ilm2clt]

https://ussoccerplayers.com/2019/07/another-round-of-mls-expansion.html

Article about expansion process

[Hushpuppy321]

On 7/10/2019 at 5:17 PM, SouthEndCLT811 said:

The league debuted in 3/4 empty NFL stadiums and I think for a bit that made the MLS care deeply about soccer specific venues that the optics were better and owners could grow revenue by controlling the stadium.

Enter Seattle and Atlanta which were owned by the same (or shared) owners as their NFL counterparts who showed they were capable of filling the venues more so than say legacy MLS owners like the New England Revolution.  I think the league might realize not all NFL stadiums are bad, especially if part of Tepper's pitch will be a new shared facility build to accommodate both NFL and MLS while using a proven venue in BoA in the interim.  

Heck just yesterday the Chicago Fire announced their move back to Soldier Field

To you soccer buffs out there - What upgrades or retrofit  could be done to Bank of America Stadium to make it a more ‘intimate’ experience for MLS?  I keep reading that but not understanding the difference between Soccer Specific and Football Stadiums.

[SouthEndCLT811]

1 hour ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

To you soccer buffs out there - What upgrades or retrofit  could be done to Bank of America Stadium to make it a more ‘intimate’ experience for MLS?  I keep reading that but not understanding the difference between Soccer Specific and Football Stadiums.

Besides the general scope of NFL stadiums being the size of what probably only the Top 10-15 clubs in the world (and Atlanta) can fill capacity wise, the sidelines are further from the field in NFL stadiums to accommodate all that comes with football on the sidelines.  Allianz Field where Minnesota United plays and just opened this year is 17 feet from front row to the touchline, FC Cincinnati just shared renderings of their stadium opening in 2021 and they're 15 feet seats to touchline.  Another fad is the Borussia Dortmund wall where the slope of the stands makes for a louder and more intimidating place to play, especially when it's where your supporters sections sit.  Not unlike other sports teams need to "hold serve" at home and get max amount of points possible and hope to be somewhat decent on the road (around .500) so the more a team can do to make their stadium a fortress the better.

I have posted it as an ideal state a few times but the renovations to Miami's Hard Rock Stadium are probably the ideal outcome for BoA that hosts both NFL and MLS.  With the Pipe & Foundry land opening up I think Tepper will build new and have movable stands that can come closer to the field for soccer, move back for NFL.  And one endzone will have a slope closer to that wall type atmosphere similar to the supporters section end of Mercedes Benz Stadium

Edited July 17, 2019 by SouthEndCLT811

[HopHead]

As some have alluded to, Ally looks to be the sponsor of Charlotte’s MLS bid: 

 

[skymiler]

Did anyone make it out to the game yesterday?  Curious how big the crowd was?

[kickazzz2000]

41 minutes ago, skymiler said:

Did anyone make it out to the game yesterday?  Curious how big the crowd was?

I was there.  My 10 year old son felt it would have been better if they hadn't sold any upper level tickets, would have more filled in the lower bowl and felt better.

It was a surreal experience seeing my favorite EPL team in my city.  Not to mention getting the opportunity to see my favorite team (Panthers) in London later this year.

Edited July 21, 2019 by kickazzz2000

[Owenorange]

Not a great turnout (announced 35k). Not surprising given heat and swap out of Roma for Fiorentina (which was 16th in Serie A last year). But definitely not the exclamation point Tepper/Glick were probably hoping for on heels of MLS talks. From ProSoccerusa.com:

”Of the five ICC matches the city has hosted since 2014, it was the lowest attendance total. A year ago, a friendly between Dortmund and Liverpoolin Charlotte drew about 20,000 additional fans. Just a month ago, 59,283 fans showed up for a Gold Cup double-header featuring Mexico, Martinique, Canada and Cuba.”

Pre-match activities were cool though. Aubameyang and Bellerin leading the fan march from Bearden. 

 

[dylansukkert]

They only opened one side of the upper level which was actually pretty full. They will probably do that for bigger MLS games but hopefully they can flip the sides because everyone in the upper level was baking in the sun when the other EMPTY side was chilling in the shade. 

[Desert Power]

45 minutes ago, dylansukkert said:

They only opened one side of the upper level which was actually pretty full. They will probably do that for bigger MLS games but hopefully they can flip the sides because everyone in the upper level was baking in the sun when the other EMPTY side was chilling in the shade. 

I assume they did that because of how the cameras are setup.  But, yeah, midday July ICC games are just too hot unless a team you really like is playing.

[UrbanCharlotte]

4 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

I assume they did that because of how the cameras are setup.  But, yeah, midday July ICC games are just too hot unless a team you really like is playing.

When Fiorentina replaced Roma it was obvious the crowd wouldn’t be as strong. Fiorentina doesn’t have a strong international following and finished 16th in the Italian league, barely surviving relegation. 

[skymiler]

5 hours ago, kickazzz2000 said:

I was there.  My 10 year old son felt it would have been better if they hadn't sold any upper level tickets, would have more filled in the lower bowl and felt better.

It was a surreal experience seeing my favorite EPL team in my city.  Not to mention getting the opportunity to see my favorite team (Panthers) in London later this year.

I'm an Arsenal fan as well.  Hate I couldn't make it up there to see them.  Bucket list for me is to see them at the Emirates. 

[Missmylab4]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsoctv.com/amp/news/local/charlotte-s-race-to-get-mls-team/971369981

sounds like maybe we could hear something tomorrow. 

[navigator319]

Interesting e-mail this afternoon from Mint City Collective as well 

[dylansukkert]

Not really a fan of the name Mint City Collective... also how do they already have a roaring riot type group for a team that doesn’t exist yet? Seems like a money grab. 

[navigator319]

12 minutes ago, dylansukkert said:

Not really a fan of the name Mint City Collective... also how do they already have a roaring riot type group for a team that doesn’t exist yet? Seems like a money grab. 

They are connected with Roaring Riot by a co-founder.   I'm not sure of the connection to Tepper, but they seem to be the official group Tepper and Panthers have crowned 

[Madison Parkitect]

What do you think the percentage is of people in the "Mint City Collective" who have never actually supported local soccer by going to an Independence game? I'm betting it's really high.