MLS in Charlotte - 2021

[CTiger]

I might be in the minority, but I think the team should steer clear of any name that includes "Queen City".  People from Charlotte vastly overestimate how many people across the country know us as the Queen City.  It really isn't all that mainstream.

[go_vertical]

Heard on the radio this morning that the city has approved 110 million for their portion. 

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, CTiger said:

I might be in the minority, but I think the team should steer clear of any name that includes "Queen City".  People from Charlotte vastly overestimate how many people across the country know us as the Queen City.  It really isn't all that mainstream.

And we need to first get "Charlotte" to a point where it cannot be mistaken for anything/place else, then we can work on secondary names. 

[thenewkage95]

And we need to first get "Charlotte" to a point where it cannot be mistaken for anything/place else, then we can work on secondary names. 

What is Charlotte not doing to get to that point? I feel like the city is big enough and attracts enough national events to get its name out.


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[Scribe]

9 minutes ago, thenewkage95 said:

What is Charlotte not doing to get to that point? I feel like the city is big enough and attracts enough national events to get its name out.

And yet we have ppl confusing us with Charleston or Charlottesville regularly.

[jjwilli]

9 hours ago, cltheel.sdl said:

Agreed, central tunnel is not necessary.  CenturyLink Field doesn't have the central tunnel for the Sounders, so not quite sure why they'd need it here.  

Also,  those names are generally atrocious.  Charlotte FC is the clear (yet most boring) choice of those bunch, but I'd like to see more creativity.  That's why I'm such a big proponent of Queen City Rangers of Charlotte FC, or QCR Charlotte FC, abbreviated as QCR.  Oi oi oi!

I wonder if the center tunnel is a back door way to create field level suites?

[videtur quam contuor]

First year attendance guess, anyone? Per/game average? Actual, not papered.

[thenewkage95]

And yet we have ppl confusing us with Charleston or Charlottesville regularly.

I THINK Charleston was a big city before Charlotte was, but they’re drastically different cities.


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[Madison Parkitect]

7 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

First year attendance guess, anyone? Per/game average? Actual, not papered.

My guess is anywhere between 20-25k, depending on how they market the team, how they price tickets, etc. I don't expect them to do Atlanta numbers, but an average in the low 20s would put Charlotte in the top half of attendance. Cincinnati averaged 27k last year but I don't know if Charlotte will reach that. I think that would be a good goal to shoot for though.

[tozmervo]

10 minutes ago, thenewkage95 said:

I THINK Charleston was a big city before Charlotte was, but they’re drastically different cities.

Charleston was one of the 10 largest cities in the US during the early 1800s - not sure if that included the enslaved population or not. Charlotte didn't surpass Charleston in population until sometime between 1920 and 1930. 

[thenewkage95]

Charleston was one of the 10 largest cities in the US during the early 1800s - not sure if that included the enslaved population or not. Charlotte didn't surpass Charleston in population until sometime between 1920 and 1930. 

Charlotte started growing up at a pretty unfortunate time. There were only a handful of big cities in the US a century ago. It was also easy to be well-known nationally if you had 100,000+ in population. Now, there are dozens upon dozens of cities in the US that meet that criteria. Unfortunately, a couple of them have KIND OF similar names to our city.


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[Tyrone Wiggum]

22 hours ago, sclark said:

How about we just stick with "Two States. One Team. FC"

Two girls, one cup. FC?

2 hours ago, Scribe said:

And yet we have ppl confusing us with Charleston or Charlottesville regularly.

Fixed(?):

 

[swh1972]

Charlotte VA NC SC FC

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[sclark]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article238315783.html#storylink=hpdigest_sports

While I agree that MLS would have been a better fit for RDU, I'm happy we won.  

[Madison Parkitect]

38 minutes ago, sclark said:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article238315783.html#storylink=hpdigest_sports

While I agree that MLS would have been a better fit for RDU, I'm happy we won.  

I agree, Raleigh had the potential to have a franchise like Portland: smaller stadium, rabid fans, the only thing going on in the summer. But money talks, especially after Atlanta's success in their NFL stadium, and Charlotte wins.

We'll see if people will go to games here. I really hope they do and I hope Charlotte makes a concerted effort to court potential fans from the immigrant communities here, I think the success or irrelevance of the team actually depends on them quite a bit. From what I've seen of Tepper talking to people in those communities on the east side, he's at least got the idea that they're worth having as fans and partners.

[KJHburg]

12 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Charleston was one of the 10 largest cities in the US during the early 1800s - not sure if that included the enslaved population or not. Charlotte didn't surpass Charleston in population until sometime between 1920 and 1930. 

Charleston SC was the 4th largest city in USA in colonial times.   Heck Wilmington was the biggest city in the state until 1910 think.  

that being said I like Charlotte Royals FC and it better be a Charlotte name if the city is giving him $110M 

6 hours ago, sclark said:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article238315783.html#storylink=hpdigest_sports

While I agree that MLS would have been a better fit for RDU, I'm happy we won.  

I wish we both could have gotten a team but unfortunately money in this case always wins out.   However Wake County can still brag it has better parks for the amateurs for which it is does. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by KJHburg

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

News & Observer sounded a little butthurt imo lol. MLS landed in the right city in the state, CLT. Triangle will always be college towns. Charlotte is pro-town, always will be, hence the hurricanes woeful attendance. Charlotte has a proven record it can and will support soccer here. Hope Tep names the team right and I look forward to purchasing season tickets. 

[turbocraig]

1 hour ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

News & Observer sounded a little butthurt imo lol. MLS landed in the right city in the state, CLT. Triangle will always be college towns. Charlotte is pro-town, always will be, hence the hurricanes woeful attendance. Charlotte has a proven record it can and will support soccer here. Hope Tep names the team right and I look forward to purchasing season tickets. 

That article reminded me of the dueling op-eds written back in 2001 by writers from the Observer and the News&Observer published in each other’s paper basically smack-talking the other city right to their faces.  It’s from  5Aug01 in the Archived section of the O, which for some reason I can’t access despite my subscription.  It was fun to read the snarky view-from-over-there back in the days when the CLT-RDU rivalry seemed to be much more intense than it is today, and when the cities were on a more even keel in terms of development and potential.  If anyone can get in the O Archives, it’s worth the read.  The “phony rich girl” comment could’ve been lifted from that article.  I wish I could get into it.  There has to be a corresponding op-ed in the N&O from that same time.  Sour grapes.

[Madison Parkitect]

The word on Twitter is "sources" are saying Charlotte Town FC is the name preferred by Tepper et al. If that's true I'm really glad they're preferring one of the couple good ones on that list.

 

[swh1972]

Is this a tip on a possible location for a new stadium in the future? Charlotte Town FC playing matches on Charlottetowne Ave?

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[Madison Parkitect]

41 minutes ago, swh1972 said:

Is this a tip on a possible location for a new stadium in the future? Charlotte Town FC playing matches on Charlottetowne Ave?

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As much as I'd LOVE to see them at an expanded 20k-seat Memorial, I think that ship has sailed. At this point I'm more concerned with whether Memorial ever gets rebuilt at all or whether the Independence stays in Matthews as the "local" MLS feeder team and the Memorial land just gets developed into a new tower. That's my worry.

[navigator319]

3 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

As much as I'd LOVE to see them at an expanded 20k-seat Memorial, I think that ship has sailed. At this point I'm more concerned with whether Memorial ever gets rebuilt at all or whether the Independence stays in Matthews as the "local" MLS feeder team and the Memorial land just gets developed into a new tower. That's my worry.

There is literally construction happening here now and has been for a few months on the 40 million redo the county approved.  And just last week the county approved another 8 million to cover the cost overruns to keep it on track.

[Madison Parkitect]

2 minutes ago, navigator319 said:

There is literally construction happening here now and has been for a few months on the 40 million redo the county approved.  And just last week the county approved another 8 million to cover the cost overruns to keep it on track.

I know, but the construction at this point is all demo, right? I worry that this MLS news has come along at exactly the wrong time, right when Memorial is almost a blank slate.

[SydneyCarton]

In my opinion, this belongs in Charlotte -- not Raleigh.  

Unlike Charlotte, Raleigh is not centrally located for the whole state.   Charlotte is an easy drive for fans in the Triangle, the Triad, and Ashville.  Also, fans from Columbia, SC could access Charlotte easily.

NC is a pretty small state from north to south.  It's only about 100 miles from the Va border to the SC border via I-77.  Charlotte, being in the center of the state in terms of E-W, is at the center of the region, and it's the most accessible city to all metros in NC and northern SC.

For this reason, I could see the Canes moving to the QC in ten years for that matter.  

Edited December 13, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[Richhamleigh, DC]

As others have mentioned, I'm only concerned that he does not call this team "Carolina" to somehow include "South" Carolina.  If "Carolina" then let Columbia pony up 1/2 the cash.