MLS in Charlotte - 2021

[videtur quam contuor]

I predict many complaints about security checkpoints, delays on entry, missing part of the early match, long lines at concession, slow service. How many of this crowd know the Panthers experience which has been improved?  The Panther ticket holders have their personal entry system and timing co-ordinated after years of practice.

[HopHead]

38 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

I predict many complaints about security checkpoints, delays on entry, missing part of the early match, long lines at concession, slow service. How many of this crowd know the Panthers experience which has been improved?  The Panther ticket holders have their personal entry system and timing co-ordinated after years of practice.

I don't forsee security checkpoints and entry delays being a problem. Since they installed the new security screening systems last year, it's waaaay easier to get into BofA Stadium now. I went to several Panthers games and also the Rolling Stones show last year and it was a breeze. Concessions may be a different story though depending on labor shortages and if they can get enought people to work, which isn't unique to Charlotte. The self serve beverage areas for beer/waters/etc help some with that though. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Where’s everyone tailgating tomorrow? First MLS match for me so I’m pretty excited about this. Saw some tailgate things going on but was wondering where the best one will be lol? Latta arcade I’m sure will be busy. Saw something about GOL having an event (never heard of that though). Is mint city collective hosting a tailgate anywhere?

Edited March 4, 2022 by CharlotteWkndBuzz

[JHart]

2 minutes ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

Where’s everyone tailgating tomorrow? First MLS match for me so I’m pretty excited about this. Saw some tailgate things going on but was wondering where the best one will be lol? Latta arcade I’m sure will be busy. Saw something about GOL having an event (never heard of that though). Is mint city collective hosting a tailgate anywhere?

All of the supporters groups are having a combined tailgate at 703 McNinch from 2-6 and then marching to the stadium together

[SouthEndCLT811]

16 minutes ago, JHart said:

All of the supporters groups are having a combined tailgate at 703 McNinch from 2-6 and then marching to the stadium together

Yep, my wife and I will be over there hanging with the QC Royals.  It is BYOB but I believe MCC will have a food option that's free to their members or $10 for non-members.  While not a member of any of the CLT FC supporters groups the MCC annual fee is $30 so much like Roaring Riot if you envision yourself going to 3+ games a year their membership pays for itself in the food offering at the tailgate.

Edited March 4, 2022 by SouthEndCLT811

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

MLS is going to do great things in Charlotte. Love seeing all the street vendors and the tacos and street corn stands everywhere. Wish these food stands were available everyday. Let’s go! Going to be a great evening. 

[gman430]

Boom: 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4608111/charlotte-fc-breaks-mls-attendance-record-in-home-opener?fbclid=IwAR0Om20E8yz51oZrS9TnszvqxckHoDUggn9L0aymzcSbL3GN1X-Ux7aqNHo

[ArchiCLT]

What an incredible atmosphere tonight!

[Madison Parkitect]

A couple thoughts from someone who pays a lot of attention to MLS and has been to games at other stadiums:

I don't know if they'll do this for every match but the light and video show to kick everything off was really impressive. As far as I know nobody else in the league does that and it sets a new standard for fan environments in the league. Really really special, even if it was just a one-off. Saturday night was a party and the city really showed up, keeping up the noise throughout.

On the other hand, I'm fairly skeptical as to whether they'll be able to keep that environment up. The team is going to have growing pains because almost every team does in its first year, and the ticket prices are on the higher end for MLS. I know they're only going to have the lower bowl open for most matches, which is smart, but if the team turns out to be actually bad instead of just inexperienced I think people will rethink whether to come watch. Playing soccer in a football stadium can be cool if the crowds are big enough but if you're only getting 10-15k it gets really bad, both in-person and on tv. I think the team should shoot for 20-30k for regular attendance, that would put them in the top 10 for MLS numbers, and they might need to lower ticket prices to do it.

 

[CLT2014]

17 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

On the other hand, I'm fairly skeptical as to whether they'll be able to keep that environment up. The team is going to have growing pains because almost every team does in its first year, and the ticket prices are on the higher end for MLS. I know they're only going to have the lower bowl open for most matches, which is smart, but if the team turns out to be actually bad instead of just inexperienced I think people will rethink whether to come watch. Playing soccer in a football stadium can be cool if the crowds are big enough but if you're only getting 10-15k it gets really bad, both in-person and on tv. I think the team should shoot for 20-30k for regular attendance, that would put them in the top 10 for MLS numbers, and they might need to lower ticket prices to do it.

Does anybody know if they have a planned design to cover the seats in the upper level rather than just have them empty? Seattle's doesn't look awful at making the stadium feel more cozy when the upper level is not used. 

[Madison Parkitect]

2 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Does anybody know if they have a planned design to cover the seats in the upper level rather than just have them empty? Seattle's doesn't look awful at making the stadium feel more cozy when the upper level is not used. 

Don't know for sure, but I'd hope they're planning to use tarps like the other football stadium teams do. Having the seats just be visibly empty is a really bad look. Seattle is actually the team I've seen by far the most, and it's even better than you might think. It helps that absolutely every seat in the lower bowl is filled and they average 40k per match. I've seen New England on TV where they have like 15k and it's rough.

[allthingsplanes]

Did anyone else really hate the concessions experience at the game?  My son was hungry (otherwise I wouldn't have gone) and we got in line (we were on the 500 level) with between 5 and 10 minutes left in the first half.  We waited in line through halftime and 15 minutes had passed in the 2nd half before we got back to our seats!!!

I mean I know it was a big crowd but don't the Panthers have crowds like that most home games?  How in the world was it sooo bad?

 

Otherwise the experience was great!

[turbocraig]

19 minutes ago, allthingsplanes said:

Did anyone else really hate the concessions experience at the game?  My son was hungry (otherwise I wouldn't have gone) and we got in line (we were on the 500 level) with between 5 and 10 minutes left in the first half.  We waited in line through halftime and 15 minutes had passed in the 2nd half before we got back to our seats!!!

I mean I know it was a big crowd but don't the Panthers have crowds like that most home games?  How in the world was it sooo bad?

 

Otherwise the experience was great!

I did notice that at the far right of the counters at several (maybe not all) concessions, they had a mobile order pick up slot, so that’s what I’ll plan to do next time.  The lines were looonnng everywhere, and we even went during game time when we thought they’d be somewhat cleared out.  Nope. 

[Madison Parkitect]

25 minutes ago, allthingsplanes said:

Did anyone else really hate the concessions experience at the game?  My son was hungry (otherwise I wouldn't have gone) and we got in line (we were on the 500 level) with between 5 and 10 minutes left in the first half.  We waited in line through halftime and 15 minutes had passed in the 2nd half before we got back to our seats!!!

I mean I know it was a big crowd but don't the Panthers have crowds like that most home games?  How in the world was it sooo bad?

 

Otherwise the experience was great!

I went and grabbed popcorn about 1 minute after kickoff and there wasn't anyone in line. But my dad got pizza before the match started and he was in line for probably 15 minutes. I think the key is just to time it so that you're getting food at a time when people are generally in their seats, I try to always stay away from food and restrooms around halftime.

[deleted account]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Does anybody know if they have a planned design to cover the seats in the upper level rather than just have them empty? Seattle's doesn't look awful at making the stadium feel more cozy when the upper level is not used. 

They absolutely should tarp, haven't heard if they will. I went to a lot of Padres games when they were the first team to employ tarps (in Qualcomm) and they were mocked for it but it definitely helped the atmosphere and it's now somewhat common to see them. 

I went to a Sounders game ON GRASS (not many can say that). They had an international game the same weekend and laid grass over the turf. I was disappointed to learn upon arrival that I was obligated to stand for the ENTIRE GAME!

Regarding future attendance, with over 20K season tickets sold, they are going to likely see 30K+ in PAID attendance going forward (big attendance games like Saturday will obviously push the average up, likely over 40K for the first season).  I'm thinking the Atlanta games will draw well for multiple reasons. 

I know nothing about soccer but I found Swiderski to be a surprise disappointment (for his play and too frequent flops), Fuchs, Bender and Kahlina seemed to play really well. I'm probably wrong about all of this...

When the new stadium is built, it will ideally have a slide-out grass field and automated curtains for the upper deck (assuming they don't build 2 stadiums). The turf field was the only downer for me on Saturday. 

[NYtoCLT]

Sustaining 70k+ is obviously unrealistic but the goal is to average 30k for the rest of the season and that isn't crazy.  They had over 20k season tickets sold before Saturday.  Atlanta saw a big bump in season ticket sales after their first match and I would expect CLTFC to as well.  It's gonna take the team a while to get the on-pitch product up to a good level but I would expect Tepper to spend money in the summer (Europe's transfer window) to buy at least one and maybe 2 big signings (you're allowed 3 players that don't count toward the salary cap).  Especially with how bought in the city has been given attendance and the amount of merch I've seen around, I would be shocked if Tepper doesn't try to invest in the team to get quality up.

[kermit]

6 minutes ago, NYtoCLT said:

I would be shocked if Tepper doesn't try to invest in the team to get quality up.

I would guess that the revenue growth potential for Tepper is hugely higher for CLTFC than the Panthers.  Just guessing here but I would estimate revenue boosts from a great Panthers team to be well less than 10% -- when you have a stadium full of seat licenses it probably doesn't make financial sense to spend on free-agents in the NFL. OTOH a great CLTFC team in a couple of years could boost revenue by 30-50% (just guessing on balance of revenue between TV, merch and ticket sales in MLS)

 

[SouthEndCLT811]

Here's the virtual venue picture when you go into their ticketing service to see available seats for season tickets.

As for this weekend it was awesome to see the atmosphere and energy.  As others have said it'll be interesting to see what the team settles into and if even in the smaller configuration the whole stadium can bring the vibrancy that was there on Saturday.  I have hopes with 20k season tickets sold (supposedly) that they can keep it up.

Bit unlucky in our roster build thus far, probably spending a lot of time and resources on courting Darwin Machis without doing a background check  on whether he has any open court cases in Spain (whoops!)..  Tepper has the resources to dole out the cash but with only 3 DP slots for the whole team I imagine they can't cast too wide a net getting into serious negotiations.  Unlike other leagues that can splash offers left and right.  So missing out on him probably cost time they could have spent courting someone else.

But Kamil Jozwiak is supposedly on his way to try and add some firepower to the attack.  He and Karol Swiderski are both Polish internationals that have played together so let's hope there's some chemistry we can benefit from.  Otherwise poor Karol was getting a lot of long balls bombed up to him on Saturday where he was having to fight off a defender for it and more times then not losing that battle.

Edited March 7, 2022 by SouthEndCLT811

[Madison Parkitect]

3 minutes ago, kermit said:

I would guess that the revenue growth potential for Tepper is hugely higher for CLTFC than the Panthers.  Just guessing here but I would estimate revenue boosts from a great Panthers team to be well less than 10% -- when you have a stadium full of seat licenses it probably doesn't make financial sense to spend on free-agents in the NFL. OTOH a great CLTFC team in a couple of years could boost revenue by 30-50% (just guessing on balance of revenue between TV, merch and ticket sales in MLS)

 

Yeah, I bet you're right about that actually, partly because the Panthers are already so established.

17 minutes ago, NYtoCLT said:

Sustaining 70k+ is obviously unrealistic but the goal is to average 30k for the rest of the season and that isn't crazy.  They had over 20k season tickets sold before Saturday.  Atlanta saw a big bump in season ticket sales after their first match and I would expect CLTFC to as well.  It's gonna take the team a while to get the on-pitch product up to a good level but I would expect Tepper to spend money in the summer (Europe's transfer window) to buy at least one and maybe 2 big signings (you're allowed 3 players that don't count toward the salary cap).  Especially with how bought in the city has been given attendance and the amount of merch I've seen around, I would be shocked if Tepper doesn't try to invest in the team to get quality up.

It's not crazy at all, but if the play doesn't make it worth the cost even the season ticket holders will stop showing up. I'm optimistic that they'll average in the high 20s and pessimistic that they'll be in the high 30s.

43 minutes ago, JBS said:

They absolutely should tarp, haven't heard if they will. I went to a lot of Padres games when they were the first team to employ tarps (in Qualcomm) and they were mocked for it but it definitely helped the atmosphere and it's now somewhat common to see them. 

I went to a Sounders game ON GRASS (not many can say that). They had an international game the same weekend and laid grass over the turf. I was disappointed to learn upon arrival that I was obligated to stand for the ENTIRE GAME!

Regarding future attendance, with over 20K season tickets sold, they are going to likely see 30K+ in PAID attendance going forward (big attendance games like Saturday will obviously push the average up, likely over 40K for the first season).  I'm thinking the Atlanta games will draw well for multiple reasons. 

I know nothing about soccer but I found Swiderski to be a surprise disappointment (for his play and too frequent flops), Fuchs, Bender and Kahlina seemed to play really well. I'm probably wrong about all of this...

When the new stadium is built, it will ideally have a slide-out grass field and automated curtains for the upper deck (assuming they don't build 2 stadiums). The turf field was the only downer for me on Saturday. 

I was at a couple of the international matches for that grass but didn't go to the Sounders game. But yeah, if you're in the lower bowl in Seattle you're standing. Eventually you get used to the turf, it's just one of those things that a few teams have.

Swiderski showed flashes of his pace and I think once he gets more in sync with the team (remember he's been here like a week) he'll be a decent signing. His flop in the first or second minute was a little rough though, yeah. Fuchs is very obviously the class of the team, as you'd expect from someone who won a Premiership title and was still playing in that league until last year. He's not a flashy signing because he's a defender, but he's clearly the team's best player right now.

[deleted account]

Just thinking about how we wouldn't have a team if Jerry Richardson wasn't outed for being a racist sexual harrasser. I don't necessarily love Tepper but we jumped the line in a big way (and without a soccer specific stadium) because he is the richest guy in the league and wanted a team. Eventually I expect Phoenix, Las Vegas (soon), Sacramento, San Diego, Detroit and maybe Cleveland and Indy to have teams. But Raleigh, further along in the process compared to us 5 years ago, will probably never have one. So, Richardson is indirectly responsible for bringing 2 teams to Charlotte. 

[deleted account]

14 minutes ago, SouthEndCLT811 said:

Here's the virtual venue picture when you go into their ticketing service to see available seats for season tickets.

As for this weekend it was awesome to see the atmosphere and energy.  As others have said it'll be interesting to see what the team settles into and if even in the smaller configuration the whole stadium can bring the vibrancy that was there on Saturday.  I have hopes with 20k season tickets sold (supposedly) that they can keep it up.

Bit unlucky in our roster build thus far, probably spending a lot of time and resources on courting Darwin Machis without doing a background check  on whether he has any open court cases in Spain (whoops!)..  Tepper has the resources to dole out the cash but with only 3 DP slots for the whole team I imagine they can't cast too wide a net getting into serious negotiations.  Unlike other leagues that can splash offers left and right.  So missing out on him probably cost time they could have spent courting someone else.

But Kamil Jozwiak is supposedly on his way to try and add some firepower to the attack.  He and Karol Swiderski are both Polish internationals that have played together so let's hope there's some chemistry we can benefit from.  Otherwise poor Karol was getting a lot of long balls bombed up to him on Saturday where he was having to fight off a defender for it and more times then not losing that battle.

That actually looks pretty good...thanks for sharing!

[Madison Parkitect]

Re: ticket prices, just saw on Reddit that the team will be selling "a limited number" of $15 lower bowl tickets for each match, available at the stadium box office 14 days before each home date.

That tells me they've heard the feedback about high prices and they're really focusing on getting that lower bowl full every time, even if they have to almost give away the remaining open seats. I love that they're doing this and it makes it way more likely I'll attend a few.

[Hushpuppy321]

19 hours ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Re: ticket prices, just saw on Reddit that the team will be selling "a limited number" of $15 lower bowl tickets for each match, available at the stadium box office 14 days before each home date.

That tells me they've heard the feedback about high prices and they're really focusing on getting that lower bowl full every time, even if they have to almost give away the remaining open seats. I love that they're doing this and it makes it way more likely I'll attend a few.

Thanks for the heads up!  I’m totally there for a deal on tickets lol….

[Hushpuppy321]

Dude’s - I totally purchased a couple of those $15 CLT-FC Tickets for the game this coming Saturday (3/19/22) but I have a feeling that although this fits my budget that this cannot be good for the Charlotte Independence Club to have the local MLS Team selling tickets for $15.  Any thoughts on that?

[tozmervo]

I'm not particularly worried about it and I applaud any effort to make these things accessible to everyone. If they can fill up the lower bowl it dramatically improves the fan experience, unlike some really sad, heinously overpriced Panthers games.