MLS in Charlotte - 2021

[videtur quam contuor]

The track is in Cabarrus County though there may be some outlying territory the Smiths own that some could be in Mecklenburg. The line is close.

[kermit]

24 minutes ago, mad_park said:

Any chance the Smiths propose building it up at the speedway property? They can say they tried to work w/ the city and it didn't work out.

yea, as the proposed owners they can do whatever they want (although I am sure the county money is specifically limited to the Memorial site). However, the MLS has been very clear they are not interested in awarding expansion teams to sprawl stadiums.

Edited January 26, 2017 by kermit

[deaconator]

2 minutes ago, kermit said:

my guess is that the city assumed the county would vote no. Since the county is the landowner the city would never need to vote. Now that the county pulled the rug out from that plan the council needs to figure out how to make a rational and defensible decision. I am guessing that the hotel and restaurant lobby prefers MLS to most other uses for the tourism tax.

I'm confused - the county didn't pull the rug...the voted yes. And the city needs to make a decision about what? They killed the deal (as far as getting city money anyway).

 

This whole thing has worked out very strangely...I think most citizen's would be much more opposed to property tax revenues being used on this than the tourism tax - which is specifically supposed to be used for something like this.  Really strange to me too that the city let the county go ahead and vote and then ten minutes later, the mayor kills the whole thing.  I guess that's politics for you?  She'll be able to say she saved us all from being taken advantage of by Smith and the MLS.

[kermit]

^ pulled the rug out from the city's plan to not vote at all (because they assumed the county would vote no). I don't think the cancelled meeting is killing the deal -- I think they are just postponing the vote until Monday.

NM -- wrong about all that....

[slinks into corner]

Edited January 26, 2017 by kermit

[CLT2014]

14 minutes ago, deaconator said:

I'm confused - the county didn't pull the rug...the voted yes. And the city needs to make a decision about what? They killed the deal (as far as getting city money anyway).

 

This whole thing has worked out very strangely...I think most citizen's would be much more opposed to property tax revenues being used on this than the tourism tax - which is specifically supposed to be used for something like this.  Really strange to me too that the city let the county go ahead and vote and then ten minutes later, the mayor kills the whole thing.  I guess that's politics for you?  She'll be able to say she saved us all from being taken advantage of by Smith and the MLS.

The Mayor's responding to various posts on WSOC-TV's Facebook saying "YEP, I canceled it because I care about the citizens" bla bla bla.... she knows she's going to have a tough time getting re-elected. 

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, mad_park said:

Any chance the Smiths propose building it up at the speedway property? They can say they tried to work w/ the city and it didn't work out.

Then they will have about the amount of attendance that the Knights had in Fort Mill.

[InSouthPark]

50 minutes ago, mad_park said:

Any chance the Smiths propose building it up at the speedway property? They can say they tried to work w/ the city and it didn't work out.

MLS said downtown locations only. 

[49er]

I chalk this up to 3 basic problems none of which really has anything to do with a loss of the can do spirit that Charlotte has always embodied.

1.The speed with which local governments were forced into discussion and relatively little time to figure out the details

2. The fact that Smith is a total slimeball. Just look at what he has done to Concord with threats to move the track and other nonsense. People still remember George Shinn around here and this guy is even worse.

3. The still lagging universal popularity of the sport. It is growing quickly but still not seen as a must have sports venue like MLB, NFL and NBA.

 

 

[SgtCampsalot]

Even the aggregate tone of this board suggests Roberts did the right thing. It will be interesting to see how the next move of this political game is played...

Edited January 26, 2017 by SgtCampsalot

[HopHead]

Interesting. I thought it would be the other way around... The city supporting the plan and the county not. It's like every time some new tidbit of the plan of the Smith's comes out, the worse it stinks. Especially with what they pulled on the Independence group. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, HopHead said:

Interesting. I thought it would be the other way around... The city supporting the plan and the county not. It's like every time some new tidbit of the plan of the Smith's comes out, the worse it stinks. Especially with what they pulled on the Independence group. 

Every time an article appeared with his redo of Memorial, I cringed. 

[SouthEndCLT811]

17 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Every time an article appeared with his redo of Memorial, I cringed. 

Even this one from the Bizjournal article today?  Somehow the BBTB guys were right when they posted this a couple months ago.  I think it's a beautiful renovation.

[swh1972]

18 minutes ago, HopHead said:

Interesting. I thought it would be the other way around... The city supporting the plan and the county not. It's like every time some new tidbit of the plan of the Smith's comes out, the worse it stinks. Especially with what they pulled on the Independence group. 

Take it for what it's worth, but in the County Commissioner meeting, the County Manager, Dena Diorio, was not too pleased with the allegations put forth by McPhilliamy, and said that he had been part of the process all along.  Also went as far as saying that his financial wherewithal for eventually bringing an MLS franchise to Charlotte was not as significant as would be needed.  She added that there is another side to the story that isn't being discussed in the public.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, SouthEndCLT811 said:

Even this one from the Bizjournal article today?  Somehow the BBTB guys were right when they posted this a couple months ago.  I think it's a beautiful renovation.

Especially this one. THis was done for the Independence.

[videtur quam contuor]

Louisville and New York (maybe others?) play in baseball stadia. Is that an option here?

[KJHburg]

3 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

Does anybody know what the process would be to getting a deed to a property like this over-turned so the site is no longer a public park?

I think it could be overturned but it sounds like a moot point now with the stadium deal falling apart. 

To answer the other question I wonder if MLS at the Speedway is a possibly because at least the parking and land is there. the MLS would still get their billionaire owner they want. 

[SouthEndCLT811]

37 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Especially this one. THis was done for the Independence.

Cool, I wondered what rendering if it was that or the phase 1 that was showing up everywhere.

[Missmylab4]

28 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

Louisville and New York (maybe others?) play in baseball stadia. Is that an option here?

Louisville doesn't have MLS, I believe one of NYC's teams play in Yankee Stadium, which I'd assume holds 45k or more. Knight stadium holds like 10k, that isn't enough for MLS. I think they want 20k-30k. 

[deleted]

46 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

To answer the other question I wonder if MLS at the Speedway is a possibly because at least the parking and land is there. the MLS would still get their billionaire owner they want. 

Don't think it would happen but if it did with no public money I wouldn't object.  I also wouldn't be very interested in the team...

 

[tozmervo]

1 hour ago, swh1972 said:

Take it for what it's worth, but in the County Commissioner meeting, the County Manager, Dena Diorio, was not too pleased with the allegations put forth by McPhilliamy, and said that he had been part of the process all along.  Also went as far as saying that his financial wherewithal for eventually bringing an MLS franchise to Charlotte was not as significant as would be needed.  She added that there is another side to the story that isn't being discussed in the public.

As a county manager, saying "there's another side to this story" without saying anything else is ludicrous.

[deleted]

1 minute ago, tozmervo said:

As a county manager, saying "there's another side to this story" without saying anything else is ludicrous.

She hasn't impressed me (though she didn't embarrass herself to the level of Michael Smith, who disqualified himself from ever being taken seriously again).

I will say that the overall consensus on this board surprises me.  This is a generally younger (excluding a few old-timers like me), pro-soccer, enthusiastically pro-development crowd who generally opposed a new stadium built with public money.  I would have lost a lot of money if I had bet on that in advance but I think it speaks well of the seriousness of the posters (not to say if you supported you aren't serious since I literally was on both sides of the issue in a matter of days).

[swh1972]

13 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

As a county manager, saying "there's another side to this story" without saying anything else is ludicrous.

I may have misrepresented what she said, but adding to the ludicrous statements in the meeting, Former Mayor Dan Clodfelter apparently told at least one of the Commissioners (outside of the forum) that moving ahead with this plan could pose a legal concern, but he wouldn't elaborate on what the concern was. 

[southslider]

^Former and current Mayors Clodfelter and Roberts are both residents of Elizabeth, in fact the same street. A very active group in Elizabeth sued back when CPCC built that large parking deck, claiming it violated the deed to when the land was donated as a park.  The same likely applies to Memorial Stadium. 

[swh1972]

^  Good information, thanks.

[SouthEndCLT811]

42 minutes ago, JBS said:

She hasn't impressed me (though she didn't embarrass herself to the level of Michael Smith, who disqualified himself from ever being taken seriously again).

I will say that the overall consensus on this board surprises me.  This is a generally younger (excluding a few old-timers like me), pro-soccer, enthusiastically pro-development crowd who generally opposed a new stadium built with public money.  I would have lost a lot of money if I had bet on that in advance but I think it speaks well of the seriousness of the posters (not to say if you supported you aren't serious since I literally was on both sides of the issue in a matter of days).

Even as a big fan of soccer and our current club I was waffling between for and against.  As were many other avid supporters I spoke with.  It didn't feel right all around.