Charlotte Bobcats Arena

[atlrvr]

Not that I agree with Moonshield's statement, and have taken busses that originate at the CTC dozens of times without feeling uncomfortable, I would not call his statement "naked racism", as he simply expressed the primary reason such a large percent of the population lives outside Charlotte, Route 4, they feel uncomfortable around people who don't look like them.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Not that I agree with Moonshield's statement, and have taken busses that originate at the CTC dozens of times without feeling uncomfortable, I would not call his statement "naked racism", as he simply expressed the primary reason such a large percent of the population lives outside Charlotte, Route 4, they feel uncomfortable around people who don't look like them.

[ElricSeven]

I don't think it's a question of how they look but of how they act, appearance I could care less about. I should have been more specific...

It's just that a group of people arguing, yelling violently, boasting about their criminal exploits, and wearing the colors and apparel of gangs puts me at unease. I would be at just as much unease at a redneck bar.

Indeed, I did say I was the only white, I hope, and am sure that wasn't the reason for my unease.

[Charlotte_native]

Sabres are from Buffalo and have never won a championship. You must mean either Hurricanes or Lightning.

[DanRNC]

They did beat Buffalo in the conference championships but Edmonton in the Stanley Cup finals but I know what you mean.

Aside, if people are waiting for Charlotte to win a championship to boost fan support they may have to wait a long time or shake some money out of the pockets of BobJohn or get a NHL-style agreement that would allow parity in the league (which won't happen).

[ElricSeven]

They did beat Buffalo in the conference championships but Edmonton in the Stanley Cup finals but I know what you mean.

Aside, if people are waiting for Charlotte to win a championship to boost fan support they may have to wait a long time or shake some money out of the pockets of BobJohn or get a NHL-style agreement that would allow parity in the league (which won't happen).

[eastsider]

Its amazing that they gave tickets away and still had lousy attendance. They were charging $98 a seat to sit in the lower level of the Dean Dome for an exhibition game-needless to say there were maybe 500 people at the game. Can you say alienation a potential fan base. They lowered the ticket prices to $40 for the second game and the turn out may have been even lower. We walked in for free during the 3rd period and got seats all the way down in the front behind the bench. In some ways I feel sorry for this franchise.

[monsoon]

Let me say this one more time. This is not a thread to talk about race relations, and it certainly isn't a thread to call other forumers names. I have deleted 3 posts like this and I ask again that everyone check themselves before they feel compelled to make a post on these lines.

[monsoon]

I notice that on the WSOC 6pm news, their lead story was on the failure of the bobcats and more so the arena to attract people without free tickets. The CCCP rolled out the troops to try and explain why the arena was good for the city citing a lot of economic development, but they didn't address if this development would not have occurred anyway.

We have been saddled with a folly that has burned up a lot of public money. $300 million would completely build the North commuter rail line, the downtown gateway station, with some duckets left over to pay for a big party for the people. Or, it would have built the center city street car line. At the moment there isn't a plan in place where there is enough money to build either of these systems. This was the lost opportunity of that investment in the arena.

[dubone]

I wonder if there will at some point start to be some pressure for the Bobcats to take over some of the arena debt as a public relations move. I think the bitterness over the arena referendum keeps many people away. Losing records aren't helping.

I bet if the Bobcats announced that arena controversy predated them, but that they are willing to take over half the debt over the next 20 years, I'll bet that will completely change the controversy.

Instead, I hardly see this conversation about the referendum ending for another 5-10 years.

The Bobcats could reasonably do it, in my view. For example, I believe a move like that would dramatically change the perception of the team and the arena. They'd finally be perceived to not be complete moochers on our society. That move could make them profitable, even with the 130m in debt servicing.

It won't happen, but I think it probably should.

Either that, or severing the revenue from the hotel tax from the public sector. It could be a private contractual levy on the hotel sector to cover the rest of the debt for the arena. Then it will be privately funded by the same private sector industry that pays for it now, but perception could be changed, as the city would not be responsible for underwriting the debt.

[uptownliving]

The Bobcats already covered 10% of the cost of the new Arena as well as assuming all operating costs.

It continues to baffle me why people insist that the old colisiem paid for with 100% property tax money...and a place that lost money every year that had to covered by the city was a better deal. We got a brand new arena paid for mostly with hotel tax money and we don't have any operating loss to cover.

The Arena will give people a reason to ride the transit system that we are investing in...it will help ridership dramatically in the off peak hours when events tend to happen at the arena.

I wish the entire transit system were built today too, but I don't think its helpful to suggest that hotel tax money could have gone to pay for expansion of the transit system. We all know that is not possible under current state law.

[uptownliving]

Something I think they actually got right with the Arena from an urban design standpoint are all the outdoor balconies like the one pictured.

During arena events there is always a good amount of people out there interacting with the pedestrians on the 4 outdoor balconies on 3 sides of the arena.

Something else that is nice from an urban design standpoint is the heavy use of glass...allows the passerby to see what is going on inside the building.

They also broadcast the game on the outdoor jumbotron screens and there were people with their heads cocked up watching it.

[uptownliving]

I watched that WSOC TV 6pm top story on their website. According to them they attribute about 1.5B in downtown development to the Arena. I thought the story was fairly positive, in fact the headline is "Arena Living Up to Expectations". I would even say that it was a borderline fluff piece on uptown development.

[DanRNC]

I thought the arena was supposed to get name sponsorship. What was the attendance on opening night?

[UrbanCharlotte]

We lost Good game, should of won.

But the arena was pretty crowded. What AMAZED me was how every, EVERY restaurant and bar was packed before and after the game. No Joke ive never seen that many people just wandering everywhere in uptown and peering into madisons or anything being packed, then people filing into the arena is great.

[uptownliving]

I thought the arena was supposed to get name sponsorship. What was the attendance on opening night?

[abbitt]

i went to the game. it was packed, i thought there was a great turn out, especially for a team that won 26 games last year. urbancharlotte i noticed the same thing, uptown was packed. i'm looking forward to the game saturday against the cavaliers, downtown should really be bustling then.

[krazeeboi]

Back to the team, I don't see support getting any better - win or lose. The name has never been popular, the owner not popular, the bad taste of the arena deal will not be quickly forgotten, and they are not promoting themselves to as broad group of fans as the Panthers have.

[monsoon]

According to the paper, the game was about 1000 short of a sellout.

[dubone]

I must say, with the crime stats on my mind, I was briefly freaked out by the sound of the fireworks . But then I realized what it was.

I agree, uptownliving, that saving the city from operating losses was a major plus, but I'm not sure it is enough to turn public opinion back around.

I support the arena, as this part of town was beyond desolate before, and to efficiently use the grid and parking infrastructure, and to help build up downtown visitorship, and so on. But I still think there is a lingering bitterness that I'm not sure how, as a business, the Bobcats will overcome. They are starting their company with a $265m hole in goodwill. I just think they can buy some goodwill by buying some of the city's debt. If they did that, it would give the city money do something additional, like some of the other ideas people have put forth.

[bork]

It is, and they have gotten offers, but not the price they are looking for yet.

According to WCCB Fox 18 it was a capacity crowd for tonight's game.

They also mentioned that Nelly, Michael Jordon, and Derek Jeeter from the Yankee's were in attendence

[Charlotte_native]

i went to the game. it was packed, i thought there was a great turn out, especially for a team that won 26 games last year. urbancharlotte i noticed the same thing, uptown was packed. i'm looking forward to the game saturday against the cavaliers, downtown should really be bustling then.

[uptownliving]

According to the paper, the game was about 1000 short of a sellout.

[Charlotte_native]

I love it! Just moved to the top of this thread and the top of the page over all of our comments is an ad for Bobcats Tickets! I didn't know they advertised on here...good placement!

[monsoon]

I love it! Just moved to the top of this thread and the top of the page over all of our comments is an ad for Bobcats Tickets! I didn't know they advertised on here...good placement!