But you have to remember that the majority of the decision makers have baked beans where their brains should be
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I know you guys live for taking cheap shots at Charlotte, but it’s funny that you conveniently forgot about Charlotte’s third sports team which could have been Raleigh’s instead if everyone wasn’t sitting on their hands when the most incompetent owner in sports scooped it, and then instantly smashed its league’s attendance record in the first game.
I don’t conveniently forget about their soccer team. It’s a soccer team, therefore I do not care nor consider it amongst the “Big 4” pro-sports in the US (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL). I also truly do not care that we don’t have MLS, if you’re wondering. This is America. We dumped all that tea in the Boston harbor for a damn reason, and I am not acknowledging soccer in the same conversation as football, basketball, nor even hockey.
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There even more companies, CapTrust, First Citizens Bank, Dogwood State Bank all could finance a stadium. We can defeat those odds ww have a focused owner.
This is what I have been saying for awhile now. Nashville isn’t as slam dunk as people think it is for MLB:
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Well if we want a team their success is important because if awarded franchise i’ll cover up the territorial rights of that other NC city.
I’d give more clout if the strong attendance numbers continued. The XFL in 2001 also had surprising attendance and TV ratings for the first game or 2…
I don’t follow CLT’s MLS team so maybe they have good support, but just making a point that 1 game is not a barometer.
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There are only two seasons to go off of, however Charlotte FC has been second in MLS attendance each year only behind Atlanta. Average attendance was about 36,300 at each game this year which was actually up by around a thousand people compared to 2022. Obviously, the coming years will be telling for how sustainable that is, but for a basically fringe major sports league those aren’t insignificant numbers. Also somewhat hard to believe given how unanimously hated David Tepper has become in Charlotte, and the Panthers attendance is a reflection of that.
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Attendance over 2 seasons is certainly a much better barometer than the 1st game where the hype is at it’s highest. And 2nd to only Atlanta (which has done very well) is great! But perhaps high attendance for MLS in Charlotte with their other 2 major pro sports teams doing quite poorly in attendance (and performance) could suggest over saturation as well. I think bringing this back to MLB and Raleigh, it’s just data that supports the next pro team coming to us and not continuing to water down Charlotte USA.
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I think Nashville is actually a long shot.
They need the Gov to put down big money, and they seem unwilling to (a source close to the Titans stadium deal says the state/city is mostly tapped out).
And without government money, it’s unlikely you’re going to attract a billionaire investor.
And without a billionaire investor, buildable land, and now it seems ‘community support’, the question is…what does Nashville even have?
That said, the Haslams or another big-money local could come in and fund the whole thing. However, that’s unlikely with interest rates at the level they’re at…but it COULD happen and that person could buy the land, pay the expansion fee and build the stadium (you’d be looking at $3-4 billion out of pocket.)
Here you have vocal government support, a local billionaire with success in the sports realm, a strong community movement, and lots of land options being considered. All while having better population, TV market, and growth rates than Nashville.
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Does any of that play into the precedent ownership would want to set? I’d assume current MLB owners would prefer a deal that involved local governments providing a lot of aid for these deals so that they have leverage when they want stadiums build and assisted by the city.
But, they may just prefer ease and control for the current owner as well. Not sure what would be preferable.A $4 billion investment by one ownership group or a $4 billion investment that uses both ownership and the city to offset costs.
Are you serious, Clark? How many people fit in the bathrooms?
I’ve been told by someone who does these types of deals that this would hypothetically play a role. In a perfect world, MLB wants a local owner with bi-partisan local government support…almost as if they have a partnership with not just the ownership group but with the city/region as well. They have more leverage and stability that way.
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Rick White President of The Atlantic League told me the same thing Lou.
I think with state leaders working with Dundon is the support we need. Raleigh is working on it but will stay quiet, until its handled to them for support.
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Governor Cooper thinks Raleigh is MLB’s best option (15:00 mark), mentions saturation of Charlotte sports market!
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Raleigh actually has the support!
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Today’s Ballpark Digest has a detail article about Salt Lake City’s bid to get MLB & their stadium project.
Got my Raleigh 919 Collective hat today and it’s incredible quality!
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Where would the stadium go? By PNC? Or downtown south where the mls stadium was rumored to be?