This is pretty cool. They really should try to parlay this into a regular “thing” and that’s part of the fan experience and becomes tradition.
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Went to a first game of the season at the Doak today. Great little stadium, free parking (in Raleigh! It’s possible!), but definitely can see where the renovation money will go on the fans’ side - the seats are a bit faded, there’s no radar numbers that the fans can see, a bunch of a little quality of life tweaks will go a long way to perfecting the experience.
After the game got out of hand (what an embarrassing sweep that was), went over to watch women’s tennis beat Miami - that is a terrific way to spend an afternoon. Great vantage point from the seats, high-level play, just really fun.
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As someone who was at the game, I participated. Her mic cut off literally a few seconds into her singing the national anthem.
@UncleJesse I can confirm it was a sellout.
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I wouldn’t describe Charlotte’s stadium as better than the brand spanking new Falcons stadium IMO. The BofA stadium is getting up there in terms of stadium age.
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Yup. Bigger than Seattle and Atlanta (no idea how it compares to Foxborough), but not better.
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No it was a sellout I had friends there. We just as Raleighites have to accept that we lost. Stop being bitter with Charlotte. And that Mr. Malik kinda let his guard down.
Lol I meant bigger, definitely not better.
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(Most Atlantans consider it Atlanta United’s stadium not the falcons)
Hahaha
To BOAs credit, the stadium looks to have undergone a really good amount of work to look more like a soccer stadium instead of just a football stadium where they play soccer (looking at you, New England)
Okay, so if that’s what we need to do, then why do you rant about it so much? Most of your comments on here seem to be complaints about how we’re not doing something that another city is doing instead of proposing new and possibly even better ideas for Raleigh. Griping about the problems instead of finding solutions.
Look man, I’ve gotta give you kudos for your spirit. You’re clearly passionate about making Raleigh a better place, and I admire that. But I need you to understand that we’re all passionate about that. That’s why we’re here. NIMBYism isn’t disagreeing with you on how certain things should be done; it’s fighting change and growth as a whole. We’re not your enemies, we just disagree on certain things. Save your ranting for LivableRaleigh and people who post stuff like this:
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There really is no argument that the city could have somehow done something about losing the team to Charlotte. It was clear VERY early on that Garber wanted Charlotte instead of Raleigh, and if you’ve followed the Sacramento saga, that’s all you would need to know about what that means for our prospects.
Malik did a phenomenal job turning the once-for-sale-on-eBay Railhawks club into NCFC, he purchased and relocated a World Champion women’s team, and pushed hard for the MLS. There was a brilliant downtown stadium plan (and the state was the veto here, not the city), and there was a ton of energy during the MLS visit at City Market.
However, money talks. Charlotte already was the darling on Garber’s wish list. Then they had a billionaire with a stadium ready to go. Unfortunately, the sentiment that this city has a lot of folks that don’t want to see any tax dollars go to stadium/arena developments is true, but it’s not like if we suddenly build a $500MN+ stadium MLS would have been knocking down our door.
I get it though. It sucks. I hate that Charlotte got the MLS too, and I simply can never support that team. Raleigh will have an opportunity at some point for another big time franchise. Doubtful it’s the MLS, but I would certainly love to see a Raleigh vs Charlotte rivalry there. For now–maybe a downtown arena for our NHL leading Canes would be a nice pursuit.
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Another thing we need to do is disassociate ourselves from the state. We’ll never get ahead with them. For all I care they could be at here own unincorporated area in Raleigh kinda like Washington D.C. or we just ignore them like Atlanta has done. Steve Malik first mistake was putting it on state land. If he put it in the downtown south location we probably would’ve got it. But probably not began playing this year probably next year like St. Louis. But also keep in mind Malik was working with Tom Dundon but when Tepper announced his bid he broke down according to an article by Luke DeCock that could’ve been a chance to strengthen the bid.
If NCFC ever drew Charlotte FC in the US Open Cup, that would be a spicy matchup for sure. Hopefully if the game was up here it would draw a sellout.
Not sure if everyone knows what the US Open Cup is, but it is the knockout tournament cup where teams from all US divisions play each other. It’s the only way currently a team like NCFC could ever play Charlotte FC. Granted, I know Malik did some realigning of the league they played in recently. If you follow European soccer think FA Cup, Coppa Italia, Copa Del Rey, etc.
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No. We. Would. Not. Have. Can we please stop?
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Look, if anyone is claiming to be a fan of MLS and/or soccer in the United States, then the record-breaking crowd that Charlotte turned out on Saturday ought to be seen as fantastic news. It was a genuine sellout crowd, and it’s great for the league that so many fans came to launch the franchise. Sure, they’re not going to sustain anything close to that over the course of a season, but no MLS franchise does or has. There was a lot of talk on this thread about how Charlotte is not a great market for soccer, and I think this makes that kind of talk look rather silly. Clearly there’s a lot of support for the team there.
But it’s worth reminding everyone that Raleigh has an NHL franchise that is doing really well right now, and the NHL is vastly more popular in the United States than MLS is, and will continue to be for at least a very long while. MLS is really, really small beer in the landscape of U.S. pro sports.
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Even most Atlanta fans in my groups are actually happy for Soccer in the south that we don’t have the entire top 10 attendance any more. It was a huge win for the sport, and the southeast in general.
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Couldn’t agree more.
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Again, Raleigh goes with NCFC and Charlotte goes with Charlotte FC. Raleigh needs to stop diluting and hiding its brand.
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I can see a rebrand coming now that CLT has MLS. I hadn’t actually thought of that before but why would we be NCFC and they’re Charlotte FC? RFC baby!
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It’s a Raleigh sports team - brace yourself for Triangle United 
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If we were still USL (2nd division) it’d be a very real possibility. Now that we’re 3rd division it’s much less likely and would have to be the result of us knocking off multiple rounds of higher competition.
A preseason friendly could be possible though.
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