This does not make any sense. If the community frankly doesn’t care about MLS, why is he trying to get a team here. If he has had focus groups that tell him that, it would be a bad business decision to bring a team here.
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Please provide a link to the quote. I tried looking it up but not finding anything.
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This is what I found:
“One of the polling questions was, does it matter if we have an MLS team or not? Frankly, our community doesn’t care that much,” Malik said. “They want events downtown. Would it be nice to have MLS? Sure.”
https://www.wralsportsfan.com/how-viable-is-raleigh-s-bid-for-major-league-soccer/18473428/
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Yeah but even if that’s true, the thing about Downtown South is that it’s not in Downtown. It’s closer mind you but it’s somewhere else. Location, location, location.
Anyways, Malik is a partner in the downtown south development and the owner of the soccer teams. Why would I go to him for objective analysis? I wouldn’t ask a car salesman whether I should buy a new car. Of course he thinks it’s a good idea to spend a bunch of public money on a stadium in his development for his teams. And I’m sure he thinks it’s a good idea whether he gets an MLS team or not.
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Here’s the receipts so it up to us to care MLB. And stop just taking the lame way out. That what I mean about the JGNES. @OakCityDylan Even Don Garber said he didn’t submit a formal bid.
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To be fair to Malik, he wanted the stadium downtown and was targeting property on Peace St. just east of the rail lines. Just imagine how amazing of a location that would have been with it located between Seaboard and Smoky Hollow.
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Not to bring Charlotte FC into this, but that was something I enjoyed about the whole matchday experience for their first home game. My airbnb was in uptown and it felt like the whole city was all marching in the same direction while singing/chanting, definitely could feel the energy in the air. I feel like Downtown South is going to take years to have any sort of ‘walk to the match’ kind of experience like that. The Peace Street/government land location would have killed it with all the developments around it (Glenwood South, Seaboard, Smoky Hollow, etc.)
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That may have been a bad idea from the start. Maybe he could’ve used the City lot across from Smoky Hollow. Im gonna start a topic soon on how Raleigh needs to disassociate itself from the state.
Just want to point this out but if the city/county are really working on a PNC arena entertainment district they are making a big mistake.
For one thing, why would businesses like restaurants pay high dollar rent for a location that only draws crowds when there’s an event going on? It’s a hassle to get to the PNC arena why would anyone go there just to drink when there’s plenty of other better, beautiful locations to visit? As mentioned, these types of developments are successful only when there’s a massive investment from a private entity. Raleigh doesn’t have that backing. Kane has his own district to play around in and Dundon isn’t going to put up his own money.
100% sure that the city/county will hire a local team with 0% imagination and will build a car-centric lifestyle development like the dozen or some built or being built right now. Why would you pick the PNC arena are over the Fenton?
Scott Dupree, Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, in the latest Podcast Raleigh podcast mentioned that the big money events like men’s college sports are basically uninterested in Raleigh because while the PNC arena can host these events the location is not ideal. These events want walkable areas near a convention center and plenty of walkable hotels.
So you’re telling me the city is spending a lot of money on a 500 room hotel in downtown Raleigh but we’re going to be inefficient and pour tens of millions of dollars into the PNC arena amenities? So what give out even more incentives to developers to build a different large hotel by PNC and maybe even another convention center. Come on Raleigh? Sure building in or near downtown costs more money but it will make more money for the city in the long run especially since it concentrates all our investments into one area.
Rank over.
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Not that it’s my goal for Raleigh, but the new Braves district has been a pretty big success, right?
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On November 20, 2013, the Braves unveiled plans to build a $400 million entertainment district that would surround its new ballpark planned for Cobb County, Georgia.[3] The district would feature a street lined with retail, restaurants, and bars leading up to the stadium.[3] The $400 million is entirely funded by the Braves and their development partners.[3] On October 14, 2015, the Atlanta Braves announced that the complex would be called The Battery Atlanta
Well that’s just gross. It’s a North Hills with even less considerations of pedestrians but the backing of one of the largest metros in the US. Lol it’s all chain restaurants?
Strong disagree. If they did it right, the area around PNC is one of the best locations in the metro for a mixed use arena. At the intersection of I-40 and Wade, close to 440. West side of Raleigh near Cary. I’d argue it’s a better location than north hills, downtown south, Crabtree Valley Mall, or Fenton.
To me the mystery is why they haven’t made any effort to maximize what they have with that location plus the anchor of PNC Arena.
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mystery
It’s no mystery. There’s near-zero investment into the area for more than 20 years and there’s near-zero investment going into the area in the near future. Especially from private investment–which is what drives such projects that are successful. Event organizers don’t care that Billy Bob from Cary can’t get to the arena in 15 minutes. They care about producing the hottest, most entertaining and successful event possible within their budget. Again, if events want a convention center near the arena who’s going to built that convention center? Not Raleigh/Wake County there’s already one downtown. Permanently hurting Raleigh’s event winning efforts forever–basically.
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Is it a place that I’d want to spend extended periods of time? Nah.
Have Braves fans enjoyed it before/after games? Yes.
Has it been a financial success? I feel like I’ve heard it has been, but I’m too lazy to do the research on a Sunday night.
This city is such as short sighted pit that its sad.
I wish we were planned like cities with a brain like Charlotte or Cincinnati or Vegas. The Big Boys.
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Francisco is spot on….stop talking about redeveloping around PNC. If development was going to happrn, it would have already occurred.
Moreover the State owns most of the land around PNC & NC State has waaaayyy to much influence.
You are NOT going to see urban style development around PNC….period.
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none of this makes any sense. i’m sure they were thinking about what would happen in 2022 back in 1887.
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NCSU is the 7th largest employer in Raleigh and provides a pipeline of talent that feeds back into Raleigh, which is a major reason larger companies are choosing to invest in the area. One of the large sections of property right by PNC owned by NCSU is the vet school, which is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation.
No offense, but just because you don’t like that things can’t be developed exactly to your liking doesn’t make the university a liability…
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Come on, guys. He’s saying Raleigh should be more well planned like Cincinnati or Las Vegas(lol) (implying it’s less well planned than those cities now) and that our major research university should be in Charlotte. He’s just mixing up his Charlotte homer troll schtick.
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It’s literally the driving force of the regions economy, but if it hurts the perceived chances of getting an MLS franchise well then let’s just get rid of.
Just move to Charlotte and quit whining already, Jesus Christ
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