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Itās fair. Greater diversity of entertainment options is always better for a city.
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If a developer came forward proposing a stadium next to the convention center, do you think the city would be willing to support/put minor funds to it if it means it can be used as part of the convention center? I remember AEG wanted to build a football stadium in LA next to LA Live, say a developer similar to them wanted to do the same here, but with the idea of attracting all of our local teams and other events to the city, would the city actually go for it?
I would like to think that if we got a new 60,000-seat stadium in DTR, we could attract NCSU (football & soccer), NCFC, NC Courage as well as other events like the NHL winter classic, college bowl games, NCAA football/soccer championship to the stadium. This meaning, the stadium is pretty well-used throughout the year and can be used for large city events like the ice skating rink they had at Red Hat in the winter.
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I donāt think that State is going to abandon Carter-Finley any time soon, no less in my lifetime. There is too much invested there and the tailgating scene is WAY too important to the university and fans to abandon it for a downtown location. If thereās going to be a stadium downtown, it would have to be sport specific for baseball or soccer.
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I think Iāve mentioned this above, but large stadia are rarely built on spec anymore. The most recent examples I can think of are
- The Trop in Tampa/St. Pete, which needed to be refurbished mere years after construction to reach MLB standards, and now only 20 years later is by far the worst facility in MLB.
- The Alamodome in San Antonio, built to lure an NFL franchise that never came, became a waystation for the NBA Spurs for a few years in between basketball-only arenas, has hosted some big events but I think itās a white elephant more than anything else.
- Dome in St. Louis, worked to attract the Rams and then became outdated so quickly the Rams went back to Los Angeles 20 years later. At least St. Louis got a Super Bowl out of it.
Lots of cautionary tales out there, I wouldnāt commit to a downtown facility without an ironclad lease for a tenant that will stay there for 30 years.
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None of those cities have the teams we have though. If NC State can commit, they will stay there for a long time. NCFC and NC Courage also looking for a new long-term stadium
As an alumnus, and as someone whoās had strong connections to the athletics dept in the past, I can almost assure you that State will have zero interest in moving its football stadium after the sort of investments theyāve made since 2000. The time to have considered moving the stadium was 30 years ago. I am not saying this to poo poo the idea of a downtown stadium; Iām just being a realist here.
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At that, I think weād at least be able to get their soccer teams there. They havenāt been as committed to their stadiums
Outside of those three cases and the Hoosier Dome, large stadiums havenāt been built on spec since the pre-WWII era (think LA Coliseum, Soldier Field, the old JFK Stadium in Philly). And none of them truly worked.
- Florida Suncoast Dome (Trop): Was built right before a paradigm shift in ballparks, had three MLB teams back out of moving there, ended up spending three years as an NHL arena. When it finally got MLB, was already obsolete.
- Alamodome: The time the Spurs spent there was warranted, HemisFair Arena was a bit too small and had a flawed reno when the Spurs joined the NBA, but it was perhaps too big for them. Besides it, at least it got them in the Final Four rotation.
- Dome at Americaās Center: Similar to the Trop, it was built right before a paradigm shift in dome construction made it obsolete fast. That it hosted zero Super Bowls and one Final Four is an indictment of how bad it was. At least they had the Greatest Show on Turf Rams?
- Hoosier Dome: Only lasted 24 years, got a pro tenant via one of the most controversial relocations ever, only had as many Final Fours as it had because the NCAA is based in Indy.
Even larger arenas built on spec have a spotty record. Sometimes it can be work out great (Nassau Coliseum, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TMobile Arena in Vegas). Sometimes it works out but with a huge taint to it (Paycom Arena in OKC, with a tenant by another controversial relocation). Sometimes it doesnāt work (Centre Videotron in Quebec City, TMobile Center in Kansas City).
A 20,000-25,000 soccer-first, but multi-purpose stadium would get decent use with 2 soccer teams, concerts, and occasional college sports events. I donāt think it we should build it on spec, but itās a realistic investment.
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Interesting developments hereā¦part of me thinks this practice facility nonsense will get solved since theyāve been working on it for 2 years already and everyone loses here if it isnāt completed. Looks like Rock Hill dropped the ball issuing bonds here to help cover the construction costs and Tepper/Panthers are stopping all construction.
However long term I think this is Tepper shooting a shot across the bow at local government and the state regarding future funding for a new Panthers stadium. I think he mentioned publicly saying he wouldnāt be paying for the new stadium āaloneā even though heās worth north of $10 billion.
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Heās already asking for at least $300 million from Charlotte for a new football stadium. I hope the state does not get involved unless the want to throw us a few hundred million for a downtown hockey arena as well.
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Didnāt realize he already had started asking for new stadium money since there was a nice chunk of money sunk into BofA stadium for Charlotte FC that Iām sure the city signed off onā¦
Maybe if he personally funds some high speed rail from Charlotte to Raleigh then maaaaaybe he can get some state funding 
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99.9 The Fan was talking about this and managed to weave in how lame PNC arena is with its āgreat locationāā¦
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could multi use make a āsoccerā stadium viable? hosting ameteur select team tournaments, soccer camps, some ncaa events and maybe concerts and then get a mls team in?
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Itās a mess right now, Tepper, the richest NFL owner is trying to rake Charlotte over the coals for more public money because North Carolina state government will not get involved in fundingā¦that would be unfair to the rest of NC including us here in RaleighāI mean we need a new arena in a decade. Is the state going to help Charlotte and not us?
So the āTwo states, one teamā was more like Charlotte and SC. With the training camp issue now it looks like just Charlotte and Tepper and Tepper has be upper hand here.
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Billionaires throws a hissy fit when taxpayers resist subsidizing his business.
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