Fantastic article, about how Raleigh people want a team, but low corporate support, money, and lack of billionaire interest is in our way. Now we have Apple, and Lenovo, SAS (if he’s interested), and GlaxoSmithKline. But this article and listen show how NIMBYs wanted nothing for us, in fact Mayor William Bell and Jim Goodman wanted and formed the Greater Triangle Sports Authority along with another guy, and formed the hotel & food tax and tourism tax. Also the Durham Bulls were set to be across from the IQUIVA building however Durham commissioners voted during a time stall, to move it downtown durham in a money making decision however NIMBYs un-elected all those commissioners after they did that a year later. And we know why.
Raleigh generally been interested in pro-sports but lack of money, drive, and corporate support has lacked it onto of the NIMBYism plaguing the city.
I know it’s been announced Wrexham would be participating, but today they released their rosters and it looks like both Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will be playing in The Soccer Tournament at WakeMed in June. Not a bad couple of weeks for WakeMed from a PR-perspective. Being linked with the US Soccer HQ and now Hollywood actors showing up for a tournament.
This is probably the first time I’ve ever seen somebody “however” twice in the same sentence. Also, it seems you’re suggesting by “SAS if he’s interested” in the same sentence with Apple and Lenovo meaning we have some kind of inherent money advantage because a company decided to put a 2nd HQ or just another office in our vicinity. I’m not sure I follow that logic. SAS is based here with the CEO being local and one of the billionaires in the area. The other examples don’t follow that at all. The only way Apple/Lenovo/GSK have anything to do with this is if one of those brands becomes a sponsor and that isn’t our primary challenge here.
From my understanding, SAS was supporting the MLS bid, but backed out when MLS selected Charlotte. Say we were to go for a new team, you could have an ownership group consisting of Jim Goodnight, Tom Dundon, and Steve Malik.
Since Tampa has interest from MLS maybe we can prove the same argument Orlando an hour from Tampa same thing for us, Im sure if Goodnight was on the ownership group they’d definitely listen. Not sure if David Tapper is on the expansion committee, but he sure has a powerful voice.
And MLB to Raleigh Goodnight would be good there, they have the land for the stadium one issue out the way, Now comes corporate support expansion fees
Dont think you would want Tepper to have a loud voice at all. He surely sees Raleigh as part of the Charlotte FC region. He’s a greedy man that won’t ever let Raleigh set up a team (my main reason I think MLS to Raleigh is officially dead).
Maybe I’m just bitter because he’s ruined the Panthers.
I don’t think he’d have any ground to block it. Unless the team has been here for 20+ years, he can’t argue the Raleigh market is rightfully theirs. In Texas, the Texans and Cowboys blocked San Antonio from getting a team, but when it came to MLS, they were unable to prevent it on the grounds that it was their market so Austin got a club
Teams can prevent the expansion or relocation of a team to a city they claim is in their market. However, the Houston and Dallas teams did not exist long enough for the teams to actually build a fan base in Austin/San Antonio, so any arguments made regarding Austin being part of their market was irrelevant and couldn’t be argued. Otherwise a team would be able to win a lawsuit and/or prevent the league from allowing a team in the location
Once upon a time Cincinnati was in the Columbus Crew’s market and nobody would have thought of putting two teams that close together. Then MLS wanted into a market that supported USL perhaps a bit too well and put two teams 110 miles apart. Perhaps SAS was a bit too hasty in their decisions.
Also, the TV markets bordering is irrelevant. Cincinnati and Columbus also border each other and have a far more substantial border than the small area where Moore and Richmond counties touch here.
Seriously, good luck with any pro team - we have the Carolinas’ NHL team and Charlotte has the other sports, and MLB seems allergic to the region for some reason.
We live in one of the absolute cradles of college sports in America, just pick a school to go all in on. I’ve gotten so much joy out of cheering for State. As much as I love the A’s, Sharks, and Chelsea, break outside of “cheering for laundry” as Seinfeld said.
Speaking of Chelsea… They’re coming to Chapel Hill!
MLS had 12 games this past weekend. Charlotte attendance was number one at 69,345 fans , Atlanta second at 67,538 fans , Washington was 12th, 17,397 fans .