& Kotchekov. and 24-25 is 2 more full seasons away. Can you let them work on some contracts this offseason. Geez.
The rest of the context: āā¦ until the canes said they would match the QO within minutes.ā Yea they have said his extension this season is a top priority (a year early by the way). Dundon values value. Its worked well. He couldāve blown up the team at the trade deadline and didnāt for the expressed reason for maintaining long-term success.
A salty Sabres fan amongst us (jk Phil - Go Bills, as always)
Not compared to the Canesā previous ownerā¦
Iām most interested to see if weāre going to bring Freddy back. Last couple of post seasons weāve been undone by elite level goalkeeping in the playoffs. Dundon has shown heās not afraid to let goalies walk recently.
Yeah, exactly. Dundon is a tightwad when it comes to marketing/broadcasting expenses, I agree with that. However, when it comes to player expenses, thereās nothing Iāve seen that says heās going to cheap out when it comes to fielding a competitive team. Weāve made the playoffs every year heās been an owner.
Dunden is ready to sign a long term lease if he gets development rights to the area around PNC, according to DeCockās story in the N&O this morning. That requires āapproval from more than a dozen stakeholdersā¦ā The city & county are holding out for a long term lease before they commit tourist tax funds. Complicates for sure, but from the tone of the article it can get done. Dunden says he wants to stay.
A sports book in PNC will need new space, there is currentlt no room.
Tourist tax collections are running well ahead of post pandemic projections.
https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article276004231.html
<Team owners name corrected, my bad. Thanks for pointing out the error @Brandonq >
Dundon isnāt being quite as magnanimous as he says he is. He can sign a long-term lease right now. Heās not because heās extracting concessions from the authority, of course. They will foot the bill for the renovations AND give him carte blanche to make bank off the mixed-use district.
I mean, it beats some of the hostage taking weāre seeing from the Aās in Las Vegas, to give one notable example. But itās business and if Dundon doesnāt get exactly what he wants from the authority, theyāll pull up stakes real quick.
Dundon putting his own money into developing the area into a full entertainment district seems like a good deal for some redevelopment of the arena by the city.
At the end of the day, he doesnāt own the arena, heās just leasing it, so the fact that heās willing to put any of his money into the area seems like a positive for me.
Feels like a no brainer for the Canes and Centennial authority so those should be yes votes, I would think the city will be on board to not risk losing the only major sports franchise. That just leaves NC State looming as the shareholder that could be the no vote. Hopefully they are not too short sighted and ignore the 12 RV owners with big money who use the parking lot 6 times a year.
Weāre headed out there for the evening session tonight. Looking forward to seeing the complex super active!
Thanks to @GucciLittlePig for the rocket ship Uber ride to the WakeMed Soccer facility ( 
) and weāre about to watch Wrexham AFC kick off their first match in the round of 16!
Shouldnāt be a shocker but Iām fairly certain Wrexhamās stars were nowhere near Cary. I didnāt recognize any of the players in uniform. And they lost 3-4 to a makeshift team from Illinois (I think).
The Charlotte USA FC MLS team is promoting right now at London Bridge. They put those scarf things out on the chairs so you can have one. @OakCityKarla and I happened into the Bridge and we took a seat, on the scarf things. One of the promoters noticed and said we could have one the scarf things and asked if we wanted a shirt. @OakCityKarla said, ānah, no thanksā. 
My girl. 
Was just grabbing a beer at Crank Arm and the Wrexham team walked by on their way to The Pit for dinner.
I saw this today when looking to see if the NC House finally passed the sports betting bill. Not sure if anyone else noticed this but the WakeMed soccer park will also be one of the official spots to have on-site sportsbook betting. I feel when they finally connect the Fenton via a road with the WakeMed Soccer park the Sports & Social spot will be packed on NFL Sundays.
Additionally, eight facilities in the state will be able to operate a sportsbook:
- Bank of America Stadium
- Spectrum Center
- Charlotte Motor Speedway
- Quail Hollow Country Club
- North Wilkesboro Speedway
- PNC Arena
- WakeMed Soccer Park
- Sedgefield Country Club
NC Senate passes online sports betting bill | North Carolina news | wfmynews2.com
Did they mean to leave off the Rockingham Speedway?
Now that itās becoming legal, I can almost guarantee you a makeshift sports book will be put into PNC by the start of the next Hurricanes season. And construction will move fast on a sports book right outside the arena. Dundon (Hurricanes owner) has been anticipating this day for awhile, he lobbied really hard to make this happen, thereās been plans in the making for a sports book that started years ago.
The law doesnāt go into effect until Jan 7 2024 I believe. But yes, a makeshift facility will certainly go in as soon as possible. Just look at the Caesars in Danville.
Iām happy to just set up a stand and take peopleās money. It doesnāt really have to be that fancy.
I know some states took their sweet time getting things ready (see Massachusetts) but to flush away an entire Panthers and CFB season less Week 18/the CFP Final plus half a Canes season seems to be a bit foolish. It took Kansas and Maryland two weeks or so to launch from approval, why not here?
Guess this means you can place bets onsite next time Monster Jam rolls through PNC 
@Deekay93 yeah I feel Dundon has been making noise about making the general area a destination. I think this will be a start to have people coming around during the offseason to place bets during something like baseball season. If/when the people milling around have more stuff to do in the area, more money in his pocket.
@mike I remember your post above from about a week ago saying theyāre looking at having potentially two sportsbook locations on site. I am curious to see if the Centennial Authority folks will released any updated renders on where the second one would go? I found the presentation from February 2023 and this is where they proposed one of them would go.
