I don’t think anyone called it a Ponzi scheme 
Putting a 6000 seater minor league baseball stadium (that won’t sell out most nights) is logistically VERY different from putting a 20000 seat stadium/arena.
Also, this discussion always leads back to tailgating, which you don’t do for minor league baseball.
Raleigh could build a minor league stadium downtown tomorrow if they could get a team/wanted a single A team. These aren’t super comparable situations, the Capitals moving to Virginia is a better comparison.
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That’s a quote from something I posted four years ago. I think at the time someone else used the word Ponzi. There’s a poster who uses a pseudonym who has on multiple occasions, including in just the last week, referred to MLS as a pyramid scheme. Technically Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes are not the same thing, but a lot of people use the two terms interchangeably. Anyway, about a week after I posted the original quote, Neil deMause posted this article using the exact same analogy, which made me just as pleased as punch. And if you Google “major league soccer Ponzi scheme,” you’ll find lots of hits. Again, I don’t agree with that assessment, but rightly or wrongly, there are definitely people calling MLS a Ponzi scheme.
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The radius rule that kept Raleigh from getting a stadium was developed when the metro was a lot smaller. If the region could support Mudcats in Zebulon and the Bulls with half its population surely it can support a Raleigh team now.
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That’s why they also need corporate supports a lot to fill that ticket revenue it’s another form of investment. They really rely on attendance.
Have all chances of MLS to Raleigh pretty much ended?
Yes thank god. Let’s all agree to stop talking about MLS and never bring it up ever again! 
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It’s pretty funny in hindsight. At the time, I was a huge supporter of us getting an MLS team. Now, not getting it could be a huge reason Charlotte doesn’t get an MLB team and we do. I’m taking baseball every time.
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Considering how there has been major changes in the whole MLB discussion in Raleigh, I’d be very surprised if that was the path we went. MLS dreams aren’t completely dead, but it’s much lower on the list of priority with MLB at the top.
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MLS is pretty dead there not expanding anymore. Raleigh just didn’t know how to handle something like this, now we have a second swing of the bat with MLB and were already at a good start, and will we make a home run I think we will.
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It helps we had the groundroot movement first for MLB. They proved there was a desire for the MLB, which I believe helped convince the leaders & potential investors. They also helped convince the locals to support this and that we have a reasonable argument.
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Saw that Baylor recently downsized to a new 7,500 seat basketball arena and thought State could benefit from something similar (although not that small). There can’t be more than like 3 or 4 games a year that get more that 15k so would be nice to have their own dedicated facility for basketball where the atmosphere would be better without so many empty seats. And have some of the big women’s games there too! And give the Canes more flexibility on renovating the PNC for their needs. The north end of “Centennial East” would bascially be across Western from main campus and only a 20-minute walk to PR.
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If only we had a coach to fill your proposed 14K arena.
This would be one of the perfect idea to put an MLB stadium at. Unlikely because you need NC State support but feasible. Light rail also nearby would activate the area.
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That’s not going to happen. NC State and its donors are not going to abandon their skin in the game in favor of full control by the Hurricanes. If we were in a position to replace the arena with the option of having two, then it would certainly be an option to explore, but that’s not where we are.
On a different note, and should NC State become more competitive, filling PNC more regularly won’t be a problem.
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I’m not sure I follow. Each would have full control over their own arena. PNC for the Canes, Centennial for NC State. Not sure I see the downside?
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The Arena sits on NC State (public) land and Wolfpack Club donors contributed millions of dollars toward its construction. They are not going to abandon it to a private enterprise and then have to start the process over again. I’m just keeping it real. It’s a nice dream, but it’s not currently a possibility of happening.
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State has put money into PNC and Carter Finley, so a new stadium would write all those costs down as sunk. And anyways, with the PNC upgrades State isn’t moving out of PNC anytime soon + the arena probably needs to keep State as a major tenant to remain financially viable.
I agree, if everything lined up it would be fun, but this is really just an exercise in playing Sim City because it would have far more cons than pros.
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I mean if the only holdup is money then there could be some kinda buyout worked out between Dundon and NC State.
I definitely don’t think it would happen because its harder to change the status quo than try something bold but there really doesn’t seem like a ton of downside to something like this. In fact, NC State might even benefit more from being able to spur and control more mixed use development at Centennial East that honestly probably won’t happen for 30+ years without this focal point for the district.
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Another arena would have been more likely (though still a longshot) a year ago before it was agreed to put $300 million in public money into PNC. Now, IMO, that ship has sailed for at least 25 years. At this point, we just all need to hope they move forward with the arena improvements and the development around the arena and do a good job with all of it.
Incidentally, I agree that if they were building from scratch they would likely go a little smaller, but it isn’t like PNC is wildly too big. If NC State were winning, I think they would have no trouble averaging 15,000 to 16,000 people per game and selling out the big ones. They were doing that in the 2010’s.
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