Raleigh Stadium/Arena/Sports Discussions

I like the sponsor name a lot more than just being another acronym. Plus it goes with the Triangle’s whole tech vibe.

Center is blander than Arena so that’s a bit of a downgrade.

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I like this change. Lenovo has their US HQ here so I’d rather that than some random bank.

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Much more appropriate for our area and highlighting one of our International brands and US HQ as @Daniel mentioned.

I approve. I bet @GucciLittlePig won’t though. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Make it Lenovo Seafoam Center and @svp might jump off the Boylan Bridge.

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As far as I’m concerned, Lenovo had actually won the bidding for naming rights in 2022 at around $7-8M annually. However, I believe right in the middle of that, they had a massive financial crisis in the company and had to back out. They also had to suspend their partnership with the canes for a year to save money. PNC was not willing to renew naming rights at a higher rate, but with Lenovo backing out and the canes being desperate, they signed a 2-year bridge deal. For all we know, it could’ve been a contract deferral that was set 2 years ago.

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Also worth noting, when you go to buy seats in the “Lenovo Champions Club”, it now appears as “PNC Victory Club”

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Why would I care? It wasn’t my idea to get our arena named after a bank from Pittsburgh

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Canes entertainment district renderings released here

December 2025 start, opening fall 2027. New parking decks with premium tailgating spaces at the bottom are the main talking point. But also include apartments, hotel, and entertainment/dining.

For a couple parking decks, these are really well done and look like they will add to the gameday experience instead of subtracting.

Assuming most of the discussion is about the tailgating to get the “don’t take away our tailgating” crowd to calm down, and we’ll hear more about the other developments later.



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I feel like tailgating could be a huge hit or an absolute flop and turn into a ghost town. Interesting concept tho

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As someone who has been to concerts and sporting events in many states over the decades, the idea that people driving home from an event have spent hours openly drinking in a parking lot is bizarre. Just putting that out there.

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Love the look of the renderings. Taking away some of the lesser tailgating spaces that don’t have tree coverage and are on top of asphalt - replacing with what’s essentially a large social area (that looks like two top golf bays turned towards each other with a grassy middle) and parking decks.

I hope the Canes/NCSU offer parking that specifically denotes that the new spots are in garages rather than surface level. Will help those garages fill up from people who value proximity to the stadium over tailgating - and will leave the tailgate spots for everyone else.

EDIT: One thing I wish they’d have clarified is if the full Phase 1 (i.e., apartments, office, etc.) will still take until 2030. The WRAL article says:

Construction for the first phase is scheduled to begin in December 2025 and be completed in time for the 2027 NC State football season.

But what’s actually on the Hurricanes’ website says:

Construction of the first phase also includes two parking garages that line either side of the tailgating experience, which is projected to be completed in time for the 2027 Wolfpack football season.

None of the renderings look to include residential/office as that’s still waiting for PD rezoning. So is it that the first full phase will be done in 2030, but the tailgate area/decks will be completed in 2027?

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Agree, but practically it’s no different then the idea of people driving home from an event that have spent hours openly drinking inside the venue…

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The road and the shadows in the bottom left seem to indicate the apartment, hotel, and office buildings will be in that quadrant. Guessing they are waiting on announcing that until after the upzoning is approved from the current 12 floor limit.

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WRAL has a write up on it too. As someone who remembers when it was called the Entertainment & Sports Arena when it opened, I like this district will be the Sports & Entertainment district.

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Drinking unlimited amounts of your own alcohol for free is different than drinking $15 bud lights in a venue. I just remember cops walking around parking lots busting people drinking and smoking weed, and here it’s like, hey bring the kids! I didn’t move here to have everyone adopt my experiences in other places. I just wouldn’t be ugly crying if there was less parking lot tailgating in whatever the final version of this winds up being.

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It’s all over the US. I shudder to think about icy Buffalo roads after the Bills Mafia’s spent a day drinking and jumping through tables.

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I remember marching at State football games when the ESA was a big hole the ground. :saxophone: :trumpet: :drum:

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I want to know where you’re getting free alcohol. Has something changed with ABC since I left?

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You… you do realize they’re replacing surface parking with even MORE parking (decks) right? lmao

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Not sure how much weight to give this rendering, but to me it looks like the version of PNC shown has the large lobby expansion, as opposed to the small or medium options. Not 100% sure though, can anyone else differentiate easily?