Proper renovation of current older stadiums have turned out to be great options for a lot of clubs. This looks to be one of those good situations. Charlotte is one of the newer cities to expand into major league sports. Building modern NFL and NBA venues. Renovating the older stadium is probably the best for this current situation.
we also just built a fantastic Triple-A baseball stadium right next to the Panthers Stadium and we led the minor leagues in attendance this year. I don't watch baseball on tv anymore, but i went to several Knights games and had a blast...plus they are very close to my favorite soccer pubs.
LAX games at Memorial Stadium have been a lot of fun to attend. Memorial stadium could use some upgrades (and their are plans to widen the pitch) since it was built in the 30's, but the environment is great. I have been to about 8 Hounds games over the past 2 seasons and would be devastated if the MLS push moved away from Memorial Stadium.
Supposedly it needs widening, but that isn't being done right away. Long term, it would need club seats, chair backs, suites, I am certain new team facilities and probably some other stuff. Plus, IT'S A 78-YEAR-OLD FOOTBALL STADIUM. It's not about capacity. MLS teams used to play in really big stadiums. It's about generating and capturing the right types of revenue. Have you followed soccer in this country much? Seen trends in MLS stadiums? This would be the worst stadium in MLS, even worse than RFK. Not to mention, they have not even played a game in Division III yet, let's please not act as if they are going to be Team 24. Gosh, what will you do now that they're apparently not posing?
Agreed. Although a renovated stadium with a wider pitch and some sprucing up is going to be a huge improvement -- there is very limited space for further development. Maybe they can pull a Portland, but it is highly doubtful that a 'renovated' stadium is going to meet MLS standards. If they are going to basically tear down and rebuild they might as well put the stadium in a prime location in Uptown Charlotte. Plus the infrastructure in the area is not favorable (not on lightrail line, limited parking, etc.). For the short-term (next 5 years) it will not be a bad option -- there is an incredible view of Uptown Charlotte from the stadium -- and it will be a good gauge of how much support there actually is for pro soccer in Charlotte. If MLS is in the cards in the future -- I am confident that a brand new soccer stadium will be built.
https://www.facebook.com/charlotteindependence http://crowntownsoccer.com/mini-update/ https://twitter.com/CLTIndependence this is interesting
I've not seen that anywhere else, even hinted at. And I would find it hard to believe they'd dump their 21-year association with USL. If they even could, contractually, which I'm not sure they could. The franchise agreement specifically lists the NPSL as a "Rival League" and specifies a two-year waiting period before you can operate a franchise in your location in a rival league. Based on the teams they'd likely play (assuming those teams all came back), they would have slightly less travel in the NPSL. But everybody has been very quiet about this whole transaction since news of it came out several months back. All the stories in January (including the one the Wikipedia entry uses as a footnote) say the Eagles are likely to go the PDL, which makes the absolute most sense.
Oh yeah, no doubt, completely understandable. I don't see it happening either. Even though, it may seem along the lines of being financially responsible (possibly) which is one thing MAI seeks.
Not sure if Charlotte gets an MLS team if MLS stops at 24 teams, but I could see Charlotte or Raleigh(Wakemed) if the league goes to 32 teams. In the meantime, Charlotte should build the best USL team as possible. Stand-alone or maybe a affiliation with Atlanta MLS? Fairly close to shuttle players back and forth.
It certainly is. Though they've been professional a lot longer than a lot of other people and surely a lot longer than one might expect they had a right to be. They've always been financially responsible, else they would not have remained in business this long. I would imagine that if the Independence is going to announce all its details on Wednesday, the prudent thing would be for the Eagles to make all of theirs known then as well.
They will be affiliated with an MLS team, though all hints point to Colorado Rapids. The announcement tomorrow should confirm this. Also, I'm not sure if MLS would consider WakeMed as an MLS stadium despite success with the Railhawks. New teams have been strongly encouraged to have a stadium in a downtown location and near mass transit, neither of which are in Cary and both of which are in Charlotte at Memorial Stadium. Of course, if someone shows up with bags of cash MLS will consider.
From what I can see, Wakemed (being renovated) > Memorial. Charlotte as a market might be more desirable than Raleigh-Durham. But this, boys and girls, ain't an MLS stadium: Nice view, though.
Memorial has the location that WakeMed can't ever match. It would be a rebuild rather than a renovation, but I would say it has more potential.
Not now, but if things fall into place (great attendance, support, corporate &/or big investor interest) it could be remade and expanded in the future at a comparatively low price to many downtown stadiums. I love going to games there already. Of course, I am biased because I'm a fan of its history. I have not been a spectator in Cary, but having played at WakeMed, I think the atmosphere and scenery at Memorial is more complete.
What would you save, exactly? Torn down and built anew, I'm totally with you, especially with that view and its apparent proximity to downtown. But expanded? Renovated? It's bleachers. It was built in 1936. Portland's stadium was also vintage (1926), but they had a facade that was kept and some infrastructure, and that was a series of renovations totaling $77 million (just the last two renos). Of course, again, the third division team has yet to play an actual game in it, not to mention an MLS team would be years and years away.
The Hounds Ownership has made comments earlier this year relating Memorial to Providence Park/ Jeldwen Field, and how it is an example of what Memorial can become. The historical aspect is part of the pitch they would like to sell to MLS someday. This is the main reason I think it can be done. How exactly would they accomplish this? I don't know. In the last couple years, engineers and planners have determined that the stadium as is, needed several renovations, but that a majority of the structure could be preserved and used for years to come. The most recently released renderings of the expansion plans are shown earlier in this thread. Eyeballing the diagram, after field widening and a reduction of 3,600 people, capacity may be around 13,000. Bleachers could be replaced by seats. If the seating that has been removed previously from the north and east ends of the stadium is restored, and seating is added to to the west end closing the stadium, capacity may be back above 20,000 as it was in the past. Even if they do nothing like the above, a rebuild on the same land is advantageous due to the fact that the valuable land (Streetcar accessible & Uptown adjacent) is already owned by the county. This would save the owner millions on land rights due to the fact that the county could loan the land for $1 a year to the owner (similar to BB&T Ballpark), rather than spending 10's of millions from a private owner.
Fans can pick the logo http://www.charlotteindependence.com Some pretty cool choices here Supporter group is called "the Horsemen"
Remember (some of you may not) how when Arizona United released its logo and some bright boy claimed they were trying to create history that they didn't have by including "1912" in the crest (the year Arizona became a state)? As if someone would suspect (like Schalke 04 or 1860 Munich) that the club was saying it had been around for 102 years? All the logo concepts for Charlotte have 1775 on them. "Independence serves as a nod to the famous May 20, 1775 date when the citizens of Mecklenburg County signed the first document calling for complete independence from the Crown of England."