I do hope that when this stadium is built, it is done with expansion in mind… similar to our football stadium.
“Professionally, yes. That is mostly due to the fact that the South doesn’t have teams that date back generations. Most southern cities are filled with transplants still loyal to their home teams.”
Agreed. Charlotte’s a big transplant city as well.
In a perfect situation you could get a team to work in Charlotte now but they would have to play in the NL East playing the Braves, Mets, Marlins, and Phillies. A lot of baseball fans in Charlotte support the Braves and their may be enough notherners to bring decent support for series with the Mets and Phillies. I’m with NWA though I don’t think Charlotte could reallistically support a MLB team for another 15-20 years.
[quote=“NinerWupAss, post:20, topic:26705”]As mentioned we don’t have the population base for baseball.[/quote]And it isn’t just fan population, we need more corporate population as well. That is who buys a big chunk of the tickets. Right now our 4th biggest employer is Char-Meck Schools–they will not buy tickets; 5th is Walmart & Sam’s Club–no tickets there; 7th is the City of Charlotte–they better not be buying big blocks. We just are not there yet.
[quote=“Nugget, post:24, topic:26705”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:20, topic:26705”]As mentioned we don’t have the population base for baseball.[/quote]And it isn’t just fan population, we need more corporate population as well. That is who buys a big chunk of the tickets. Right now our 4th biggest employer is Char-Meck Schools–they will not buy tickets; 5th is Walmart & Sam’s Club–no tickets there; 7th is the City of Charlotte–they better not be buying big blocks. We just are not there yet.[/quote]I don’t think Charlotte would support a MLB team, but these arguments are horse shit.
Charlotte has a better corporate profile than several cities that have teams.
The current Knights Stadium was built with the capability of expanding it into an MLB Stadium, but the proposed stadium uptown will not be. From what I have heard there is not enough room on the land to build a MLB size stadium.
I think a ballpark built specifically for AAA baseball is perfect for Charlotte. I think if you design it to be expanded, it will take alot away aesthetically. Just look at the current Knights Stadium.
The current Knights Stadium was built with the capability of expanding it into an MLB Stadium, but the proposed stadium uptown will not be. From what I have heard there is not enough room on the land to build a MLB size stadium.[/quote]This is correct.
There will be room for two hotels on site though.
Personally I don’t care if the AAA stadium can be expanded. But the not enough space logic doesn’t seem to add up. A MLB stadium requires more space than a AAA stadium and 2 hotels?
[quote=“switchfoot, post:19, topic:26705”]I am not advocating only having 10 teams in the MLB. But there’s not a large enough market nor the interest in baseball for MLB to come to Charlotte let alone North Carolina. Keep the minor league teams here though.
My point is simple, MLB doesn’t need to expand to more teams and I don’t believe NC can support an MLB team. The fact that the Braves have been as successful has they have yet they finish 14th-16th in attendence proves my point (along with the fact that Turner Field is way too big). That’s not saying that Atlanta is “no good” for the league, hell I am a Braves fan.[/quote]
I get what you’re saying. And honestly I’m not sure how MLB would do in Charlotte at this time. My point is using Atlanta as an example of why MLB won’t be successful in the South is probably not a good one to use. Because that would mean over 50% of the league is not MLB ready. Now if you had said Tampa Bay that would be hard to debate.
[quote=“Normmm, post:29, topic:26705”][quote=“switchfoot, post:19, topic:26705”]I am not advocating only having 10 teams in the MLB. But there’s not a large enough market nor the interest in baseball for MLB to come to Charlotte let alone North Carolina. Keep the minor league teams here though.
My point is simple, MLB doesn’t need to expand to more teams and I don’t believe NC can support an MLB team. The fact that the Braves have been as successful has they have yet they finish 14th-16th in attendence proves my point (along with the fact that Turner Field is way too big). That’s not saying that Atlanta is “no good” for the league, hell I am a Braves fan.[/quote]
I get what you’re saying. And honestly I’m not sure how MLB would do in Charlotte at this time. My point is using Atlanta as an example of why MLB won’t be successful in the South is probably not a good one to use. Because that would mean over 50% of the league is not MLB ready. Now if you had said Tampa Bay that would be hard to debate.[/quote]
Where has MLB been successful in the south (I don’t include Texas) would be my question I guess. Tampa is another example and they have a stadium that is 17,000 seats SMALLER then Turner Field and can’t fill it up unless Boston or NY comes to town. Southern cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, and heck most of Florida have become northern transplant cities. A prime example in Charlotte is go to a Panthers-Steelers games at Bank of America Staduim.
I really love MLB but in the south it’s at best 3rd on list, heck probably 4th on the list behind College Football, Pro Football, and college basketball.
ATL as a sports city sucks - period. Come to think of it ATL as a city sucks. The only redeeming thing about ATL is the quality of strip bar. Lived there for 6 months never been so happy to leave a town.
Yup, the only time I go to Atlanta is to catch a Braves game. The city is pretty crappy.
clt says atlanta aint braver.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/30/3208852/piedmont-natural-gas-to-sponsor.html
Seems like a great time to be building a new stadium in Charlotte cough cough
5th… NASCARRRRR!!!
The Braves are still #3 in popularity according to this report last summer: http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/braves-third-in-mlb-1016919.html
So most of the Braves attendance problems come from two things - school and traffic. When school is out they do quite well. When school is back in session in September, the numbers go back down. A lot of people in the Atlanta area don’t want to deal with traffic during the week to get to the ballpark. Attendance is great on the weekends.
Plus Atlanta’s stadium holds more than 50,000, compared to the 40,000 or so for Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.
We also don’t have the same level of traffic nightmares in Charlotte when trying to get downtown like Atlanta does. I think we can definitely support an MLB team one day, there’s plenty of money in Charlotte, but I’m sure baseball would wanna see us support a minor league team first.
[quote=“Wingate49erFan, post:37, topic:26705”]The Braves are still #3 in popularity according to this report last summer: http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/braves-third-in-mlb-1016919.html
So most of the Braves attendance problems come from two things - school and traffic. When school is out they do quite well. When school is back in session in September, the numbers go back down. A lot of people in the Atlanta area don’t want to deal with traffic during the week to get to the ballpark. Attendance is great on the weekends.
Plus Atlanta’s stadium holds more than 50,000, compared to the 40,000 or so for Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.
We also don’t have the same level of traffic nightmares in Charlotte when trying to get downtown like Atlanta does. I think we can definitely support an MLB team one day, there’s plenty of money in Charlotte, but I’m sure baseball would wanna see us support a minor league team first.[/quote]
The problem for Charlotte supporting an MLB team is the number of games.
NFL - 72,600 seats * 8 home games = 580,800
NBA - 19,000 seats * 41 home games = 779,000
MLB - *40,000 seats * 81 home games = 3,400,000
We need about triple the current regional population to begin to support an MLB franchise.
The good news, we’re the fastest growing city in the nation.
clt fully endorses the rays inevitable move to Charlotte.
Looks like we’ll see baseball in uptown in 2014. Hopefully Niners are already working with Knights to host C-USA tournament at BB&T Ballpark.
Charlottecentercity.org: City Council Approves BB&T Ballpark
