I donāt understand how the little section of Belk Holds 5000 when it is only using about 1/2 of the side of the hill its on now. If they expanded in a horseshoe shape around it seems like itād hold a lot more than 15,000. Sitting in the endzone along that hill would put you wayyyy away from the action though. A potentially cheap alternative to putting seating in would be to lower the grade of that hill so its more of a gentle slope and leave it at that. Charge the general public for grass seating and leave the sidelines for those that purchase FSLs.
Iām pretty sure I remember that several years ago JC Smith āborrowedā several million from the county to built a track facility which you can see from I-77. They may be currently using it for footballā¦ I donāt know. Well, guess whatā¦they never paid it back.
Maybe someone should remind the county leaders about this. If they can do it for a private institution surely that can do it for Mecklenburg Countyās University!
plus wonāt they be at BCS capacity in about 5 years (30,000?)?
As far as stadiums I am totally against Memorial, just add on to Belk! Besides memorial stadium is caving in do to a sinkhole under the bleachers (Note to anyone going to Oktoberfest, it will not be at Memorial Stadium, Carolina Brewmasters just found out a week ago and are making other arrangements). And why would you want to contribute to a stadium that we will more than like be out of in 5 years?
Having football at Belk, if even temporary, will draw more attendees than having to drive away from campus
We were forced to the A-14. While Xavier, Dayton, St. Joeās, & Temple are comparable to Memphis, UAB, Houston, & Tulsa, the bottom of the league is a lot worse. Even when USM stinks theyāre a tough team to beat. Other than last year, St. Bonny & Duquesne sucked for about 100 years.
We would have been allowed to stay in CUSA if we had a certain sport, with an odd-shaped ball, that plays 11 men at a time, on a certain 100-yard grass & dirt field.
We could contact BOTH Mayor candidates about funding. Anyone know McCrory to see if he can get something passed before the election on Memorial Stadium?
As far as funding from the county, Iām assuming Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts still has the same job she had when 1st elected, a U. of Charlotte employee. Maybe CHP could give her tenure if the county put up some $$$$ for Memorial Stadium?
Memorial Stadium is controlled by the County, not the City.
If you plan to contact people it needs to be county comissioners.
If you plan to contact people it needs to be county comissioners.
Good luck with that group. I had a meeting earlier this week that one of our commisioners attended. If I didnt know any better, Iād have wondered if this person didnt have some sort of undisclosed head injury.
Its frightening the ineptitude theyāre able to cram into 600 East 4th St
[QUOTE=stonecoldken;419458]
Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts [/QUOTE]
I was at a civic function shortly after she was 1st elected and she was the guest speaker. When she stood to introduce herself, she identified herself as an alum of UNC Chapel Hill and gave the group a āGo Heelsā cheer and a fist pump.
I promptly left the room to throw up, stopped supporting that civic org. and stopped voting for Jennifer Roberts.
She is a āundisclosed head injuryā.
the last thing we need to do is to renovate memorial staduim. the only answer is to build on campus. if your gonna do something do it right. it would be great for marketing our campus and school which is the point. the only problem i have with the a10 is it is a northern conference with that you have to drive a minimum of 4hrs to see an away game
I donāt know if this has been discussed here but most of the track area is in a Federal floodplain. I know CPCC wasnāt able to build any new buildings on half their campus because of the same thing. I donāt know if a stadium is considered any different from a permanant building but there could be many limitations to spending $$ thereā¦ even temporarily. At the least, the cost will be higher because the soil is so poor.
[QUOTE=croakie49er;419464] the only problem i have with the a10 is it is a northern conference with that you have to drive a minimum of 4hrs to see an away game[/QUOTE]
Get used to it. We have always participated in big conferences where the closest rivals were 3-5 hours away. Iām sure that our master plan is to get into a big name conference so the there is at least a chance to make this into a revenue sport. The only big conference around with close rivals is the ACC and you know weāll never get there.
We might play a few years at the FBC level and possibly with a conference of eastern schools, but ultimately, we have to move towards Division 1 BCS. If there was an implosion of the current Big East and SEC, we might have a chance with our current TV market. - - - But that could be 10+ years out.
SoCon would absolutely be the best temporary home for us. We need to play somewhat local teams for the community to get excited about Saturdays @ the university. Charlotte vs. Maine or Townson just wonāt cut it.
Based on what I know, that is probably a reasonable guess.If the school is expected to spend $10 million dollars, Iād rather see the Track be upgraded as a temporary stadium. Thats a ****load of money to spend in hope of some goodwill from the city towards the school.
I have a lot of issues with school footing the entire bill. The question remainsā¦how much $$$ can the city/county afford to invest?
Iām not suggesting the school should foot the total bill. But whatās the difference between playing temporarily at Memorial and playing temporarily at Belk? Personally I think expanding Belk is sinking funds more so than Memorial. At least Memorial could still host events after weāre finished. Belk would be an out of place soccer stadium after weāre finished.
I donāt think finances are as much of a factor as whether the games should be on campus or not.
Any $ we have should be spent on US. We donāt have the dollars to be renovating other peoples facilities so after we are gone others can use them!
[QUOTE=Normmm;419473] At least Memorial could still host events after weāre finished. Belk would be an out of place soccer stadium after weāre finished.
[/QUOTE]
Memorial could host what? more fireworks shows, HS games, OktoberFest (oops, scratch that oneā¦it went to NC Music Factory)
Belk would be an upgraded soccer stadium. My opinion is simple. If the school is spending money, I would them benefit from it. Walking away from Memorial Stad. after perm. venue is built gives it to the city, at our expense.
Smart thing would be to get HS games on campus (even, if there are some at Mem. Stad.), have another featured game on campus ā gets more HS players on campus and reduces the travel budget for some recruiting.
Iām kind of shocked to see certain folks on here still talking about Memorial stadium - particularity my fellow CFIāers whom Iāve had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with over the past few years.
Look, itās almost certainly NOT going to be at Memorial stadium. I say this with 95% certainty, as this is the number Iāve heard from the Atheltic Dept myself. Just stop even mentioning it. Seriously. Itās not going to be there.
Now on the subject of Minter and Ruckerā¦ well, they might not have FSLs because one or both of them may be standing, not sitting. Iām talking SIDELINES, yall. Itās more likely than you might think. ; )
clt says that menorial stadium sinking is good news for us. the games formerly played there can be played at harris field, on the charlotte campus.
Memorial could host what? more fireworks shows, HS games, OktoberFest (oops, scratch that one.........it went to NC Music Factory)Belk would be an upgraded soccer stadium. My opinion is simple. If the school is spending money, I would them benefit from it. Walking away from Memorial Stad. after perm. venue is built gives it to the city, at our expense.
Smart thing would be to get HS games on campus (even, if there are some at Mem. Stad.), have another featured game on campus ā gets more HS players on campus and reduces the travel budget for some recruiting.
If they get HS football games there then great. But my opinion is if we eventually build a permanent on campus facility then the HS football teams would want to play there, and not at the soccer complex.
From my understanding, if it is at Belk it will include temporary seating and bathrooms. So once were finished there with football, the temporary seating will be removed.
The permanent structures would be the locker rooms, training facilities, coaches offices, etc. That wouldnāt change whether we were at Memorial or Belk.
Any $ we have should be spent on US. We don't have the dollars to be renovating other peoples facilities so after we are gone others can use them!
Agreed, but we are talking about spending that money on a temporary structure on campus. Just throwing #s out there, but if it took $10 million for Memorial ($5 mill from Charlotte, $5 mill from county), and it would take $10 million for the on campus ($10 million from the school). How is that the better financial option?
To me the best option would be building a 15,000 temporary bleacher stadium on the Upper CFI Field, the site of the future football practice fields. We could have practice fields on the Lower CFI Field until we start the Permanent Stadium construction. I discussed this with Athletic Department folks but I got the impression Belk is perferred because they can add luxury boxes to it quickly.
Memorial is backup for Temporary Belk expansion.
Hereās the two biggest problems with Belk:
-
Sightlines: Would be great if the temp bleachers could be moved in less than an hour so that for football they could sit on the track itself (insert track damage issues here) and so when its time for track they can be moved back. The problem is THATās not going to happen. The temp bleachers will be outside the track.
-
Itās near a flood plain: This is why the 1995 Master Plan wanted to build retaining walls around Belk and Phillips Field and turn Toby Creek there into a lake. That plan was tanked because of cost and the EPA got involved.
The one advantage is that any additional permanent seating we add to Belk (luxury boxes and extending the bleachers to the ends of the field) would be ours and only improve a great track and field facility.
Now hereās the real issue:
$20 mil for a football center
I for one think there are ways around this and we could have coaches and staff in temporary offices in this neighborhood (even on campus) by the end of next week.
Shiite! USF used trailers and car headlights for 2 years. We have well light practice fields, empty office space in the area and at least one empty training facility already.