Saine, R-Lincoln, is a Charlotte supporter and senior chairman of the appropriations committee.
āWeāre just making sure we get those games,ā Saine said. āThey canāt not play. Thereās enough wiggle room in there as far as space and calendaring that weāll get the maximum benefit without real injury to them. Itās what fans want to see and itās a good way to do it.ā
The bill identifies āhigh-enrollment institutionsā as those with more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. UNC, NC State and Charlotte are the only in-state schools that meet that threshold, according to [UNC Board of Governors data for the fall of 2023.]
Iād like to have them on our schedule, but I think our state legislatures need to stay out of athletic scheduling.
State schools helping state schools. Iām all for it. Weāre not talking about forcing private institutions into doing something by government coercion. As far as Iām concerned this is the equivalent of the legislature asking the DMV to cooperate with the Highway Patrol.
I get the sentiment, but it worked in Kentucky. Louisville and UK would have never played without the state legislature. Now itās an annual game in both revenue sports.
LOL now they do this when the field is tilted so far against us.
This was literally my first thought as well. Where was this 10 years ago, or more.
Say what?! 
IMO, it keeps the money in the state. We are all state funded universities and from our standpoint the rev share will go a long way if we are going to try to compete in the current landscape. Unless I am missing something, I view this as a tiny ray of sunshine. These games will be guaranteed sell outs.
I THINK he meant it wasnāt designed JUST for Charlotte (since he is a Charlotte supporter) but the wording is terrible.
Why would they set the enrollment bar so high if they really want to mix things up and get lots of in state match ups?
It is a way to help keep Charlotte from being blackballed by the system in so many ways.
We have been prevented from having a med school that we fully justifified via our efforts only to have the city step in and hijack our opportunity.
For too many years, all the way back to the 90s, Charlotte was by far the largest city in the nation without a med school. Yhe UNC system kept stating there was no demand for a med school in Charlotte.
Then, once they had a plan, overnight they announced one in Charlotte. Get this, UNC Chapel Hill would open itā¦ not Charlotte!
When Charlotte leadership protested, they were told to stand down! The law school pursuit was eerily similar with one exception, the.law school was created by a private organization. The UNC system still won; they prevented Charlotte from growing in prestige.
I want to say THANK YOU to the individual(s) that is driving this. For many years we have needed a strong leader(s) that are not tied directly to the university. It prevents them from being shut down easily.
Charlotte has an opportunity to be Great!
Charlotte is internationally recognized.
The University of Charlotte aligned with the city of Charlotte and the state of North Carolina has the potential to move the needle for our university, our city, and for the great state of North Carolina. It is extremely selfish to keep all the promotion targeted in one direction.
This could be the first step toward leveling the playing field. We should all get behind this as a first step in changing the momentum.
You need to ask yourselves, do you care? Are you willing to invest your time, voice, and presence in order to make a difference?
Itās time to make a difference!
I just meant I wonder why they would set the bar that high which would not help ECU and App.
Seems unlikely a bill that only helps Charlotte is gonna pass
If they setup the bill to help App and ECU itās likely to be passed.
"The bill identifies āhigh-enrollment institutionsā as those with more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. UNC, NC State and Charlotte are the only in-state schools that meet that threshold, according to UNC Board of Governors data for the fall of 2023.
But Saine said the bill is not meant to include Charlotte among those."
In other words, the sponsors of the bill were careless in understanding the data that they cited themselves. As House Bill 965-First Edition is written, Charlotte would be required to play either NCSU or UNC-Chapel Hill every year.
Bill said āfull-time equivalentā and Charlotte is below 30k.
https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewBillDocument/2023/7877/0/DRH40567-MTa-207
From Raleigh sports radio and a small slip of the tongue around 5min mark that CLT is not same level as APP/ECU.
Pretty typical (smug) comments from Raleigh media-types, but yeah definitely a shot at Charlotte footballā¦it seems they forget that Charlotte and ECU are in the same conference and that we beat them last season, given that they insinuated Charlotte would not be a threat to CH and NCSU in football while App and ECU would beā¦ Also, they seemed to have forgotten that this is also for basketball.
Weāve probably never had someone in the NC legislature that supports us as much as Saine
I am ok if Charlotte were included. We already want to play App and ECU every year or two.