Official Stadium Construction Thread šŸŸ

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/02/08/charlotte-49ers-making-good-progress-athletics.html

Charlotte 49ers Athletic Director Mike Hill declined to disclose specific figures but said the school is making "good progressā€ in its $100 million facilities fundraising campaign that kicked off last year.

Well thatā€™s not what we want to hear. We want a break ground date!!!

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Judy had fantasy dollars. Mike has a fantasy stadium expansion

Classified documents some how constantly find their way out of Washington D.C. and the Chinese regulatory steal our secret military technology yet nothing expansion related ever leaks out of our athletic department. Thatā€™s pretty impressive right there!

From what Iā€™ve heard itā€™s gone well. They are waiting on some big donors to lock in their amounts and timing. We also have a large donation that is anonymous but has a matching component that they are working on. That probably plays a big role in not sharing much more since the donor doesnā€™t want to be identified.

The challenge is you canā€™t force people to donate faster than they want and often times the donation is spread across multiple years for tax reasons.

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Thanks for continuing to share. You are rational and logical with your comments which is basically a unicorn on this board. And every time you post, you are taking a risk that the AD sources you have see it and decide to go radio silent.

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I try my best! I know people want more info and timelines, I do too. I also know the AD is busting their ass on this. When I get info I usually ask if I can share publicly and how much.

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This athletic department has been historically slow to do many things. Nothing wrong asking for some accountability.

Letā€™s hope Biff really moves the needle this year. A 30k stadium, all sparkly and shiny for when the tarheels roll into town, or more importantly and realistically ole miss, is a must. It needs to be complete by 2026. If not thatā€™s a failure on Mike hillā€™s part. Fundraising and selling a vision is where he earns his salary. He has to deliver.

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Full article

The largest project, by far, in the first phase is a two-part expansion of the football stadium, pegged at $81.3 million, or roughly 80% of the overall cost. Jerry Richardson Stadium opened in 2013; capacity is 15,300.

He estimates that it will take two years to complete the football stadium improvements and additions once the money is raised.

Should we assume that JRS will remain playable during this time?

Determining the order of when projects are built depends not only on how much is raised and when, but priorities set by the donors. Some may only want their gifts used for a specific sport or venue while others may contribute without any requirements.

Charlotteā€™s largest athletic sponsors now are OrthoCarolina, Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC), Kroger Co.ā€™s (NYSE: KO) Harris Teeter and Atrium Health.

I didnā€™t realize Truist was a big sponsor. Probably just something I missed.

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My guess is we have a lopsided stadium for one season.

Iā€™m sure itā€™ll be phased in a way that the work will be done in the off-season.

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The 2 year construction time was new to me.

That assures then that it wonā€™t be completed in time for CHeat in fall of 2025 since we arenā€™t starting now. Would like to think that we would be ready for Ole Miss in 2026, but thatā€™s just hopeful since everything we do is at a glacial pace.

I would imagine the press box construction will be the major time and cost sink, so I can totally see them building out the student side stands first and then finishing the alumni side after the press box is structurally complete?

Any engineering types wanna chime in?

I guess the positive side of that type of timetable is that the student side expansion is what would look the best on TV and would probably give us enough seats for the CHeat game if we had it done in time.

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clt says two years sounds really slow

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IMO sounds like 27-28 season with fundraising still left to do and construction in front of you. I dont know if you can get one side finished in off season in construction environment we are in now. Hell how long is it taking to get the alumni pre game area finished.

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The words ā€œslowā€ and ā€œconstructionā€ are inextricably and apparently eternally linked.

If they hire my general contractor I used for my home remodel, the stadium Reno could take 50 years.

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I just donā€™t believe itā€™s cost effective to phase the construction under multiple contracts over more than two to three years. We could have built the entire stadium much cheaper from the start.

However, we could phase parts of the construction schedule with milestones that allow for game day use. Itā€™s only 6 games per season and some games could be flexed to Panthers stadium, but only when construction schedule and expected sellout crowds jointly dictate, or if absolutely necessary the first.

Get used to the ideas of game days being a train wreck construction zone inside and outside the stadium, with delays and inconveniences. On the bright side, we will get to see our stadium expansion progress up close. Get used to project completion delays too. It will probably take 3 years to totally complete. ADā€™s and Architects making construction schedulesā€¦.

I would not be surprised if Tepper promised a huge load of donation money, only to waiver and make Mike Hill kiss ass and beg. That seems to be Tepperā€™s pattern, right? Huge plans, big money spent only to pull much bigger money promised and leaving everyone else hot and bothered, if not poor and destitute.

Go big Mike Hill. Get the best and brightest to build it; not some low bidder who has no verified success on similar large phased construction projects with tight schedules canā€™t miss milestones

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If they canā€™t get the overhanging seats done in one offseason, we may be playing at BoA one season. They are not going to allow fans in an active construction zone

If you review the Evergreen Plan, it says the press box, ~3000 luxury seats/loge boxes around it and 2100 seats on the ā€œopposite sideā€ would come first and bring capacity to 21,000+ā€¦also, if you look at the full rendering, i would guess the darker grey seating sections and the overhanging seats account for the first phase, along with the pressbox.

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