The more I think about it, I think approaching the city council and asking for a percentage of money based on the hotel tax that they have given the panthers and hornets would be great. We legitimately bring in a decent portion of that tax between families visiting kids, other teams coming to play us, etc. If they could give us 1 or 2 % of that money annually it would help out the school tremendously. I mean that is why it was put in place initially anyway. It exists to help the local teams.
That money is highly regulated.
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I heard them talking about the tourism tax on WFNZ and amateurs sports was one thing they said it could be used for. I think we should still qualify as that. Other places in the state do it.
App out fund raises us.
Just curious - what Niners athletic infrastructure project do you think the school should be asking the City to contribute to?
And just a reminder - the Spectrum Center is owned by the City.
The state is kicking in 30mil. Id say we are already getting that govt money.
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clt says memphis gets lots of public $$
Upgrades to Halton, Upgrades to Football Stadium, Upgrades to Hayes, or just a general kick back once a year to go into the general fund to help through out the university. If we have the money to build/grow either in research, sports, or both we will bring in more visitors to the city generating more money. I think we could use it anywhere. I hate NIL, but ask for it to go there if need be. I don’t have somewhere specific in mind, but I think we could easily justify an annual payment from the city from that fund.
Realistically though what is our case for driving hospitality and tourism? The Panthers can make that case. Can we?
The thing is that we can’t just request a percentage of money that the AD could set aside to be used whenever. Has to be for a specific project that falls within the state law governing how that money can be used.
Im pretty sure they dont
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According to sportico they had over 10mil in donations 22/23, we did 5.4.
According to USA today they did 6.3 in 22 and we did 7.9.
Probably how they are counting long term gifts. Either way we aren’t dominating them.
We do confiscate more money from our students than they do. They kick our ass in ticket sales and in rights and licensing.
Yeah the Panthers have recently had more visitors fans than home fans so that does bring in a lot of tourism. I know they bring in a lot more outside revenue than we do. We struggled to raise $60 million for stadium expansion even with the matching gift and state funds being a big chunk of that. If billionaire Tepper can get over $600 million, surely we could get $10-$25 million for stadium expansion that could be used for high school football playoffs or other things to draw people to the city.
And I’m not really trying to say there is a justifiable reason for it. It just seems like that bucket of money is meant more for things like our stadium expansion than the $25 million we got from the state.
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I’m not sure exactly how it works with the tax. I’m sure that we could find a project, like stadium expansion, for the money to go towards. This would allow us to free up money/donations to attend to other things like better recruiting or facilities for other sports.
A lot of folks are not understanding the legislative requirements for this money. Perhaps the only chance would be to tie it to some larger, non university related function the facility could attract. Something like high school football championships. However, Charlotte has already tied tourism money to a football/soccer/lacrosse stadium. It’s just not free money. Our economic impact for events rounds to zero compared to the other places this money goes.
I just think all of the economic impact studies are pretty much BS anyway. I’m pretty sure people will go or not go to Panthers games based on if they are winning or not. Not based on a stadium upgrade. Only way you can guarantee it makes a huge impact is if Tepper is moving the team without the city funds. Which that asshole would probably do and still might do if he doesn’t get a few billion in tax dollars to build a new stadium in 20 years.
New stadiums I do think can drive economic development. The issue is the stadium we have has already driven it all. Anyone that was in Charlotte before 1996 knows the impact that stadium has had on downtown. The problem is its already had that impact, now its just the tax generated from hotels and bars during events and while I am sure there is an impact it will not measure up to what the construction of the stadium did.
Now if they build an all new stadium in a section of town that sucks and leave this stadium for soccer - then you can make a big impact claim.
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clt says we have football, baseball, and softball all in easy walking distance of a hotel/convention centre. And light rail stops
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Honestly if the city supported and invested in the university their would be more opportunities for the athletic department and facilities to bring in tourism and revenue
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We need a dome.
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