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Charlotte already is home to major sports events like the ACC football championship game and the Belk Bowl.
The new Charlotte Sports Foundation’s job is to bring more events – college, pro, recreational and amateur – to town.
“We’ve got a lot of positive momentum,” said Will Webb, the CSF’s executive director. “Our board is charging us to go ahead.”
The non-profit CSF came together from two other Charlotte development groups that now no longer exist: the Charlotte Regional Sport Commission and Charlotte Collegiate Football.
“There were some redundancies in the two groups,” said Webb, who was executive director of Charlotte Collegiate Football. “Now we have one combined staff and we’ll be much more efficient.”
Webb has long been involved with helping bring college events to Charlotte. In addition to the two postseason games at Bank of America Stadium, Webb said bringing high-profile regular-season college football games to the stadium are a top priority of the foundation.
College basketball will also be high on the list of concerns for the foundation. Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena will host second- and third-round NCAA basketball tournament games in 2015. The city also has a bid for the ACC tournament when a new round of sites from 2016-25 is announced later this spring.
“We’re fairly well connected on the college side,” said Webb.
The foundation will continue to pursue participatory events that already call Charlotte home, including the Race to the Top stair-climbing event and Thunder Road marathon.
The CSF’s board:
Heather Ackerman, HA Events; Kendall Alley, Wells Fargo; Johnny Belk, Belk; Mike Crum, CRVA; David Darnell, Bank of America; Sheldon Francis, Babson Capital Management; Ken Haines, Raycom Sports; Ruffin Hall, City of Charlotte; Johnny Harris, Lincoln Harris; Harry Jones, Mecklenburg County Government; Steve Luquire, Luquire George Andrews; Danny Morrison, Carolina Panthers; Jim Murphy, Davidson; Tom Murray, CRVA; Jimmy Rayburn, Raycom Sports; Judy Rose, Charlotte 49ers; Dave Singer, Snyder’s-Lance; Marcus Smith, Charlotte Motor Speedway; Tom Skains, Piedmont Natural Gas; Keith Trent, Duke Energy; Fred Whitfield, Charlotte Bobcats; Will Webb, Charlotte Sports Foundation.
