MLS launches new sports era in Charlotte as city, Tepper land soccer expansion team
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Charlotte MLS expansion
Charlotte will become the host city for the 30th Major League Soccer team. David Tepper, the billionaire owner of the Carolina Panthers, has been instrumental in working to bring a team to the city. The team would play in Bank of America Stadium after renovations are made.
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MLS is ushering in a new sports era for Charlotte.
It awarded the 30th Major League Soccer team to Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper on Tuesday, as MLS Commissioner Don Garber joined Tepper and Mayor Vi Lyles at Mint Museum Uptown for the long-anticipated announcement.
The event capped months of frenzied speculation and competition as other cities vied for the expansion bid. Garber made the move official by inviting Tepper to the podium, saying: “It is now my pleasure to welcome Charlotte to Major League Soccer.”
A jubilant Tepper burst into song, channeling Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”: “Since I been in Charlotte ... I found a new place to live ... It’s going to be the greatest city for MLS to be in.”
Charlotte beat out Las Vegas and Phoenix for the team. “It’s going to be a new Charlotte,” Tepper said. “We’re the hot city.”
Lyles has told MLS that the city plans to spend $110 million in support of the team. She said that could be used for a number of the city’s plans with Tepper, including development of the former Eastland Mall site or the “Gateway District,” which extends northeast from Bank of America Stadium.
The soccer team will play at the Panthers’ stadium and its headquarters and practice facilities will be at the former Eastland Mall site in east Charlotte.
Tepper will pay $300 million to $325 million for the expansion fee, Garber said, but wouldn’t specify the amount. The last two teams which joined MLS, from St. Louis and Sacramento, Calif., each paid a $200 million expansion fee. The fee has steadily risen over the years.
“David really wanted the club,” Garber said.
The team will begin competing in 2021, before Sacramento and St. Louis.
Key criteria
Charlotte met the league’s three key criteria for an expansion team, Garber said: a committed owner, public partnerships and support from the corporate community. The league also wanted a downtown stadium, which he called “a real formula to drive our success.”
“All of those things exist here in Charlotte,” Garber told the Observer. “It’s a little bit bittersweet, because this is likely our last expansion team of Major League Soccer, at least in its modern era, and we wanted to be sure that we got it right. Everything aligned here perfectly.
“David had lots of relationships with many members of our board, he’s passionate about the game, he loves the city and is very, very focused on ensuring that his sports teams, both the Panthers and now his soccer team, are embedded in the community.”
Two words defined negotiations with Tepper and Lyles, Garber said: “ambition and community.”
Lyles referenced the NFL and NBA franchises that Charlotte had previously won and said, “We are a sports city.” Video clips of players from those teams — and Charlotte celebrities including rapper DaBaby — welcomed MLS to the city during the Tuesday event.
No name for the team has been announced yet. But a Panthers executive filed trademark application for eight possible team names this month, including Charlotte FC, Charlotte Crown FC and Charlotte Fortune FC.
A $110-million plan
Following a series of private discussions involving City Council and Tepper, many details of the MLS negotiations are still unclear.
In a Nov. 21 letter, Lyles told Garber that Charlotte would set aside $110 million in hospitality funds to “help ensure a successful venture over the next many years.” The council still needs to hold a public hearing, in addition to a public vote, on that amount.
Lyles told reporters Tuesday that the $110 million is only “in reserve,” and won’t be committed to help development linked to the team without further negotiations and a public vote.
She said it hasn’t been decided yet how the funds will be allocated among the stadium, the former Eastland Mall site and the Gateway District.
“We have to know what the community wants and expects,” she said.
Tepper said he expects that more of the public money will go toward developing the Eastland site than will go for stadium upgrades.
By placing the team headquarters at the Eastland site, and with the stadium near the Gateway District, Lyles said, “We know we’re ushering in new opportunities on our east side and our west side.”
Tepper said plans in the Gateway District could include a 2,000- to 4,000-seat music venue.
Fan interest
More than 60 soccer fans attended the announcement Tuesday.
Garber had a simple request for them and others: “We’re going to count on you when your team hits the field in 2021.”
The Charlotte soccer fan group Mint City Collective was created over the summer with a “build it and they will come mentality,” Nick Irwin said. Irwin and Tim Rebich helped Mint City founder Zack Luttrell organize the club.
“And here we are today,” Irwin said. “It’s a great thing for the city of Charlotte.” The club now has 600 members and was hosting a fan event at Hooligan’s Tuesday.
“It’s wild how quickly it’s grown,” Rebich said.
Fans in Mint City Collective attended the event along with members of Salisbury-based Mexican soccer fan club Pancho Villa’s Army.
“I hope it brings the American and Hispanic communities together,” said Antonio Sanchez with Pancho Villa’s Army.
Charlotte is joining a wave of teams that have recently been added to the MLS roster. Since 2015, six cities were awarded franchises: Nashville, Tenn.; Miami; Cincinnati; Austin, Texas; St. Louis; and Sacramento, Calif.
Garber told the Observer he expects the Charlotte franchise to live up to some of the most popular teams in the league. Atlanta is averaging 52,000 fans a game, and Seattle averages 42,000, he said.
“I will be disappointed if (Charlotte’s attendance is) not well over 30,000 fans a game,” Garber said.
And soccer could tap a new market of fans in Charlotte. There’s only a 3% crossover between MLS and NFL season ticket holders in Atlanta and Seattle, MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche said.
‘Uniquely positioned’ stadium
Bank of America Stadium — one of the NFL’s oldest — had been one of the hurdles in landing an MLS franchise.
Tepper had previously told reporters that the venue will need to be upgraded with outfitting for soccer camera angles, a center tunnel and new locker rooms.
Garber said earlier this month there were concerns in the league over Bank of America Stadium.
“It needed to be MLS ready,” Garber said Tuesday. “We have taken a bit of a risk to play in a large football stadium when we have seven soccer stadiums coming online.”
But Garber said he is confident in Tepper’s plan to renovate the stadium and to attract fans. He also said the stadium’s prime location helps.
Tepper called the stadium “uniquely positioned” in downtown and said it will help expand the team’s fan base.
Asked how long the Panthers and an MLS team can share the stadium, Tepper said they could potentially get 10 to 15 years’ additional use, “but at some point we’re going to have to worry about it crumbling.”
A new stadium would host both teams, he said.
“It’s really what the community wants to do,” he said of the stadium. “I’ve said this from day one, this is all partnerships with the community. I don’t do things alone.”
Bringing a soccer team to the city made sense, according to Tepper.
“I see the excitement this sport generates in other cities. It’s a great party, and somebody said Charlotte loves a party,” he said. “Two hours of jumping up and down and getting excited about this great sport in this great city seemed natural to me.”
The city’s ‘DNA’
Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston smiled as he surveyed the throngs of soccer fans awaiting the announcement.
“Today, we’re at the center of the American soccer world, and that’s exciting,” Winston said. “This is where we start the public side of things.”
Council member Malcolm Graham said “professional sports are in the DNA of this city.” Graham said that the $110-million pledge Lyles outlined was meant to be a “framework” for more complex economic development discussions.
“We get to revitalize a part of town that definitely needs a shot in the arm,” Malcolm said of Eastland.
Sports, Lyles said, “can be a catalyst for the transformation we think is important.”
Bruce Henderson contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 10:12 AM.
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