MLS gave our city a team a year ago. Here’s where things stand with Charlotte FC
Charlotte FC is one year old. The Queen City was awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team last December. Billionaire team owner David Tepper sang Elvis during the announcement. It was a party.
Since then, there’s been a pandemic, and plans for the team to start in 2021 were delayed a year, contributing to a slower trickle of team news, hires and players signings before the team debuts in 2022.
The expansion club announced Nick Kelly as its new president Tuesday. Kelly shared his vision for the franchise and Tepper Sports and Entertainment president Tom Glick shared an update on team operations, including ticket deposits and renovations, as well as a timeline for hiring a head coach and revealing the uniforms.
Charlotte FC ticket deposits steady
Charlotte FC has 10,000 season-ticket deposits for 31,000 seats. Glick said in July that the goal was to fill the lower bowl of Bank of America Stadium, or around 38,000 seats — roughly half the stadium seating capacity.
“I would consider that a milestone rather than a final result,” Glick said of the current deposits. “As we begin our seat-selection process in January, it’s my expectation that number is going to grow.”
In addition to seat selection, the club’s efforts to convert deposits into full-season sales will also ramp up. The club has added around 6,000 season-ticket deposits since its name and logo were revealed in July, and Glick said Charlotte FC has seen a steady climb in deposits. If trends continue, that means the club should hit its sellout seat number in deposits by summer while working to further convert those commitments to full-season sales ahead of the inaugural season.
How does the team expect fans to return?
Kelly, who will join Charlotte FC in February from Anheuser-Busch InBev’s sports marketing department, said that the way fans experience a live sporting event will forever change after 2020.
“The entire sports community right now is trying to figure out what happens at a live event in the future when we come back from the pandemic,” Kelly said.
He noted that long-lasting changes could include something like contactless payments. But Kelly said the timeline for the team’s launch, which will be after the Panthers’ 2021 season concludes, gives Charlotte FC some room to experience operating games at Bank of America Stadium before hosting a match.
“We’re starting 15 months from now and our hope as a community, everybody across the country, is that we’re in a place where we can enjoy a live sports event with a little bit less anxiety or stress 15 months from now,” Kelly said.
Bank of America Stadium renovations on track
Glick said that renovations are “on schedule” to outfit Bank of America with soccer-friendly enhancements despite earlier pandemic-related delays. The renovation project kicked off in January and includes the addition of field-level suites for fans, locker room and facility enhancements, such as a center tunnel for player entry, and enhancements to the East Gate for a standing-only Supporters Section. Glick said there will also be enhancements to television camera placements.
“All of that is on schedule,” Glick said. “And we’ll be building throughout the spring, summer and in fact throughout the Panthers season, without disrupting the Panthers operation, as we get ready for the spring of ‘22.”
The Panthers also recently formalized an agreement with the city of Rock Hill, S.C., to build a 640,000 square foot practice facility and sports-and-entertainment venue in the area. Construction has already started and the Panthers’ headquarters and team facility, a k a “The Rock”, are expected to open in 2023.
Plans and renderings of the site were shared in October, and include space for soccer and large entertainment events.
When will Charlotte FC get a head coach?
Charlotte FC sporting director Zoran Krneta said that the club was targeting the end of the summer to hire its head coach, a timeline Glick confirmed Tuesday.
“This is definitely a summer hire,” Glick said. “Possibly an early summer of ‘21 hire.”
Glick said that “unless there’s some surprise,” the club would be bringing on a coach that is currently managing a soccer club, either within the U.S. or internationally. If that coach were to finish the season in May, Glick said, there should be a natural break as the season ends for the team to finalize an agreement before two of the three upcoming MLS transfer windows, the first of which opens in January.
The goal is to have a head coach identified to participate in the MLS transfer windows in the summer of ‘21 and winter of ‘22, as well as the MLS expansion draft and the college draft, before the 2022 season starts. Glick said the leadership team has identified a “number of candidates,” but he did not provide any names.
What players are on the Charlotte FC roster?
Charlotte FC has signed three players, Sergio Ruiz, Riley McGree and Brandt Bronico.
Ruiz was the first player ever signed by the club back in July. The 26-year-old native of Northern Spain is playing on loan this season to UD Las Palmas of La Liga’s second division. He primarily plays center-mid.
McGree, 22, is an attacking midfielder and scored 10 goals (five assists) in 23 matches for Adelaide United this season, and was named the league’s “Young Footballer of the Year.” He’s on loan to Birmingham City in the English Football League.
Bronico, 25, is a midfielder joining Charlotte through a trade deal with Chicago Fire FC, where he spent the last four seasons in MLS. Bronico is a North Carolina native who played collegiate soccer for UNC Charlotte.
Charlotte FC has eight international roster spots.
Charlotte FC kit reveal
Charlotte FC’s first home and away uniforms, or “kits” in soccer terms, are expected to be revealed in the fall of 2021 or winter of 2022. The uniforms will feature the name and logo of Charlotte FC’s primary sponsor, Ally Bank, which agreed to pay for advertising rights on uniforms as part of a major sponsorship deal. Glick said that the team hasn’t yet confirmed an exact schedule with Adidas, the official supplier of MLS, but in the meantime, team gear is available for purchase on the team’s website.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 9:24 PM.
