Baseball in Charlotte, which will happen?

[SmellyCat]

To a degree, this is true. We are such a sports-obsessed nation, that the masses - and I'm not talking about the intelligencia - often guage the relative importance of a city by whether it has professional sports teams. I know it's fairly ridiculous, but true.

[cityboi]

here is an interesting website

http://www.bringbackbaseball.com/

[monsoon]

I think the lots around the BoA stadium have not been (re)developed yet simply because it was built on the outskirts of the "urban cluster" based mainly up Tryon. Development is slowly headed it's way, Wachovia is obviously making a push closer to the stadium and I believe we'll see some development in a couple of years close by. Particularly I would hope for the vacant lots on the other side of 277 (no more cheap convenient game parking)..

[nowensone]

For anyone that wasn't around when that stadium was built. They had to re-route and eliminate a lot of streets there to accommodate the stadium. For example Graham used to go in a straight line to Morehead. In the process they leveled square blocks of existing structures, very desirable structures I might add, that could have been the basis for an eclectic urban neighborhood. What remains of that area can be seen on pieces of Morehead and Ceder St. though I notice they are tearing down stuff there still. Think what SoHo looked like in NY in the mid 80s and where it is today. To be fair the addition of I-277 took out a lot through there too.

[Justadude]

Ideally I'd say put the baseball stadium just outside the loop where the grid is already broken in places and it won't contribute further, or subsides naturally, but I'd still like to see it very near DT.

[cityboi]

Looking at pictures of CLT early in the century, it's DT was full of such structures, and I agree their loss is lamentable. It wouldn't have been so bad for the stadium to have removed some itself if they weren't being torn down all over the loop. So don't think the trend is just limited to stadium building (and certainly 277 is also to blame). Ideally I'd say put the baseball stadium just outside the loop where the grid is already broken in places and it won't contribute further, or subsides naturally, but I'd still like to see it very near DT.

[joshuacc]

I'm for whatever brings people downtown. It also doesn't hurt that I love baseball. I think if they build the stadium, they should keep the future in mind. It would be smart if it were built with the ability to expand it into a major league park down the road. On a side note, I do believe Southend would be a much better place for it.

[cityboi]

I'm for whatever brings people downtown. It also doesn't hurt that I love baseball. I think if they build the stadium, they should keep the future in mind. It would be smart if it were built with the ability to expand it into a major league park down the road. On a side note, I do believe Southend would be a much better place for it.

[joshuacc]

I agree, but Charlotte needs this stadium downtown. I'll suppoort it 100%

[browngeo]

What's the latest on this topic ? Are we waiting for some type of vote ?

I want to see the 4 or 8 acre park worked on !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Justadude]

I agree, but Charlotte needs this stadium downtown.

[ChiefJoJo]

I hope that if a new stadium is built for baseball, then it is built to be expanded at a later date for MLB. I think Charlotte has a good chance at MLB in the long term (maybe 10-15 years). If MLB were to come, it would seem to be foolish to have to build yet another stadium a la the Charlotte Coliseum mess.

As far as stadiums that actually contribute to their surroundings, look to the MCI--err, Verizon Center in DC. I attended a lecture by an urban planner from the Brookings Institue, who admitted he was no fan of arenas as redevelopment tools, but said he thought the Verizon Center was a good example of how to do it best.

[kickazzz2000]

I hope that if a new stadium is built for baseball, then it is built to be expanded at a later date for MLB. I think Charlotte has a good chance at MLB in the long term (maybe 10-15 years). If MLB were to come, it would seem to be foolish to have to build yet another stadium a la the Charlotte Coliseum mess.

As far as stadiums that actually contribute to their surroundings, look to the MCI--err, Verizon Center in DC. I attended a lecture by an urban planner from the Brookings Institue, who admitted he was no fan of arenas as redevelopment tools, but said he thought the Verizon Center was a good example of how to do it best.

[queensguy06]

I dunno about the whole SouthEnd idea. Where would the stadium go first of all, and second, where the hell would you put the parking? Like South Blvd. (all four lanes of it) aren't congested enough, think about adding stadium traffic - even if it is minor league. Let's not forget all the new urban residential development happening in this area that will increase traffic as well. I think the road network makes it one of the worst places to put a stadium of any sort.

[Justadude]

^ Uptown streets are no better suited for Panthers games, but they get by. It's just assumed that you're going to run into a bit of a jam when there's a game on. The difference on South is that rail would be an option; that would be really nice for suburbanites to park-and-ride and Uptowners to take the rails.

Regarding MLB, I don't see it coming to Charlotte anytime soon. Even in 20 years we will not be large enough to fully support a team.

[A2]

^^^

What kind of numbers do you think a region needs to constitute having an MLB franchise, 8,000,000+ in the merto???

Currently there are over 2.4Million in the CSA, and will be over 4,000,000 wthin another 20. That seems like the kind of numbers that would support a Carolina Ball team. Not to mention that the Carolinas (Both North and South) have NO team to support. So between ATL and DC there are over 13,000,000 that would be potential supporters, and that is not enough.

I think this market will be seriously UNDERSERVED, if MLB is not considered for one of the fastest growing regions in the US.

At 50K-75K new residents moving each year to the region, we will add another 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 easily in the next two decades. I am being conservative since our growth seems to be on an upswing rather than tappering off.

http://www.charlottechamber.com/index.php?...Demo_ecoProfile

So is this a city that you would not want to tap if you were the MLB??? Both North and South Carolina will be a region of nearly 18,000,000+ in 20-25 years time. Seems like exactly where I would want to be in for growth.

A2

[New Name]

^^^

What kind of numbers do you think a region needs to constitute having an MLB franchise, 8,000,000+ in the merto???

A2

[Minneapolitan]

Oh yeah, and there are smaller markets than us which have been up and running for quite some time: Kansas City has little or no regional spread because thier territory overlaps heavily with St. Louis. Both of which are declining populations which are similar to ours.

[Justadude]

Note that I said fully support a team. Yes, the growth rate would put us alongside other MLB markets in 20 years or so. However, population doesn't automatically guarantee a franchise's success. I really, seriously don't see Charlotte as a bona fide MLB city any time in the predictable future. We have already put too many eggs in the sports basket; any new team would be competing directly with the NFL, NBA and NASCAR. Not to mention that we now have active threads promoting a UNCC football team AND a brand-new baseball stadium, only weeks after we lost our WNBA franchise. There is a saturation point for every sports market, and we are at that point; I don't think an extra 1 million people will suddenly bump us into MLB territory, any more than a metro of 1 million can support an MLB team.

[New Name]

Is anyone out there clear on how vital the sale of Spirit Square is to the landswap, and the baseball deal? What's happening with this? Anyone know?

[monsoon]

It just doesn't seem right to get rid of Spirit Square for baseball.

[charlotte49ersuptown]

It just doesn't seem right to get rid of Spirit Square for baseball.

[cltheel.sdl]

How are they redeveloping Spirit Square?

[uptownliving]

How are they redeveloping Spirit Square?

[dubone]

It is basically a plan to sell the parking lot of Spirit Square to be developed. I think that evolved to having the basic boxy office part of Spirit Square simply be baked into a larger new project. The old church/McGoughan Theater stays in all scenarios. The offices and other space would be rebuilt into a denser project. The arts groups would need to relocate, but only during construction.

Personally, I'd rather they just leave the current arts space as is with zero parking, and sell the parking lot for redevelopment with no strings attached. The arts groups lose parking, but with so much parking and transit nearby, that should not be a factor for groups so heavily funded by the public.

The baseball+2nd Ward+urban parks plan is only wrapped up in this because part of the new simplified process for trading land between the county and city is simply to give up the partial ownerships of various uptown properties. That is the county gives up their partial ownership of the Wachovia arts projects, and the city gives up their partial ownership of the Spirit Square project. As it is one for one trade of arts space, you can't really blame the land swap for losing arts space -- that is an independent decision of the county.