My first visit to BofA and Charlotte

[tiger7_88]

Being a Navy vet stationed in Norfolk back in the day and also calling the state of GA home (born and raised), I spent a lot of time way back when driving good ol' I-85 back and forth from Navy Central and the Deep South.  So I had many an opportunity to stop in Charlotte but, unfortunately, I never did.  

Though it was a short visit, I finally got to stop and look around in Charlotte having attended the Liverpool-Dortmund match in BofA yesterday.  Though the result wasn't what I would have wished, the experience was pleasantly more than I ever expected.

First, I stayed at the Hilton Center City whose courtesy and amenities were very nice.  I spent a few hours checking out the local area (within a few city blocks) and was impressed with the organization and cleanliness of the city.  There was a bit of construction going on in places, but I am not an enemy of growth and progress so it was no big deal to me.  The highways in and out of the city were incredibly accessible and the traffic didn't impress me and I mean that IN A GOOD WAY (coming from an Atlanta + suburbs perspective).  Whether it was good city and highway planning or just mere luck, driving into and out of the inner city was absolutely no problem at all.

Now... BofA.  I am a huge, huge fan of open-air American football facilities, so I came in with an admitted bias to like it and I wasn't disappointed.  The seating and sight-lines inside the stadium are really very, very good.  IMO you can't beat the classic "bowl" concept for football (and I say football in general to refer to both versions of "football" this time because the set-up for the match yesterday looked like a perfect fit).   Entrance to and egress from the stadium might have been the most customer-friendly I've ever experienced.  This may sound weird, but I *love* the huge, wide concourses.  This is what makes moving into, around in, and out of the stadium so easy.  I have been in many a stadium where they have saved area and expense by making the concourses smaller and narrow and, because of that, be it entrance or egress, you end up moving in a vast herd, sharing body-sweat and moving an inch at a time.  That really, really sucks.  And, finally, I found the customer service in the stadium to be top-notch... absolutely great.  My experience with professional facilities IN THE AREA WHERE I LIVE is that, in general, customer service is considered with disdain, as if it is beneath the stadium employees status to be polite or helpful.  Not so for my BofA for my visit.

So impressed.

This was honestly my experience (and comparison in the cases mentioned above).  Again, though the visit was brief, it was hella fun and I was very impressed.  Hope to do so again as soon as I'm able to.

(I was tempted to see what the very loud and rowdy DogHouse was all about pre-match, but I had a 10 year old with me so I just decided to watch from afar lol.)

[Mr. Scot]

You snuck into the locker room, didn't you?

[tiger7_88]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

You snuck into the locker room, didn't you?

The odors were so invigorating! 

Oh, the scent of Chamel #1! ;)

[Seoul_Panther]

 Glad you had a good experience. Nothing worse than going to a footie match with family and having a bad experience. Hope to check it out myself one of these days..

[dpm0409]

Even though you specifically mentioned you are a fan of the "bowl" stadium design and also a fan of the wide concourses, did you get a sense that more upgrades need to be made to BoA in order for a better game day experience?  Just curious since you had never been inside BoA before.

[tiger7_88]

9 hours ago, dpm0409 said:

Even though you specifically mentioned you are a fan of the "bowl" stadium design and also a fan of the wide concourses, did you get a sense that more upgrades need to be made to BoA in order for a better game day experience?  Just curious since you had never been inside BoA before.

Oh indeed.  In today's Attention Deficit Disorder World, you've got to have bells and whistles and, unfortunately, BofA is mightily lacking in that area.

I get the feeling Tepper is willing to spend (along with the city I'm betting as well) to upgrade BofA to as close to a world-class facility as a 1996 facility can be upgraded to be.  Even though it would be a pain in the butt for ticket holders, I hope they end up doing so much upgrading they have to spend a season at an alternate field.  That would mean that *serious* upgrades were made and I think Tepper is serious.

Currently its a clean, functional, roomy facility with great sight-lines IMO in a great city that provides easy access to it.  There ain't nothing wrong with that because many "modern" facilities crap on the concepts of roomy and great sight-lines.

And I hope, when it is upgraded that at least as much attention is paid to improvements in regular seating as is paid to improvements in high-end/corporate seating.

Edit: When I say "you've got to have bells and whistles", I am merely addressing what the modern world demands.  Me?  I'm utterly old-school and all I need is a good football game, a scoreboard, and a clock.  :P

[TheSpecialJuan]

On 7/23/2018 at 2:23 PM, tiger7_88 said:

Being a Navy vet stationed in Norfolk back in the day and also calling the state of GA home (born and raised), I spent a lot of time way back when driving good ol' I-85 back and forth from Navy Central and the Deep South.  So I had many an opportunity to stop in Charlotte but, unfortunately, I never did.  

Though it was a short visit, I finally got to stop and look around in Charlotte having attended the Liverpool-Dortmund match in BofA yesterday.  Though the result wasn't what I would have wished, the experience was pleasantly more than I ever expected.

First, I stayed at the Hilton Center City whose courtesy and amenities were very nice.  I spent a few hours checking out the local area (within a few city blocks) and was impressed with the organization and cleanliness of the city.  There was a bit of construction going on in places, but I am not an enemy of growth and progress so it was no big deal to me.  The highways in and out of the city were incredibly accessible and the traffic didn't impress me and I mean that IN A GOOD WAY (coming from an Atlanta + suburbs perspective).  Whether it was good city and highway planning or just mere luck, driving into and out of the inner city was absolutely no problem at all.

Now... BofA.  I am a huge, huge fan of open-air American football facilities, so I came in with an admitted bias to like it and I wasn't disappointed.  The seating and sight-lines inside the stadium are really very, very good.  IMO you can't beat the classic "bowl" concept for football (and I say football in general to refer to both versions of "football" this time because the set-up for the match yesterday looked like a perfect fit).   Entrance to and egress from the stadium might have been the most customer-friendly I've ever experienced.  This may sound weird, but I *love* the huge, wide concourses.  This is what makes moving into, around in, and out of the stadium so easy.  I have been in many a stadium where they have saved area and expense by making the concourses smaller and narrow and, because of that, be it entrance or egress, you end up moving in a vast herd, sharing body-sweat and moving an inch at a time.  That really, really sucks.  And, finally, I found the customer service in the stadium to be top-notch... absolutely great.  My experience with professional facilities IN THE AREA WHERE I LIVE is that, in general, customer service is considered with disdain, as if it is beneath the stadium employees status to be polite or helpful.  Not so for my BofA for my visit.

So impressed.

This was honestly my experience (and comparison in the cases mentioned above).  Again, though the visit was brief, it was hella fun and I was very impressed.  Hope to do so again as soon as I'm able to.

(I was tempted to see what the very loud and rowdy DogHouse was all about pre-match, but I had a 10 year old with me so I just decided to watch from afar lol.)

Super cool story, bro 

[TheSpecialJuan]

Just now, TheSpecialJuan said:

Super cool story, bro 

no, really, I mean that