Let's bring the MLS to Charlotte

[CardiacCats]

Queen City FC.... That sounds nice as fug

[Ivan The Awesome]

This needs to happen. The sport has a following itself. Honestly I wish I was there, Charlotte would be a great place, they already have several sports teams. What would be the name of the team though? Carolina Cougars? Wildcats? Pumas? IF its the Pumas there would be a huge following. Here in mexico there is a pro football team that is called the pumas. I remember attending that Mexico game against, uh..geez I can not remember, smitty was there the game was 0-0 though. It was awesome at BOA.

[NanuqoftheNorth]

http://monkfromhavana.wordpress.com/tag/carolina-lightnin-carolina-lightning/

 

 

By mid-season the team led ASL in average attendance with around 4,000 (1,000 more than the others), proving that soccer had well and truly caught on with the Charlotte public. Benson stated that if attendance grew at present rate the team may be the most successful 1st year soccer franchise in the country ever, in turn proving naysayers wrong about Charlotte being a good sports town.

 

By August the Lightnin’ were playing well and attracting the fans, but were described as “low-scoring” in the press. They had the lowest goals for in the league at this stage with 22 goals from 16 games, with most of the goals being scored by their bus driver-turned superstar forward Tony Suarez.

 

The Lightnin’s opponents in the ASL Championship game would be Marsh & Power’s old team, New York United. Due to United having the best record over the 28 game season, they had the rights to hold the game at their own stadium. This created a problem for the ASL however, as New York United had struggled to attract fans to the games – only 375 people paid to see the United host the Lightnin’ earlier in the season. The same fixture in Charlotte had attracted 9,109 fans, and with the Lightnin’ leading the league in attendance it would be put to a vote of the ASL owners and the league about switching the game to the Carolinas. The vote came in at 9-1 in favor of moving the game to Charlotte, which was a great boost for the Lightnin’, their fans, and the city itself. With a crowd of around 10,000 expected, the Lightnin’ agreed to share the gate receipts with New York as part of the deal. The game would also be broadcast live on radio station WBT (1100AM).

 

The 18^th September 1981 saw the Lightnin’ exceed all expectations. The 10,000 crowd that would have been considered a success was dwarfed as 20,163 fans turned out to see the championship game against New York United (in Memorial Stadium). The attendance was not just a record for the Lightnin’, but also for any match played ever in the American Soccer League.

 

 

http://monkfromhavana.wordpress.com/tag/carolina-lightnin-carolina-lightning/

 

 

http://charlotte.about.com/od/DefunctTeams/a/The-Carolina-Lightnin.htm

 

There are a lot more sports entertainment options these days in Charlotte, but the city is now also three times as large and has a much more diverse population than it did 30 years ago.  A well managed, competitive soccer team will draw at least as many fans as the Carolina Lightin' did in 1981.  I have no doubt about it. 

[pstall]

For names I say you appeal to your growing Hispanic community.

Charlotte Toros. Or the racing crowd Charlotte Speed.

[Zod]

Charlotte barely supports minor league baseball.

Or a losing NFL franchise for that matter.

Soccer?

Not a chance in hell.

[Niner National]

Charlotte barely supports minor league baseball.

Or a losing NFL franchise for that matter.

Soccer?

Not a chance in hell.

I also don't think Charlotte would support it, but I think the Knights are a special circumstance because of their terrible location.

 

The new stadium has already sold out its suites and club level seating. Regular season tickets haven't even gone on sale yet, but I have little doubt those will sellout too. Literally every person that I know that lives in the city has told me they plan to get season tickets if they can.

 

The novelty may wear off after a few years, but as long as AAA baseball stays cheap and has cheap beer (prices have already been confirmed to be staying the same for the coming season) then the Knights will draw well in Charlotte.

 

I had little interest in driving to Fort Mill from Uptown after work every day to watch a minor league sport that I don't care much about. I do like to be outside and drink beers though and now that the team will be minutes from my home and office, I'll probably take in at least 10 games each year.

[pstall]

yep tensor. you are probably exactly like 200k more people in the Charlotte area. with the Knights now uptown their walk up will be as much if not more than their reg attendance in Ft. Mill.

 

if the stadium isn't too big for soccer and they put a good product on the field i can see them doing well. make it no bigger than 16k but allow it to expand to 22to 25k for playoffs or international friendly's.