Probably too late for a downtown ballpark

   Even if it's finally legal for the Charlotte Knights to build their Class AAA baseball stadium downtown -- uptown is what everybody else calls it -- I don't see it happening. And that's unfortunate.

   There was momentum once. The Knights had offered to pay their share and a little bit more, and prominent Charlotte politicians eagerly endorsed the project. Despite our silly quest to force strangers to call our city World Class, a minor league team playing downtown was fine with most of us.

   The idea of catching a game after work or driving downtown and building the night around the Knights was appealing. Fresh air and baseball are a fine way to end a day. I know a restauranteur who planned to open a shop downtown only because of the ballpark.

   But progress encountered Charlotte real estate attorney Jerry Reese. Reese regularly files lawsuits to impede any progress on the stadium. I've talked to him. He is a fan of baseball, and I think he sincerely believes that Charlotte can support a Major League team.

   He's wrong, as every study conducted attests. We'll tear it up on weekends when the bleachers are full of fans from our town as well as Greensboro and Greenville. S.C. But during the week, unless the visitors bring glamour, the bleachers often will be empty.

   Major League teams in cities that begin with an M -- Miami, Minneapolis and Milwaukee -- flirted with Charlotte when they wanted a new stadium. But they were pretending. They were never serious.

   The NFL is the national pastime in almost every city, Charlotte included. Despite interest in the New York Yankees-Philadelphia World Series, television ratings don't lie.

  The delays have stopped momentum. Although the ballpark has not gone up, the costs have.

   The problem with playing in Fort Mill is that it is not a destination. The stadium is out of the way, and the team won't draw consistently no matter how much money the team invests.

   Downtown Charlotte would work beautifully. Class AAA baseball there would be a huge hit.

   Sadly, I don't see it happening

Comments

[STH]

Wait for MLB... or else same mistake as the Hornets home, that only lasted what 15 years?

Wait 5-15 years for MLB, it will come eventually. Then we don't have to tear down the AAA park and waste the space, money, time, etc.

[DT]

Baseball is dead in Charlotte. The economy isn't going to recover enough in 20 years to give people enough extra spending money to go to games. Minor League is cheaper, and just as good of a show. If you don't win, you won't draw. Charlotte has proved this over and over. Who wants to lose money trying to build a winner, knowing you can't outspend NY, Boston, LA

[jeff beaver]

While it's hard to disagree with your logic, Tom (and I have gone on record numerous times as well as "in private" with Reese about this), I firmly believe it WILL happen.
The only obstacle now is really whether Don Beaver will "take his ball and go home" because of the wasteful delays caused 110% by Reese and his fantasy reasoning which, in reality, is his desire to make a zillion dollars for himself.He could, in my opinion, care less about Charlotte...it's all about him!
Don is truly a man with incredible patience...I just hope he will continue to want to help make the Uptown stadium a reality. As you say, it will truly be a big hit...WHEN it happens...and it will!

[Bob Nosser]

Come on folks. Your new mayor has a magic wand and he will have no problmes taxing and spending. He will work hard to get baseball downtown. He even is proposing baseball's first dance team called The Foxxy Ladies.

[It's Outta Here!]

A new ballpark uptown would be a trememdous addition to the uptown core. The affordable, family-fun that minor league baseball offers is a success in mid-sized cities nationwide. Just look at the success stories in towns like Columbus, Toledo, Sacramento, and Allentown, just to name a few. With great marketing and promotions, a new uptown ballpark will be a resounding success. Best of luck to the Knights - I hope they can get it done! But until they do - support baseball in Fort Mill - it's closer than you think.

[matt]

I'd like to plug Jerry Reese if I ever see him. Yes, Fort Mill is that far and I'm never going to a game and I've lived here for 20 years.

[Rob A]

MLB will not be here for one major reason. Population base. We're just not big enough and we're geographically isolated from other larger population centers.

MLB plays the most games of any other sport in the nation, 81 home games a year in the regular season. 81. Not 8, not 40. 81. That's a LOT of seats to fill. Not to mention a lot of WEEK nights when people have to go to work or school the next day.

Look at it this way, even if Charlotte were to build a small "intimate" stadium like Fenway Park in Boston, that's 36,100 seats. The smallest park in baseball. 36,100 x 81 = 2,924,100 tickets that need to be sold between April and October. Seven months, three million tickets. Roughly 415,000 tickets a month.

According to US census, the Charlotte metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1,701,799 in 2007. So roughly 1/4 of our regional population will need to buy a ticket once a month in order to fill the stadium... at the average per person cost of about $35 a ticket (Yankees average cost is $73, Diamondbacks $15 with most teams falling into the $40-$50 a ticket range)

So let's say you take the wife and kids seven times a year. Include $5 drinks and $6 hotdogs for each plus $15 parking. So, 4x$35 + 4x$5 + 4x$6 1x$16 = $200 per game and that doesn't include hats or jerseys or other memorabilia. $200x7 = $1,400.

And all that is assuming we can get a 1/4 of our regional population to come to a game once a month. That's asking a LOT.

[Rob A]

Sorry, I changed $15 parking with $16 to make the per game amount an even $200 instead of $199.

[G'boro Cats Fan]

That's a compelling argument, Rob A. I love baseball, but Charlotte (and North Carolina in general) just isn't a big enough market for Major League Baseball. When you've got to fill a stadium 81 times a year, that's tough to do.

Plus, the Carolinas already have a strong attachment to the Braves. The Braves are available on regional TV and radio throughout both NC and SC. Would fans relinquish that loyalty to support a new team? When the NBA and NFL came to town, there wasn't that previous attachment to an existing team.

[Lee]

What's the obsession with getting an MLB team? I love MLB, but as Tom points out, it has steadily lost popularity on a nationwide level. Also, do you really think the Braves and Nationals will allow an MLB team in their market area? Both of those teams have a hard enough time as it is drawing fans.

[Wang Chung]

Charlotte is simply nothing a AAA baseball *town*; it always has been, still is and always WILL be. Get over it. Major League baseball plays in major league cities and Charlotte doesn't fit the bill. There are *NO* cities the size of Charlotte with *3* pro teams and an economy that's stumbling this badly. 20 years from now - with B of A moving its HQ to Noo Yawk - look for uptown / downtown Charlotte to return life as a virtual ghost town when the sun goes down ...

We had a slim window of opportunity to get a fine uptown/downtown park but sh!t-for-brains Jerry Reese and his thirst for lining his own pockets with as much money as he could grab took precedence .. and he slammed that window on Charlotte's fingers - HARD!

The chance for uptown / downtown baseball in the Queen City now? Nada. Zip. Zilch. It's over. Finito, Benito.

3-4 years from now - if that long - Don Beaver will have taken his Knights elsewhere. San Antonio? New Orleans? Orlando perhaps?

[Randy Wilensky]

I just got back from Memphis and walked around the Redbirds stadium (across the street from the Peabody Hotel and down the street from the new FedEx arena, Beale Street, the Rendevous rib place and the new Westin. What a cool, infill stadium. Charlotte has always had the nice and new and expensive, but little of the down to earth and affordable and just plain fun. The Knights are fun to visit, but a trip to their stadium from Southpark Mall is really a haul. Somehow, having watched the Knights organization, it is hard to believe that this team downtown would not be fan friendly and fun to watch. We built the $300 million arena for Mr. Johnson and the $225 million NASCAR Museum for Mr. France/Mr. Smith. Mr. Reese has really urinated on the plans presented by Mr. Beaver and the Knights and it stinks for the rest of us sports fan.

[Patrick Anderson]

Reese is a jerk - only looking out for himself and trying to get a big payday. He even gives lawyers a bad name. What a scumbag? I can't believe the court system allowed one self serving idiot to tie up the process with nuisance lawsuits. Forget about MLB in Clt. Obviously won't work AND most don't even want it!! Minor league is perfect (entertainment per $) and downtown is where it should be. Reese should be run out of town or at least blackballed from the Charlotte business community.

[Justin]

Wang Chung: You're wrong. Detroit has the Tigers, Lions, Pistons, and Red Wings. They have the worst economy in the country.

[Standby4news]

How about that? A Foxx for a Mayor and a Fox for a coach!

[Ben]

I think MLB would fly in the Triangle. It would be the only pro team in town (unless you count soccer and hockey). The minor league AAA team in Durham averages 7,000 per game. The AA team in Zebulon averages 4,000. When the Hurricanes came to Raleigh, they immediately were #1 in per capita income for the fanbase. Fans from Greensboro, Fayetteville, and smaller cities down east would come on weekends.

[KingFish]

So if MLB would fly in the Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill Triangle WHY are telling Charlotte this or do you need permission?

OK dude. The city named for Queen Charlotte hereby officially gives the stamp of approval and permission for the city named after Sir Walter Raleigh to try to get a MLB franchise or NFL team or NBA team. Matter fact we will give you an NBA for free if you want it. We may even pay you to take it off our hands.

[Ron]

I live in High Point and will weigh in on the unbelievable success of minor league baseball downtown, specifically referring to Greensboro. Even with the error-prone single A team, this venue draws over 6,000 per game. Going is not just about baseball, but the whole experience. And it's a winner. The timing for Charlotte seems bad right now though, with the economy in general and changes in your two major banks in particular. I'm hoping that the Panthers' don't start to suffer too much, because they are a part of my sports life that I really enjoy.

[appstategrad]

I'm sure AAA baseball would be successful in uptown, but MLB probably wouldn't for many of the reasons already mentioned. The Bulls thrive in Durham, and it's a great experience to catch some dinner downtown there and head over to the ballpark. Sure, there's a lot of history there with the Bulls (movies and stuff) but I feel like we could support AAA ball in uptown and create our own history.

[Tripp Roakes]

Don Beaver will have to find new leadership of the Knights to make this happen or come here and run it himself. Leadership of the Knights is a major downfall for the organization, they struggle to get the little things done, much less something large. I think Reese is an easy target or actually an excuse.... He is not the reason this isn't happening... spend 10 minutes in the Knights office and it's easy to see why it will not happen.

Wish Don spent more time here,,, he would see it for himself.

Downtown baseball would be great, but to blame it on Reese truly isnt looking at it with open eyes I am afraid....