VIDEO: Charlotte City Council OKs Terms of $650M Renovation to Bank of America Stadium
Tue June 25, 2024 - Southeast Edition #14 Charlotte Observer
The city of Charlotte, N.C., on June 24 agreed to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate Bank of America Stadium and start talking about a new multi-sports stadium in 2037.
In a 7-3 vote, the Charlotte City Council agreed to terms of a deal that commits $650 million to update the nearly 30-year-old home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers and the Charlotte FC team in Major League Soccer.
The deal — struck between the David Tepper-owned Tepper Sports and Entertainment (TSE) and the city — sets in motion one of the largest public expenditures for a single project in Charlotte's history. In 2037, two years before the teams could leave, the city also must start conversations about building a new stadium, according to the agreement's terms.
Assistant City Manager Tracy Dodson and City Attorney Patrick Baker said staff members now will create legal documents and secure financing for the deal.
To Mayor Vi Lyles, the meeting was a triumphant one for the future of Charlotte.
"What we've done tonight is actually what Charlotte is all about," Lyles told reporters after the vote. "We know that we're growing fast. We know that people are choosing our city. We're going to have opportunities for people not only to come here to work, but to be in a place where we are a regional magnet for entertainment and sports. I think that's what the council found out."
According to the Charlotte Observer, the plan calls for $650 million paid by hospitality tax revenue, which can only be spent on a limited number of tourism-related projects. The projects, per the city, can only include "maintenance for the Convention Center, venues that seat 60,000 people or more, and amateur sports facilities."
The terms include a 20-year non-relocation agreement for both the professional football and soccer teams, but they could leave as early as 15 years as long as Tepper Sports pays the remaining city debt associated with the renovation deal. The last five years are considered a "soft tether."
Business and hospitality leaders swiftly rallied in support of the plan earlier in June, boasting of the cultural and economic impact Bank of America Stadium brings to North Carolina's largest city, home to approximately 900,000 people. They urged the council to not shy away from being a "big-league city" three decades after Charlotte beat long odds to land its NFL franchise.
Many community members expressed concerns coming into the June 24 city council meeting. Some criticized Charlotte's lack of transparency about the process and claimed the city's efforts to receive public input was not a priority.
Others expressed concern about committing such a sum to Tepper — an owner worth $20.6 billion who has a well-documented history of backing out of huge construction deals, none messier than the Panthers' Rock Hill, S.C., practice facility failure in March 2022.
But council members passed the plan while referencing transparency problems, opposition comments from the public, and Tepper's deal-making history in Charlotte and Rock Hill, according to the Observer.
Now, the process begins to construct what Charlotte Sports Foundation leader Danny Morrison previously called "the best outdoor stadium in America."
The work, according to Kristi Coleman, president of the Panthers, begins immediately.
Neither Tepper nor his wife, Nicole, were present for the hearing.
"Dave and Nicole are committed to Charlotte, and they've shown that over the last six years," Coleman explained. "We're excited for this partnership and for the future."
In a statement issued after the vote, Tepper said he looks forward to "delivering a venue that meets the needs of our community, players, and fans for years to come."
Where Is the Public Money Going?
Renovations for Bank of America Stadium will begin in 2025, the Charlotte Observer previously reported. Those upgrades include:
New seats installed throughout the upper and lower bowls.
Improved accessibility throughout the facility for people with disabilities.
Stadium safety and security enhancements, including improved lighting.
A reimagined South Lawn Pavilion area that can be used as a community gathering spot and outdoor classroom on game days and non-event days.
Upgraded restrooms.
Exterior enhancements.
Modernization of mechanical, plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems.
The plan does not include adding a dome or retractable roof for the stadium — a feature that's common for venues chosen to host major sports championships, including NCAA basketball Final Fours and Super Bowls.
Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham, who chairs the council's economic development committee, previously said Tepper Sports made the decision that taking on the cost of a roof "was not the direction that they wanted to go."
Following the council meeting, he focused mostly on the big-picture implications this vote will have on the city's future.
"More importantly, it's about travel and tourism, which is what I said from the dais," Graham said. "One in nine individuals in this community work in that industry: busboys and waiters and waitresses and Uber drivers and small business owners and those who work at the hotels. So, I'm very happy that this went through. Sports and entertainment [are] in the DNA of the city of Charlotte."
The total city contribution will be capped at $650 million, the Observer noted. The rest of the money will come from TSE — to the tune of $150 million for immediate renovations, and $421 million for anticipated future improvement costs over the term of the deal.
The $650 million also includes a $15 million contribution to the construction of a field house for the Panthers' previously approved practice facility. The city and TSE will also each pay $500,000 annually to help with traffic management associated with events at the stadium, said Dodson, Charlotte's assistant city manager.
Charlotte's investment will come from debt it takes on and repays with hospitality tax revenue. Those dollars come from a 1 percent sales tax on prepared food and beverages and a 3 percent hotel occupancy tax, and they can only be spent on certain tourism-related projects.
The North Carolina General Assembly last year extended Mecklenburg County's 1 percent meals tax until 2060. The extension was something Charlotte's hospitality industry and local leaders began to advocate for more as reports of an impending request from the Panthers surfaced.
Negotiations On New Stadium Slated for the Future
The city also committed to talk about an entirely new multi-sports stadium at the June 24 council session.
According to agenda documents, on or before April 1, 2037, municipal officials and TSE will "commence good faith negotiations regarding the design and construction of a new stadium" in Charlotte. The timeline for that stadium's completion would be the 2046 season, the Observer reported. The year 2037 is also two years before the earliest the Panthers could leave under the $650 million renovation deal passed June 24.
The city, through a spokesperson, clarified that this does not guarantee there will be a new stadium in 2046. Rather it is "an acknowledgment that Bank of America Stadium will be 50 years old at the end of the current proposed agreement, and that the two parties need to address that," the city said in a statement. A similar provision was included in agreements with the NBA's Charlotte Hornets related to renovations at the Spectrum Center.
Those details will be scrutinized in the coming weeks, months and years.
What cannot be denied: the impact sports have on the community, said Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Danté Anderson.
"Sports unite people," Anderson told the Charlotte Observer. "[Sports like football and soccer] are really the great equalizer, where no matter what your background is — whether it's socioeconomic or diverse perspectives — you can come together as a team and collectively work to win, and to be better. And that resonates not only with the Panthers, not only with our soccer team, but it resonates with our residents."
