Charlotte expansion: Atlanta United or New England Revolution?
On Tuesday, MLS unveiled Charlotte as the 30th expansion team. But with David Tepper’s side playing in an NFL stadium, will it be more Atlanta United or New England Revolution?
In recent expansions, Major League Soccer has been keen to veer away from the shared stadiums of former organisations. After difficulties with certain teams, especially those who have shared nearby NFL stadiums and struggled to fill them, MLS turned to bids which featured smaller but soccer-specific stadia.
Los Angeles FC, Orlando City, and Minnesota United were all handed expansion to the league in large part because of their stadium plans, all of which have been raving successes. Austin FC, Inter Miami and others also have state-of-the-art stadium plans involved in their bids.
So when it was announced that Charlotte would be the 30th expansion team to enter MLS, it was a little surprising, to say the least. While the announcement had been coming for some time, with Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper pushing hard for expansion into soccer, the bid moved swiftly and suddenly, overtaking many established bids in the process.
And yet, at the heart of it was the stadium, the Bank of America stadium, which will be shared with the NFL’s Panthers. It is a 75,523-seat football stadium located on 33 acres in uptown Charlotte. It is open-air with a wild atmosphere that does not echo the claustrophobic, enclosed spaces that MLS has desired in recent years.
Nevertheless, Commissioner Don Garber was satisfied with other aspects of the bid to an extent that he believed Charlotte would be a successful expansion. It remains to be seen whether that will be the case, but Charlotte certainly have plans to rival the most successful expansion teams in recent years.
In fact, the one expansion team in recent years that does share an NFL stadium and has made it work, Atlanta United, is who Charlotte have got their eyes on, as Carolina Panthers president and former Manchester City COO Tim Glick revealed this week:
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"“That’s certainly the standard we’re shooting for. If we can reach that, then we’re going to see how we can go past it. That’s saying a lot because they’ve done an incredible job.”"
But while Atlanta do share an MLS stadium with the Falcons, a state-of-the-art facility that is the pride of the sports scene in Georgia, the facility was still built with MLS in mind. The Falcons may play there as well as Atlanta United, but both are owned by Arthur Blank who ensured that both of his teams would benefit from the stadium’s designs. This was a joint MLS-NFL venture, not a soccer team renting out an NFL stadium, which is what the Charlotte bid will be doing.
In fact, the Charlotte bid is more reminiscent to the New England Revolution, who share Gilette Stadium with the Patriots, again under the same owner, Robert Kraft. Another wild, windy and open stadium, the Revolution simply do not attract the crowds and it leaves an empty, eerie atmosphere that does not suit an intensified game of football.
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Atlanta United have proven that sharing NFL stadiums can be successful. But their stadium is like no other in the NFL, MLS or even world over. So while Charlotte may aim to emulate it, will that actually be possible? We will have to wait and see, but it is fair to wonder whether this could be more New England Revolution than Atlanta United.