Charlotte: Everything in place for successful MLS expansion
New MLS expansion side based in Charlotte will unveil its name in June. Everything in place for the franchise to have huge success.
Charlotte are building towards their Major League Soccer debut in 2021. After being officially unveiled as an expansion team earlier this year, David Tepper, who also owns the Carolina Panthers, the NFL based in the city, and his crew began to make plans for the future of their MLS team.
They have a Sporting Director in Zoran Krneta, who recently said that he aims and expects the team to be competitive from the moment they take to the pitch. They also have a team president, Tom Glick. And next month, they will have perhaps the most important element to any potential franchise: a name.
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Glick confirmed last weekend that the Charlotte expansion would officially unveil their name in June, believing that now is the right time to do so as the world recovers from the wide-ranging impacts of the coronavirus. They had initially planned to unveil the name in March but pushed back those plans given the current circumstances. Glick said:
"“This is a very important moment in the formation of our new club for the city and for the region. We’ve been monitoring and thinking about when the right time to introduce it would be. What’s clear to us right now is not only is there a hunger for the return of sport and watching sport, there’s a hunger and anticipation for this moment for this new club. We think that we have arrived at something that people in Charlotte and the Carolinas will really take to.”"
There is growing optimism and reason to hope for the future of the Charlotte team, whatever it may be called. Commissioner Don Garber was extremely bullish about the bid when he was considering the proposals, saying in an official statement, “During the last two decades, Charlotte has experienced enormous energy and growth, which matches soccer’s explosive rise in popularity in the United States.”
Meanwhile, Tepper is a modern, progressive owner who is keen to invest heavily in the infrastructure at the club, both in respects to the Panthers, who recently hired new head coach Matt Rhule to conduct an entire rebuild of the team and franchise following the departure of quarterback Cam Newton and previous head coach, Ron Rivera, and the MLS team based in Charlotte.
Soccer’s success in Raleigh proves that there is an appetite for the sport in the Carolinas. North Carolina FC are a professional team in USL that draw decent attendances north of 4,000 on average, which ranks 18th in USL. Meanwhile, the North Carolina Courage are the dominant team in the National Women’s Soccer League, winning the last two championships and last three regular-season titles in tremendous style.
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Charlotte, then, has a management team hired and working hard, an owner willing to invest, a strong market, and the support of the league. Everything is in place for it be the next successful expansion team in MLS.