Charlotte lands Major League Soccer expansion team
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — David Tepper’s vision of bringing a Major League Soccer team to Charlotte has been realized.
Charlotte was awarded an MLS expansion team on Tuesday by MLS commissioner Don Garber at a news conference in downtown Charlotte. The team will begin play in 2021 and can sign players immediately.
Tepper owns the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and the team will play its games at Bank of America Stadium, where the Panthers play.
The city also has the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, but doesn’t have an NHL or MLB team. Tepper hopes that Major League Soccer will fill that void in the summer for sports fans in Charlotte.
“The city is just right for the sport,” Tepper said. “We have had (soccer) games here and there was pretty good support for the sport. We think we can build a really good fan base.
The city needs a sport during that (summer) period.”
Tepper promised that “we are going to make Charlotte rock on Saturday nights.”
Tepper will hope to build on the city’s strong Hispanic population. When Mexico has played here in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the past, it has drawn more than 50,000 fans to Bank of America Stadium, many who come with the Mexican flag draped around them.
“They are traditionally very big soccer fans and you see them when you have the Mexico games here,” Tepper said. “They will fill the stadium or half-fill the stadium. So I think that is very much an untapped market . ... We have a great location to bring out those fans.”
The team name has not been established yet, but should be announced in the spring. Some of the names under consideration are Charlotte FC, Charlotte Crown FC, Charlotte Fortune FC and Charlotte Monarchs. our post players involved early, and once we did, outside shots starting opening (up).”
The Warriors started out the contest eight the 8-ball, trailing Unity Christian by double digits in the second quarter. The Lions had a 20-9 lead after eight minutes.
“We’ve got to learn to come out with energy from the tip,” Broom said. “We can’t wait until we’re down 10-12 points before we decide, hey, we need to play. Doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to come out with energy and intensity from the get-go and we haven’t
Garber said the league positions itself as a league for a “new America” made up of young millennials, and he said Charlotte fits that mold.
“That’s really what our brand stands for and that new America lives right here in Charlotte,” Garber said.
Thirty percent of MLS’ fan base is made up of Hispanic fans. done that yet. We’re always having to battle back. We’ll continue to work on that and hopefully we’ll get better.”
The Warriors cut Unity’s edge to five at halftime and took their first lead of the game at 36-34 with 1:52 remaining in the third quarter. From there, the teams battled back-and-forth with many trips to the free-throw line.
At 64-63, GC had a bad pass and an out-of-bounds called against them, which would lead to Unity Christian points.
“I need five leaders there at the end of the game when it’s close,” Broom said. “Those
“This is going to have a high index of diverse communities as a percentage of the fan base,” Garber said. “It’s one of the things that attracted us to Charlotte.”
Tepper said he hopes to match some of the success — and perhaps exceed — what Atlanta’s MLS franchise has enjoyed over the past few years. Tepper also did his best to start a new rival with its Interstate-85 opponent four hours down the road.
“Charlotte is hot!” Tepper said at the news conference.
When Tepper bought the Panthers from Jerry Richardson in 2018, he said during his introductory press conference that he wanted to bring an MLS team to Charlotte in the near future. He quickly hired Tom Glick, who has a background with MLS, as the team’s president as part of that vision.
Eighteen months later, he has succeeded in landing a team.
The 62-year-old Tepper says soccer is “in my blood.” He grew up playing soccer in Pittsburgh, watch as a fan and has coached youth soccer teams. He also joked that he tore an ACL in his knee playing soccer at 45.
“I’ve said it before, Charlotte loves a party, and this will be a two-hour party,” Tepper said. “And there’s nothing like it in sports. It’s a totally different experience.”