Charlotte lands Major League Soccer expansion team
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 begin signing 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.”
NYC moves 4 games to Citi Field
NEW YORK >>
Major League
Soccer’s New York City team has moved four home league games to the Mets’ Citi Field from Yankee Stadium next season.
NYC said Tuesday the decision eliminates what would have been four midweek games. The team has limited weekends available in the Bronx because of the New York Yankees.
The games in Queens will be scheduled for April 26,
July 25, Aug. 8 and Sept. 26.
Serie A CEO apologizes
ROME >> Serie A chief executive Luigi De Siervo expressed “his sincere apologies” Tuesday after the league installed a painting featuring monkeys at its headquarters for an anti-racism campaign.
“We realized it was inappropriate,” De Siervo said in a statement, more than 24 hours after the painting was used as a backdrop at a news conference that the CEO participated in.