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Sources: Commissioners to vote on MLS stadium proposal next week

By Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com
By Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Channel 9 uncovered new details about a proposal to bring a Major League Soccer team to Charlotte.

The county manager is expected to make the official announcement Friday, and the proposal comes at a lower cost to taxpayers than was originally thought.

The proposal comes down to whether the city and county should pay more than $87 million to tear down a historic landmark to replace it with an MLS stadium

The deal involves tearing down Memorial Stadium and its neighbor, the Grady Cole Center.

The city and the county would each pay $43.75 million, and Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith and his ownership group would pay the rest.

That's down from the original proposal of $50 million each.

The project is expected to cost around $175 million.

“That would just be dope,” Central Piedmont Community College student Vinny Stubbleford said. “Charlotte already has a football team, a basketball team and a baseball team.”

For some sports fans, the thought of potentially having an MLS team is exciting.

But next week, city and county leaders will be taking a close look at the deal.

The deal has to be approved by the end of the month because that's when applications for MLS expansion are due.

Sources said the county will host a forum Tuesday at which people can provide feedback, and a vote will take place on Thursday. City leaders will likely discuss the proposal next week as well but it's unclear when they will vote.

Some were hoping the stadium could be built on the Eastland Mall site, but sources said the MLS wants downtown stadiums.

Mecklenburg County Vice Chairman Jim Puckett said one of the reasons he opposes the deal is because the public hasn't had enough time to vet it.

“I think it’s the absolute worst message to the public about why you should trust government.,” Puckett said.

The county's money is expected to come from the general fund. The city's money is expected to come from the hotel-motel tax.

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