Forget about how the game went. Or the concert. What about traffic?
Answering that question — a key determinant in ticket buyers’ satisfaction — has taken on greater urgency at Tepper Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NFL Carolina Panthers, MLS team Charlotte FC and Bank of America Stadium.
[ ALSO READ: Stadium makeover moves forward with city, Tepper Sports partnership ]
Late last year, the city government and Tepper Sports committed $190,000 apiece to hire engineering and planning consultant Kimley-Horn to study the area around the 74,000-seat stadium in uptown. Since January, Tepper Sports, Kimley-Horn, the city government, CMPD, and Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) have been meeting twice a month as they begin making incremental changes to event-day traffic plans while continuing to study longer-term adjustments.
Eric Sudol, Tepper Sports’ chief revenue officer, and Bonnie Almond, Tepper Sports’ vice president of venue operations, told CBJ during a recent interview that parking and traffic are almost always at or near the top of fans’ concerns when surveyed about their experiences at games and other events. The addition of the MLS team in 2019 and an aggressive move to host concerts combined to push the stadium’s ticketed events to 47 last year, up from 15 in 2018.
With an $800 million stadium makeover beginning this year and scheduled to finish in 2030 — intermittent construction phases will allow for the stadium to remain in use through much of the work — Tepper Sports wants to continue making changes to ensure a much better coordinated traffic plan by 2030.
“It’s a process that is dynamic and will be ongoing as the city continues to evolve,” Sudol said. “We had to hit the reset button a little bit. Also, as we think about what we want this stadium to be, what we want this experience to be, how you get there and how you get out has a substantive impact on your overall experience.”
Read the full story on CBJ’s website here.