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Charlotte City Council is in no rush to funding a big-league soccer stadium.



City Council member James Mitchell, who chairs the panel’s Economic Development Committee, said the earliest council might consider funding part of a $175 million stadium is in September.

“I think it’s going to be [Charlotte MLS organizer] Marcus Smith and Mecklenburg County in the short term,” Mitchell said Thursday on the Sports Charlotte podcast. “If they can wait until probably 2018, I think you can have a council that would be willing to be back at the table.”

Smith, CEO of Charlotte-based Speedway Motorsports, has a bid to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Charlotte and plans to foot half the construction costs of a facility on the county-owned Memorial Stadium site in Elizabeth. County commissioners have committed to $43.75 million but City Council balked, citing more pressing economic and social needs after the September fatal confrontation between a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer and Keith Lamont Scott touched off a week of sometimes-violent protests.

“September changed the city of Charlotte,” Mitchell said. “When we had the [unrest] in our community, I think City Council said that our priorities are workforce development, trust and accountability and affordable housing. Soccer’s timing is probably wrong right now.

“I think if we do those things great by August or early September, then I think soccer will be more favorable to City Council.”

Mitchell said he believes the council will ultimately participate in financing the stadium, although nothing is imminent. MLS plans to announce two expansion clubs in the third quarter of this year to begin play in 2020.

“When the discussion came up in January, a lot of council members were very upset,” he said. “We had two weeks to make a decision to spend $43 million while we felt those other three objectives were not being addressed. …I’m not saying it’s off the table. I think council members want to do those three things to have a greater benefit to the community before they invest $43 million into soccer.”

Mitchell said MLS is Charlotte’s best bet for major league sports expansion, joining the NFL, NBA and NASCAR. He cited strong corporate support and the explosion of soccer’s popularity among young people as advantages.

“Our demographics have changed has grown tremendously,” Mitchell said, pointing to attendance at international soccer matches that have drawn more than 50,000 fans to Bank of America Stadium the previous three years. “When you look at the population of Charlotte, that population has grown tremendously. There are leagues all around our city, so the sport is very popular now. If fits our demographics and more important at this particular time, we have one owner who has agreed to write a $150 million franchise fee just to get a MLS [team]. The dynamics have changed as it relates to soccer.”





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