For the second time in as many days, MLS President Mark Abbott toured a North Carolina city and gave his thoughts. And, there’s no way around it, NCFC’s MLS event was a lot more of “an event” than Charlotte’s the day before. I could talk glowingly about the rally and the stadium renderings and everything for a couple thousand words, but I’ll use yesterday’s format and keep it short to preserve a little bit of fairness.

Was anything announced yesterday?

Was it ever.

So what’s this location like?

The new “preferred location” sits on the north tip of downtown, adjacent to Seaboard Station and the Capital Boulevard redevelopment. It’s also two blocks from the Science Museum, and two blocks (in a different direction) from the Krispy Kreme where the dozen-donuts 5k happens.

It’s also within walking distance of Moore Square, City Market, and Glenwood South, making multiple bar-to-match marches possible.

The announcement said something about a ‘public-private partnership.’ That makes me nervous.

It does introduce some uncertainty. Stephen Malik could have easily upgraded WakeMed Soccer Park or built another facility there and been done with it. But knowing that RDU doesn’t necessarily command a large market presence, Malik probably felt he needed every advantage he could get.

One thing that should mitigate that uncertainty: construction of the stadium itself — presumably including demolition of the current outdated and ugly government buildings — will be 100% funded by Malik. All that would be left is negotiating with the government for purchase of the land, currently owned by the state, in a process that is clearly far enough along that Malik felt comfortable enough showing it to MLS officials while elected officials were in attendance.

But, as we’ve seen across this fair country of ours, stadium deals that seem simple enough go awry often. San Diego was a shoo-in, all they wanted was to buy the Qualcomm site and finance a stadium themselves. The City shot them down anyway. When Minnesota United was initially promised an MLS team, all stadium talk centered on a site near Target Field in Minneapolis. That fell through, only for St. Paul to come in and say, “Hey, take a look at this Midway area we’re trying to bolster.” D.C.’s stadium, announced in the middle of 2013, was probably delayed at least two years by a mayoral change.

All you can really do is put your best plan forward and hope it all works out.

Where would people park?

I have no idea.

What was the lead-up to the rally like?

Like I did with Charlotte, I tuned into the local sports radio on my way into the city. Understandably, the Charlotte radio shows were occupied with Dave Gettleman’s firing (he was General Manager of the Panthers) and Marty Hurney’s impending re-hiring.

Honestly, like so many other things this year, it was simply a case of unfortunate timing for MLS4CLT. The Panthers rule Charlotte, the NFL dominates the sports landscape across the country, and something that big deserves a lot of coverage. If NC State had fired Dave Doeren (the head football coach) or something, that would have probably drowned out the #919toMLS stuff.

But since that didn’t happen, both local radio shows led with the stadium proposal. Adam Gold and Joe Ovies even broadcasted their show from City Market, where the rally was happening. Additionally, all the local TV stations sent their primary anchors to the event. The News and Observer sent several reporters.

It should be noted that Capitol Broadcasting Company, which owns the local sports radio station and WRALsports, has a significant stake in the MLS proceedings, as James F. Goodmon Jr. serves as both CBC VP and Chairman of the Triangle MLS bid. But still, the media attention was sizable and perhaps a little unexpected (you could hear Marco Rosa, NCFC Communications Director, remark on that before the press conference).

NCFC and the bid organizers set the day up perfectly. Which actually leads me to another question:

Was the day maybe… a little too perfect?

The press conference happened at about 11am, the perfect time to drop a major announcement and let the excitement build throughout the day for a 5pm rally. Between the press conference and the rally, the NCFC bid took Abbott and co. around Raleigh, into meetings with business leaders and city officials, and a helicopter ride.

Meanwhile, the London Bridge Pub was filling up with fans and North Carolina soccer players. By 4:30, it became difficult to move around inside ahead of the march to City Market.

A giant video board was set up at the front of the sizable City Market venue (I’m not actually sure what it’s called but I think they use it for weddings and stuff). An open bar (if you could get to it) was set up inside, along with free vodka drinks and Lone Riders outside.

The venue could probably hold 800 to 1000 people, and it tried. Half the attendees resorted to milling about outside, which is where I ended up for most of the party.

The rally was electric. Malik reveled in the support as fans chimed in with cheers and chants every five seconds. Abbott even got in on the fun, egging on the crowd with a “Just so it’s clear when I go back to New York, how much do you want MLS?!”

I replied with “Quite a lot, actually” but I was drowned out by a thunderous roar of approval. I had to tear myself away from the party at 6:15 to record a podcast segment, and I had to leave Raleigh at 6:45 for work. I wish I could have stayed longer.

It was a perfect day, planned probably more than a week in advance. It would be an odd coincidence if all this, especially the stadium announcement, just happened to be ready in a week’s time. Indeed, when Malik spoke to Neil Morris on a podcast at the beginning of June, he predicted that MLS officials would be visiting in June. That they instead visited yesterday indicates to me that MLS is taking their lead from Malik.

So while this means Charlotte probably didn’t have as much warning and truly did have just a week to plan, it also means that Raleigh is dictating play in the North Carolina MLS race.

What did Abbott think?

It was clear that he was much more enthralled in the Raleigh proceedings, smiling more and getting into it more with the crowd. And while his speech at the press conference was still largely execuspeak-y, he used words like ‘overwhelmed’ at the rally. And his parting shot, rallying the crowd, was the last thing I ever would have expected from him.

Final impressions?

Like I said at the start, I could go on and on. And there will be time later to do an in-depth analysis of the bid itself and all the players involved.

But yesterday was a celebration, an emotional high that, for me, not even DC United blowing a three-goal lead later in the night could kill. The defining theme of the day for me was unity. Both pro soccer teams are behind this bid, as are the two huge youth soccer forces in the area. Politicians and developers are behind this bid. The local media and everyone who loves soccer in the area are behind this bid.

This is what total buy-in looks like.

And yet a final question remains: Is it enough?