N&O: Is Raleigh MLS Bid, Downtown Soccer Stadium Still in the Works?
From the News & Observer...
“North Carolina FC owner Steve Malik met with The News & Observer on Wednesday to discuss a wide range of topics, including his bid for the franchise to join Major League Soccer. ...
”If we get the stadium, I think we’ll be getting the franchise,” Malik said. ...
MLS has 23 clubs currently and has announced new franchises coming to Nashville and Miami. That brings the league’s total up to 25 in with plans to reach 28 teams. The original timeline was for all 28 teams to play by 2020, but then again, MLS also said it would award two bids in 2017, but only Nashville received one.
A stadium deal is key for any bid, but Malik’s plan to put the stadium on state-owned property at the corner of Salisbury and Peace streets in downtown Raleigh means navigating the political landscape and getting city, county and state governments on board.
Malik said he would work quickly with the winners of this week’s primaries. Locally, Wake County commissioner John Burns, a stadium proponent, lost on Tuesday, as did stadium opponent Joel Ford, a state senator from Charlotte.
Malik did add that he thinks the Raleigh-versus-Charlotte element of the stadium bid — the Queen City was one of 12 finalists but has since fallen behind — is overblown. ...
After originally saying that the 22,000-seat stadium would not use any public money, outside of infrastructure improvements, Malik indicated all options were on the table.
He laid out a scenario where the stadium was financed for $13 million a year, estimating that the city and county would each get an economic boost of $5 million in return, plus another $1.3 million in hotel taxes.
”The net difference is less than $3 million a year,” Malik said. ...
Malik said he was willing to consider a quasi-governmental board like the Centennial Authority, which governs PNC Arena, to oversee the stadium and any public money involved. In that scenario, North Carolina FC and the NC Courage, the women’s team Malik also owns, would be rent-paying tenants in the stadium, as the Carolina Hurricanes and N.C. State are at PNC. ...”