UNC-Charlotte Spring Game Draws 14,000

[moehler]

right now they are so pumped up, and unrealistic about their potential. After yesterday, they are convinced they should be playing Alabama and beating them. Lets be realistic about the fan base in Charlotte, the majority of the football fans, are long time Tarheel, State, Duke, Wake, ECU, and App fans. They are not going to change alligence, they will be in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Boone on Sat afternoons and not Charlotte. I personally think we will/should keep an eye on them, but they are atleast 5-7 years behind us. I think we need to spend more time worring about our own program, and less on what Charlotte is doing.

[Rekdiver]

For years all we heard about is their basketball program was the marquee draw. Hell they doesn't even attend their own basketball games when it was the only sport they had. Can't wait to see the camels hump them.

[JCline0429]

I agree with those on here who said that sustaining the momentum will be the key. Living in Atlanta, I have watched with great interest as Georgia State started their program. Everyone talking about the population in Charlotte making high attendance more likely, remember how much bigger Atlanta is than Charlotte. Attendance numbers from the first Georgia State season below:

Georgia State 2010 Home Attendance
September 2 Shorter 30,237

September 11 Lambuth 12,647

September 18 Jacksonville State 16,128

October 2 Morehead State 15,264

October 9 Savannah State 14,908

October 16 North Carolina Central 13,378

November 6 Lamar 14,689

Their largest crowd for the 2012 season was for SC State and that crowd was about 40% SCSU fans. A couple of games dipped below 10,000.

But, but, they're in the Sun Belt Conference and play some of their games in the Georgia Dome. Pardon the sarcasm.
In all seriousness, they have to compete with Georgia Tech and the Falcons. UNC-Cee only has to compete with the Panthers, in effect.

[moehler]

I disagree about what schools they will compete with, Charlotte is full of long time Tarheel, State, App fans etc, as well as Panther fans who would rather spend their money and time at Panther stadium on Sunday, than Charlotte on Sat. Like stated before they are not going to give up Chapel Hill to watch a game in Charlotte. Ill give a great example of what I think will happen, I live in SF in the shadow of Miami, FSU, and Florida. FIU and FAU in Ft Lauderdale, these two schools get almost no media coverage, tv or newspaper, everything is about the big 3, or even Central Florida and South Florida, they are in a much larger market than Charlotte, and it just doesnt matter, they might as well be in South Dakota. FAU just opened up a wonderful 30 thousand seat stadium last year in heart of Ft. Lauderdale, I think they actually drew about 10 thousand a game. For anyone that thinks that the 49ers are going to be the number one team in Charlotte is fooling themselves.

[DoubleA]

college football typically struggles for attendance in NFL cities. Charlotte will need to pull primarily from their students and alumni to full their stadium. competing against Panthers, plus USC, UNC, NC State, ECU and ASU will prove to be a hindrance in claiming the Charlotte market for football.

[NWA49]

Hey guys! I haven't checked in here in awhile. First congrats on the FBS invite. I know it is something many of you wanted. Good luck with the transition!

Second man yesterday was fun! I was hoping we could crack 10K, but to almost fill up the stadium was great. Yes it was the first real major event so there is that, but still exciting! We have a football center expansion in the budget for 2015. Not many of us expected them to hold to that 2015 date, but if we can somehow pull off crowds like that every home game I am sure that has to be on the table for 2015.

Any school in this state not in the ACC always has a challenge. We all battle those ACC fans even inside our own students and alumni. The positive is that no school owns this state in football. Hell most years I felt like you guys had the best program in the state spending a fraction of what the idiots in Chapel Hill and Raleigh do. The point is both Charlotte and App and ECU can make a significant dent in the ACC exposure. App with their move to FBS become legit threats to the establishment (they cant write you guys off as "just" an FCS school), ECU always has been but now they move up in conference level and Charlotte rolls in quicker than any of us expected.

The other thing is that no one school will ever really own the Charlotte market. The days of it being a Chapel Hill hot bed are over. Not because we have football but because the city keeps growing and pulling in people from all over the nation. The positive in that is that the Chapel Hill voice in the town continues to dwindle and the opportunity is alive for us to sway some fans to come join us. It doesn't mean they become die hard 49ers - it just means that they pick us as their local team to follow. I will be happy with that.

What I can tell you is I said awhile back that football would be a change catalyst for our fanbase, alumni and campus. I was amazed how many people I talked to yesterday who had not been back on campus in 15 - 20 years. We have a HUGE alumni base in Charlotte - if football can do what I expect it can we should be just fine regardless of what the Panthers do. Just like everything in Charlotte though - winning is the key. We will have a grace period for sure because its something so many have wanted for so long. At some point though you have to win and this town loves a winner. If we can hold our own then we will have a great shot in this town. I expect to do ok in 2013 and 2014, 2015 though I am a little concerned about and hope we build up enough good will on 13 and 14 to get us through what I think may be a rough transition.

[kiddbrewer]

Hey guys! I haven't checked in here in awhile. First congrats on the FBS invite. I know it is something many of you wanted. Good luck with the transition!

Second man yesterday was fun! I was hoping we could crack 10K, but to almost fill up the stadium was great. Yes it was the first real major event so there is that, but still exciting! We have a football center expansion in the budget for 2015. Not many of us expected them to hold to that 2015 date, but if we can somehow pull off crowds like that every home game I am sure that has to be on the table for 2015.

Any school in this state not in the ACC always has a challenge. We all battle those ACC fans even inside our own students and alumni. The positive is that no school owns this state in football. Hell most years I felt like you guys had the best program in the state spending a fraction of what the idiots in Chapel Hill and Raleigh do. The point is both Charlotte and App and ECU can make a significant dent in the ACC exposure. App with their move to FBS become legit threats to the establishment (they cant write you guys off as "just" an FCS school), ECU always has been but now they move up in conference level and Charlotte rolls in quicker than any of us expected.

The other thing is that no one school will ever really own the Charlotte market. The days of it being a Chapel Hill hot bed are over. Not because we have football but because the city keeps growing and pulling in people from all over the nation. The positive in that is that the Chapel Hill voice in the town continues to dwindle and the opportunity is alive for us to sway some fans to come join us. It doesn't mean they become die hard 49ers - it just means that they pick us as their local team to follow. I will be happy with that.

What I can tell you is I said awhile back that football would be a change catalyst for our fanbase, alumni and campus. I was amazed how many people I talked to yesterday who had not been back on campus in 15 - 20 years. We have a HUGE alumni base in Charlotte - if football can do what I expect it can we should be just fine regardless of what the Panthers do. Just like everything in Charlotte though - winning is the key. We will have a grace period for sure because its something so many have wanted for so long. At some point though you have to win and this town loves a winner. If we can hold our own then we will have a great shot in this town. I expect to do ok in 2013 and 2014, 2015 though I am a little concerned about and hope we build up enough good will on 13 and 14 to get us through what I think may be a rough transition.

Congratulations on the large crowd. Hopefully you guys can keep that momentum. Good luck in your first full season and hope to see you guys on the field soon.

[hapapp]

Why don't we wait and see what they do? We keep moving the goal posts. Some wondered if we would draw more for our practice in Charlotte than they would for their Spring game. Now that they had three times the number for their Spring game than we did, we interject other rationalizations. For a group who claims that UNCC won't be a factor or a threat, we sure pay a lot of attention to what they do.

[NWA49]

Good luck in your first full season and hope to see you guys on the field soon.

Thanks! I fully expect to sign a series with you guys once we have both transitioned fully to FBS and have our legs under us. Even playing field and hopefully a few more seats at our place so it can be a home and home with plenty of space for visitors at both stadiums.

[AppSt94]

The scenario for App, ECU, and UNCC to take some of the limelight away from the big four is there for the taking. If they are open to playing each other as often as possible then rivalries can be formed. Rivalries create a buzz and interest from the casual fan.

[moehler]

well. we all can agree that we have our differnt opinions on how they will do, some like myself believe they are going to struggle for the first 4-6 years, and really are not going to be a theat to us, others believe they are already are, to each his own opinion. As far as recruiting, we already have hurt them with Capels leaving their program and joining ours. He was a big deal for them in seveal ways, the first being he was the most talented player, by far, they had signed, and by what I had heard he was living up to the hype, second, alot of 49ers were very happy to point out how they took our top targeted recruit, and this was a sign of things to come. As far as us talking about them on this forum, everyone calm down, I think its becouse we are in the "seasonal dead phase" where we really dont have anything worth talking about . When fall camp and the season starts, the last thing we will talk or care about on this board is how the 49ers are doing.

[JCline0429]

I disagree about what schools they will compete with, Charlotte is full of long time Tarheel, State, App fans etc, as well as Panther fans who would rather spend their money and time at Panther stadium on Sunday, than Charlotte on Sat. Like stated before they are not going to give up Chapel Hill to watch a game in Charlotte. Ill give a great example of what I think will happen, I live in SF in the shadow of Miami, FSU, and Florida. FIU and FAU in Ft Lauderdale, these two schools get almost no media coverage, tv or newspaper, everything is about the big 3, or even Central Florida and South Florida, they are in a much larger market than Charlotte, and it just doesnt matter, they might as well be in South Dakota. FAU just opened up a wonderful 30 thousand seat stadium last year in heart of Ft. Lauderdale, I think they actually drew about 10 thousand a game. For anyone that thinks that the 49ers are going to be the number one team in Charlotte is fooling themselves.

Were you at the game we played UNC in Holmes (basketball)? The joint was rocking with Tar heel fans. All NC colleges and universities, including our beloved ASU, have to compete with the Holes as well as the other ACC schools and along the SC border we have to compete with USC and Clemson's programs.

[JCline0429]

Hey guys! I haven't checked in here in awhile. First congrats on the FBS invite. I know it is something many of you wanted. Good luck with the transition!

Second man yesterday was fun! I was hoping we could crack 10K, but to almost fill up the stadium was great. Yes it was the first real major event so there is that, but still exciting! We have a football center expansion in the budget for 2015. Not many of us expected them to hold to that 2015 date, but if we can somehow pull off crowds like that every home game I am sure that has to be on the table for 2015.

Any school in this state not in the ACC always has a challenge. We all battle those ACC fans even inside our own students and alumni. The positive is that no school owns this state in football. Hell most years I felt like you guys had the best program in the state spending a fraction of what the idiots in Chapel Hill and Raleigh do. The point is both Charlotte and App and ECU can make a significant dent in the ACC exposure. App with their move to FBS become legit threats to the establishment (they cant write you guys off as "just" an FCS school), ECU always has been but now they move up in conference level and Charlotte rolls in quicker than any of us expected.

The other thing is that no one school will ever really own the Charlotte market. The days of it being a Chapel Hill hot bed are over. Not because we have football but because the city keeps growing and pulling in people from all over the nation. The positive in that is that the Chapel Hill voice in the town continues to dwindle and the opportunity is alive for us to sway some fans to come join us. It doesn't mean they become die hard 49ers - it just means that they pick us as their local team to follow. I will be happy with that.

What I can tell you is I said awhile back that football would be a change catalyst for our fanbase, alumni and campus. I was amazed how many people I talked to yesterday who had not been back on campus in 15 - 20 years. We have a HUGE alumni base in Charlotte - if football can do what I expect it can we should be just fine regardless of what the Panthers do. Just like everything in Charlotte though - winning is the key. We will have a grace period for sure because its something so many have wanted for so long. At some point though you have to win and this town loves a winner. If we can hold our own then we will have a great shot in this town. I expect to do ok in 2013 and 2014, 2015 though I am a little concerned about and hope we build up enough good will on 13 and 14 to get us through what I think may be a rough transition.

And if way down the road, the Panthers sign a UNC-C player, the fan base may merge so to speak. I mean way down the road of course. Too, you guys have to compete with the BobCats for media attention in basketball.

[JCline0429]

Why don't we wait and see what they do? We keep moving the goal posts. Some wondered if we would draw more for our practice in Charlotte than they would for their Spring game. Now that they had three times the number for their Spring game than we did, we interject other rationalizations. For a group who claims that UNCC won't be a factor or a threat, we sure pay a lot of attention to what they do.

I seldom agree with you, Jerry, but this time I greatly fear that you hit the nail on head. Rep point to your post.

[firemoose]

We can only control what we do and the product we put on the field. Everything else is pretty much out of our control. We can't make the Charlotte media cover us now that they have an in town team. And the kids in Charlotte will fall into two groups. Those that want to stay close to home and those that don't. If we want to compete with them then we need to put a better team on the field and make kids want to come here, same as with any other team in our recruiting footprint. Granted they are the closest to us but they are not the only school we recruit against. I hate to steal a line from a movie but if you build it, they will come. Put a better team together and we'll win our share of battles. And it's up to the coaches, admin, and fans to make the game day experience here better than anywhere else. Those are the things we can control. Nothing we can do about the rest.

[JCline0429]

We can only control what we do and the product we put on the field. Everything else is pretty much out of our control. We can't make the Charlotte media cover us now that they have an in town team. And the kids in Charlotte will fall into two groups. Those that want to stay close to home and those that don't. If we want to compete with them then we need to put a better team on the field and make kids want to come here, same as with any other team in our recruiting footprint. Granted they are the closest to us but they are not the only school we recruit against. I hate to steal a line from a movie but if you build it, they will come. Put a better team together and we'll win our share of battles. And it's up to the coaches, admin, and fans to make the game day experience here better than anywhere else. Those are the things we can control. Nothing we can do about the rest.

Rep point, FM.

[Rekdiver]

all smack aside, all the arguments made for a uncc asu ecu rivalry are there and the dents It will put in the ACC viewing public are potentially significant. The only obstacle is Judy Rose, who for many years wanted to keep football away from her campus.

[WataugaMan]

Wonder if Judy is the older sister of Axl?

[MAD Doctor]

More likely Pete.

[WataugaMan]