A Look at Bank of America Stadium

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A Brief History:

A fixture of Uptown Charlotte and the Charlotte skyline for a full 20 years now, Bank of America stadium has become the Carolinas greatest cathedral of professional sports. When built in 1995 the stadium featured seating for 72,685 and in its current state is capable of seating 75,412 fans at its maximum capacity. Initially the stadium was considered state of the art and prompted several other NFL franchises to build new stadiums, but in recent year it has started to show its age. In response to this problem, the city council launched an 88 million dollar renovation plan in 2013 that featured numerous cosmetic improvements to the stadium as well as other logistics based improvements.

When the stadium was built it initially cost 248 million dollars, which is an absolute bargain modern for a football stadium, let alone an NFL stadium where new stadiums being built are often well in excess of the 1 billion dollars mark. While the stadium is now known as Bank of America Stadium as part of a 20 year naming rights deal struck in 2004, it was initially named Ericsson Stadium for its first 10 years. This was in large part to the rise of Bank of America and the decline of Ericsson.

 Other Potential Building Sites:

Prior to the stadiums construction there were several sites considered before Uptown was decided upon, including; Concord (by Charlotte Motor Speedway), South Charlotte (Near Carowinds), and also west of Charlotte in Gaston county. Eventually the planners hit a home run by placing it in Uptown, further legitimizing the growth and development of the Uptown region.

Impact of the Panthers:

When the Carolina Panthers expansion NFL franchise was in its beginnings, future-owner Jerry Richardson outlined a plan for the stadium in which it would be built from 100% private money, requiring $0 money from the city or state. While the Carolina Panthers remain the most privately funded franchise in the NFL, the stadium was starting to show its age in recent years and is currently in the process of receiving an 88 million dollar facelift to push the stadium into modernity. 

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