The Charlotte City Council held a public meeting to discuss possible funding for a Major League Soccer franchise, and the discussion went a little sideways, considering the anniversary of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting and protests are rapidly approaching:

The city is considering whether to spend roughly $30 million to help pay for a new $175 million stadium in Elizabeth, on the site of Memorial Stadium. After nearly two hours of discussion, however, plenty of questions remained unanswered about Marcus Smith’s bid to land an MLS team.

Under the proposal, the city’s money would come from hotel/motel occupancy taxes, which are restricted by state law to tourism projects. Council members are struggling with the wisdom of spending millions on a stadium with the one-year anniversary of the Scott protests approaching in September.

Other issues discussed were whether or not Charlotte’s minor-league soccer team, the Independence (who knew) would could xo-exist with an MLS team (nobody’s sure), how the team could be of benefit to MWBE businesses (nobody’s sure there, either) and whether or not an MLS team could provide a “deeper engagement” with the city’s Hispanic population.