So reports the UPoR. Well yes, I’m sure that the city does. But wanting to and actually doing so are two completely different things. Hosting soccer games is easy extra income for big football stadiums, and there’s more of those around than there are big international games played in the United States.
So what makes the city so sure that it can get those two games a year? The city does have a favorable deal on Bank of America Stadium usage as a condition of public money going to help upgrade the facility, which is certainly an element. But the way Deputy City Manager Ronald Kimble takes about international soccer games’ economic development potential makes me wonder if city officials don’t see big soccer games as a loss-leader, something to be acquired at whatever the cost because of the benefits the games are thought by city officials and the Usual Uptown suspect to bring.
Sample quote:
“It’s an opportunity for Charlotte to broker conversations using sports as the entree but (also) allowing businesses in these other countries to connect with us when they come for the friendly matches,” Kimble said.
