The “free” high school graduations saga at the Bobcat arena is a typically muddled Charlotte tale of waste and form over substance. By hosting the graduations for “free,” i.e. no direct cost to CMS, the Uptown arena is pulling $27,000 away from city-owned Cricket arena. And presumably the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority wanted to have that money or it would not itself charged $9,000 per graduation. Or is it that the Bobcats want to be better “partners” with the city and CMS than the city wants to be with itself and CMS? Do “partners” really steal away paying customers from each other? It is all so confusing.
And what a heartwarming wrinkle that the city and county are trying to find “free” parking for friends and relatives who attend the graduations. Wonder if that concern extends to waving the 6 percent hotel-motel tax that any out-of-town graduation attendees might be paying. After all, almost half of all visitors to Charlotte come just to see friends and relatives, not as tourists or conventioneers.
Oops, I forgot. Charlotte does not want to encourage those dead-beat friends and relatives.
In sum, the “free” graduation deal is a good PR move by the Bobcats, city, and CMS — three organizations united by a need to keep the public focused on the ephemeral.
