Bloomberg is reporting a possible doomsday scenario for the Uptown crowd: The next CEO of Bank of America might call Manhattan, not the 277 belt, home.

It is difficult to overstate what a blow this would be to Uptown pride and hubris. For the better part of a decade things got done — the Uptown arts bundle and the arena come to mind — simply because the “Kens” wanted it so. Marching orders went out and the drones happily complied, secure in the knowledge they were part of a Great Thing.

But some realities intrude, such as Charlotte’s BAC arm becoming a cost sink, not a revenue generator. In the current economic environment, that gives you no power in the high stakes game of corporate politics. Any Charlotte candidate for CEO would have to answer charges of being good at one thing — spending money, often on Charlotte.

Then there is stone cold fact that, despite what, $3 or $4 billion worth of publicly financed goodies stuffed into Uptown, Charlotte cannot compete with the New Yorks and Bostons and Londons as a corporate HQ kinda place. To wit:

“It does reflect well on the board that they’re not going to let the headquarters location limit their selection in terms of CEOs,” said Thomas Brown, CEO of New York-based hedge fund Second Curve Capital. “There aren’t too many people around the world who think that Charlotte is a major financial center.”

Ooow. Ouch. That is gonna leave a mark. Remember, the first thing any new CEO is going to do is try to bring his or her people in and give them power. In this environment, how does he sell Charlotte, even assuming he himself is totally sold? Sure, Bob, if things don’t work out you can always walk across the street and work at…Bobcats games as an usher? It does not scan. Much too much risk involved.

Then toss in federal handcuffs on corporate compensation and BAC is gonna have to “pay” any new CEO with non-cash valuables like stability and no relo. However, those handcuffs might be so tight that only second-tier candidates already in Charlotte actually want the job. In which case Uptown would be looking at a whole different sort of pain.