Charlotte's Major League Soccer team has begun work on a $50 million renovation to prepare Bank of America Stadium for soccer next year.
It includes a new central tunnel where players will enter, new soccer locker rooms, field level seating, a new club space and soccer supporters' bars. Other improvements include adding full color-changeable LED stadium lights and TV camera positions for soccer matches.
Charlotte Football Club unveiled the designs on its website this week.
The club is working with Kansas City-based architecture firm Populous, which specializes in stadiums, arenas and airports. The company designed the new London stadium for Tottenham Hotspur of Britain's Premier League as well as T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and six FIFA World Cup venues. Rodgers Builders is the general contractor.
“The stadium enhancements are designed to provide the ideal environment for soccer," Mark Hart, chief operating officer for Tepper Sports & Entertainment, said in an article on the team website. "We looked at Premier League venues and many other stadiums around the world to ensure this is a truly great experience for our players and fans.”
“David Tepper has invested millions in ensuring the Panthers have best-in-class facilities, and he’s doing exactly the same for Charlotte FC,” Hart said.
The team will make its Major League Soccer debut in 2022 as the league's 28th team.
Charlotte FC was supposed to start playing this spring. But the league announced a delay last summer
amid the coronavirus pandemic to give Charlotte and two other expansion teams more time to hire staff, assemble teams and complete stadium work.
