American Legion Memorial Stadium - Legacy, decay, and hope

Charlotte's American Legion Memorial Stadium covered in snow on Christmas 2010

Memorial Stadium in Charlotte is one of the most historic venues in the Carolinas, and rightfully holds a special place in the hearts of many native Charlotteans, myself included. The stadium has an interesting history, it was the first home of high school football in Charlotte when it hosted Charlotte (later called Central) High School -- the physical plant of which now makes up the basis of neighboring Central Piedmont Community College -- before the school's student population was moved to the then new Garinger High School in east Charlotte. Later the stadium became home to the Shine Bowl, a high school all-star game which pits North and South Carolina against each other, before that game became somewhat nomadic, recently playing at several venues in upper South Carolina. The stadium has hosted religious revivals, been a stop for Presidential campaigns, and home to a plethora of professional sports teams including the Charlotte Hornets of the World Football League, who bizarrely relocated from New York City in the midst of the 1974 season, the Carolina Lightnin' of the second-tier American Soccer League who filled the stadium to capacity in 1981 when they beat New York United two-goals-to-one to secure the city's first professional soccer title, and is set to play host the Charlotte Hounds of Major League Lacrosse in 2012.

Unfortunately the stadium has developed a number of problems in recent years, most concerning of which has to be the collapse of the stadium's now removed east stand in 2009, this was the event which spurred the county to seek a structural assessment of the venue which began in March of this year and was completed, and released, last week (.pdf link).

There are some people who want nothing done to the stadium, but that ceased to be a realistic option when the stand collapsed. The assessment, carried out by the Clark-Nexsen Architectural and Engineering firm points out several faults with the facility's physical plant, and several shortcomings in regards to recent health and safety regulations (including several instances where the stadium fails to meet ADA requirements) and presents several short and long term options for repairing, or rebuilding the stadium.

Option 3, considered by some to be a "pie-in-the-sky" option according to an article in the Charlotte Observer, looks to be to be the best of the three as it would widen the field and allow Charlotte to host more events, including the ACC soccer and lacrosse tournaments, the NCAA college cup, women's and youth national team games, and rugby national team games, all of which could bring revenue to the city but would probably see the enormous Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers, as too large of a venue. In addition Major League Lacrosse may see a refurbished stadium as an attractive option for their all-star and playoff events, which would benefit the Hounds as they seek to attract fans to the team and the sport.

South Stand + CPCC.

In addition to potentially hosting professional lacrosse and soccer during the summer months the stadium could return to its roots on Friday nights in autumn and host playoff high school football, something which has gained a tremendous amount of popularity in the city in recent decades given the wild success of Independence, Bulter, and recently Mallard Creek High Schools.

Hopefully a plan to save the historic venue is selected and some of the former glory which has made it so well loved by so many.

(Forgive the snow, the only pictures I had of the stadium were from the Christmas snowfall of 2010).