John B.
Yelp
It's a little bit of a cheat as I'm reviewing a football stadium that I went to for a soccer game. Inevitably, this feels much more spacious than the smaller MLS stadiums constructed to fit inside city blocks, and while it was impressively well-attended for an American soccer game, the upper deck was still mostly unused. Then again, there may be more soccer games than football games played here given the sports' respective schedules. It was generally possible to find water and bathrooms, there was a line at peak times, but it wasn't terribly bad for the men at least. Entering the stadium required some sort of detector outside that didn't ask you to remove anything from your pockets and which allowed one to mill around the exterior of the stadium for a bit before using a virtual ticket to enter. They still don't allow you to leave and re-enter, even in the protected ring of land immediately around the stadium. And they have a clear bag policy. I am not a fan of security theater, but it's everywhere.
What I like about the stadium is the way it's a central feature of the city, as opposed to stadiums which were built out in the suburbs (Atlanta and DC for example). This also makes it eminently walkable. You can pay for parking, but realistically your car is going to be moving at the speed of the average pedestrian if you try to drive in a stadium crowd anyway, so parking for free a half hour away seems like a good decision. Charlotte's limited train system doesn't go straight to the stadium, but I guess you can get some benefit out of it if you plan right.
Notable features of the gameday experience included a heavy emphasis on "Carolina", with the flags of both North and South Carolina on display (Charlotte is close to the border). A pregame display included a bizarre and expensive-looking video presentation with fantasy knights fighting off monsters using some sort of North Carolina Blue magic energy. The singer of the national anthem sang one line and stopped to hand it over to the crowd, which remarkably the crowd did a pretty good job at. The only sour note was a spectator who was apparently too good to let people by during halftime, but he sounded British so I won't blame the locals.
It was an active place, and from my perspective, I was surprised how passionate the locals were for a relatively new team. Tickets were on the expensive side, but I found a passable deal.