[Carowindsman]

I would say no since everything is pretty much less than a 2 hour drive.

[cadi40]

I would say yes, You don't know how many families come up to Charlotte just for a competition. Most of the families have other chIldren traveling with them so it would give them something to do. I just don't know where they could put it.

[tylerSC]

Speaking of a hotel, I wonder if they would consider purchasing the Heritage Grand Towers right down the road? Kind of sad after all these years it just sits there unfinished. At one time, Heritage USA was the top visited park after Disneyland and Disney World. But I guess that was because Jim and Tammy Faye were there. But still so sad they let it close down. And I still don't understand why they had to tear down that nice water park.

[cadi40]

Speaking of a hotel, I wonder if they would consider purchasing the Heritage Grand Towers right down the road? Kind of sad after all these years it just sits there unfinished. At one time, Heritage USA was the top visited park after Disneyland and Disney World. But I guess that was because Jim and Tammy Faye were there. But still so sad they let it close down. And I still don't understand why they had to tear down that nice water park.

The Carowinds / Charlotte area would have a lot more tourists if it were here. I do like the pictures I have seen of it but in modern day CLT it would be a traffic nightmare on 77

[tarheel1231]

I doubt that they would purchase it considering the distance from the park, never mind the fact that it's surrounded by residential development. Imagine the headache from having to transport guests to the park.

[Edwardo]

Heritage Hotel is currently open. The high rise is being converted into assisted living so it's not for sale.

CF said on their conference call they're looking at adding a Sports Force complex at another park, while adding an indoor complex onsite at CP...

[cadi40]

I could see them announcing it along with the Hotel. The zoning they rezoned it for also allows for Sports and Recreation centers.

[tarheel1231]

Worlds of Fun has a ton of unused land, it would make more sense to put one there.

Carowinds just doesn't have enough land to support a SF park.

[Edwardo]

The sports force park in Sandusky is a few miles away from the park so it doesn't have to be on the parks land.

[cadi40]

And if I am correct, Carowinds owns quite a bit of land around the park.

[tarheel1231]

This is a rough estimation of all of the land around the park (and looking back on it, it would have been easier and more accurate to use the 2011 picture, but google is slightly more up-to-date):

2017-08-09 (3).png (705.18KiB)Viewed 3371 times

I was going to try to make a point on how you couldn't fit an SF park on the property, but you probably could squeeze one into the northwest or southern corner. It's not likely you could fit one in the northeast though, since that's where they're rezoning for the hotel.

[EDIT] Mind you, Cedar Point bought an airport's worth of land just for the facility, and comparing the area to the park on google maps, Sports Force is about half the size of CP.

Anyways, quick question: What are the chances of the park buying the Ramblewood Soccer complex 10 minutes up the road?

2017-08-09 (4).png (610.53KiB)Viewed 3367 times

[cadi40]

I don't think Carowinds would buy any Sports Complex. I think they would build it up. And, If I am correct, Carowinds owns a lot of Land around the park that they can use if they want. I may be wrong but if that's the case I don't see why they would build it close to the park.

[tarheel1231]

The difference in distance between Ramblewood to Carowinds and Cedar Point to Sports Force is only about a mile give or take. It has some of the infrastructure they would need (other than AstroTurf fields, which just seems like an L for the players) and it's got plenty of land for expansion. I believe the city owns it, so I don't know if they would consider selling the park to CF.

[lingerdog]

Carowinds owns 219 acres on the SC side, 177 acres on the NC side, including what they are having rezoned.

For comparison's sake, Sports Force Cedar Point is on around 55 acres of land.

Sports Force has 5 baseball/softball fields and 4 soccer fields on that land.

In Rock Hill, they have a soccer complex that sits within a 30ish acre area that has 14 soccer fields. They also have Cherry Park which has on one part of its property 5 baseball/softball fields.

The area that Carowinds owns above Cabela's near the interstate to the NC line bordered by Avenue of the Carolinas is around 33 acres.

So, thinking about possible layouts, and what the park might want to do, I made a thing.

CWINDS FUTURE.JPG (373.19KiB)Viewed 3267 times

The resort hotel is a little larger than the Comfort Inn. I have designated an area approximitely half the size of Cabela's for shopping/dining. And I have taken the fields from the Rock Hill parks and placed them on the map, to scale. There is plenty of room if they want to do this, or they could put soccer fields on the left of the hotel, and move the shopping/dining closer to Cabela's if they wanted. They can leave room for hotel expansions if they want. And, there's a lot of grass between the parking area and Avenue of the Carolinas where they could place fields or shopping/dining options.

They have so much land, there's a lot they can do if they want to.

[tarheel1231]

You're right, it could totally fit there. And seeing as the majority of the fields at SportsForce CP are combination soccer/baseball, they'd probably need even less space than that. Then again, the park at CP has an entire bike trail planned for the second phase of expansion.