Charlotte Hornets’ renovation, practice facility package is a bad deal, councilman says

CLT Politics is a new weekly analysis of political news and events in Charlotte and across the region published Thursday by The Charlotte Observer.

City Councilman Braxton Winston says he voted against a $275 million renovation and construction package for the Charlotte Hornets Monday because it’s a bad deal, and he wants to change the way the city approaches similar negotiations.

The deal extends the NBA team’s lease to 2045 and allocates $215 million from the city’s tourism funds to renovate the Spectrum Center. The remaining $60 million for the NBA team’s practice facility would come from whoever receives naming rights for the creation of a sports and entertainment district around the Spectrum Center.

Winston’s vote wasn’t a surprise. He spoke publicly for about five minutes and said how he intended to vote during his comments.

“This deal promises to achieve things around the arena that I don’t really think we have an executable plan to achieve,” Winston said.

Winston said the deal is “bad” because it’s demanding “extraordinary capital investments” for a “lame duck arena.”

The other 10 members of council voted in favor, saying they value the NBA team and fear the Hornets may choose to leave Charlotte if they struck down the deal.

“If (the Hornets) don’t negotiate with us, they negotiate with someone else,” Councilman Ed Driggs said shortly before voting to approve the funding.

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The deal emerged publicly shortly after I started at The Charlotte Observer in May, coming from Greenville, South Carolina, and at the sixth public meeting I attended in my first two weeks. Two weeks later, the deal was approved, with the public getting a chance to comment on it just once.

I most recently covered housing, gentrification and county government for The Greenville News. I thrived holding Greenville’s government accountable and telling people-first, community stories. I plan to continue this watchdog reporting in Charlotte.

For this week’s CLT Politics, I talked to Winston about what changes he thinks are needed in deals like the Spectrum Center renovations and Hornets practice facility as well as when he first heard about the deal.

Let’s dive in.

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Winston: Charlotte politics needs more transparency

Winston, who was first elected in 2017, didn’t know about the deal or renovations to the arena at all until negotiations began. He learned about it last fall when he attended the City Council retreat and found out it had been in the works for years. The city is contractually obligated in its lease with the Hornets to spend at least $173 million on Spectrum Center renovations.

I asked him why the public had only one opportunity to comment on a deal that included millions in taxpayer money.

“Unfortunately, this is the Charlotte way,” Winston said.

To bring more transparency to deals like this, Winston said he would like to see the creation of a committee made up of council members that specifically looks at contracts with pro-sports teams and other big tourism deals.

Then, deals with the Hornets, Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC are streamlined and handled the same way.

He says the city should continue to own land stadiums sit on, but the professional teams should maintain them.

“This municipality should be in the business of city building, not being a landlord,” Winston said. “Then, in the future when the life of this arena is done, the people still have the land.”

Winston said he supports the sports and entertainment industry, and wants to put Charlotte in a position where the city has the stadiums to hold more national events. Investing properly in the industry will bring thousands of middle class jobs to Charlotte, he said.

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Was there a possibility the Hornets would’ve left Charlotte?

Despite hints the Hornets could leave Charlotte if a deal wasn’t approved Monday, Winston thinks the team would’ve stayed. The NBA team’s existing lease was set to expire in 2030, and he thinks city government could’ve worked something out before then.

“I always try to think in the largest of pictures and this is a great place and a great city for professional basketball, regardless of who owns the team,” Winston said.

He thinks the council needs to be more forward thinking — the new lease extends through 2045. What state will the Spectrum Center be in then?

“We have an average arena, but there’s nothing average about the Jordan name,” referring to basketball icon and team owner Michael Jordan.

With the deal approved, the city is likely to start on the next step of transforming the area around the Spectrum Center, Epicentre and transportation center into a sports and entertainment district. In the new district area, city officials floated the idea of occasionally closing down South Brevard Street for sports festivities and to “bring the excitement outside.”

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What do you want to see in local government coverage?

I introduced myself above, but here’s a little more about me.

I grew up just south of the Carolinas’ border in Rock Hill. My childhood included sweltering summer days at Carowinds (RIP Thunder Road) and begging my parents on the weekends to take me to SouthPark mall. We didn’t have a Hollister in Rock Hill.

I’m also a University of South Carolina alumna.

I’m interested in hearing from you. What do you want to see covered?

Email me at gcontino@charlotteobserver.com or follow me on Twitter @GennaContino.