Sports in Charlotte

While Charlotte offers many sporting facilities, it is no doubt that their sports teams also bring the citizens together to cheer on for the home team, while eating their favorite BBQ with friends and family. They are the home of the Carolina Panthers, the Charlotte Checkers, and the Charlotte Hornets.

While other cities may have popular sports teams as well, very few of them have the privilege of saying that the legendary basketball player Michael Jordan was a part of their team. Luckily for Charlotte, Michael Jordan is the first former basketball player to have a majority stake in an NBA team. This arguably propelled the popularity of the Hornets due to the legacy that Jordan left on the NBA from his incredible feats as an athlete. The Hornets play their home games in uptown Charlotte in the Spectrum Center. The Hornets were originally named the Bobcats, but they underwent a name change in 2014 after the New Orleans Hornets changed their name to the Pelicans.

While the Charlotte Hornets are a huge NBA franchise, the Carolina Panthers are not quite as popular. Their most recent super bowl appearance was in 2015 when they lost, and they haven’t made the playoffs since. However, they are still a very proactive team and are even engaged in a number of CSR activities such as the Carolina Panthers Player Impact Fund in which they donated towards education and literacy.

Finally, Charlotte is home to the minor league hockey team the Charlotte Checkers. They are the top minor league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL, and they have had recognizable success such as their most recent win, the 2019 Calder Cup.

There are other museums and opportunities to learn about sports in Charlotte, such as the NASCAR museum. At Sports Connection, families can play their own games, virtual with arcade games or physical with laser tag.

More about Charlotte here.