Backers of Charlotte’s college football games look ahead

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Last summer, Duke’s Mayonnaise signed on as title sponsor of Charlotte’s college football games, stamping the Carolinas-founded brand’s name on both an early-season matchup and the annual bowl game. For their trouble, they received a Wake Forest-Notre Dame game that wound up canceled after multiple Covid-related disruptions — followed by a bowl game in December with no fans allowed in the stands and punctuated by a broken trophy.

Things look much brighter this year. Most importantly, the games the food company is backing here, the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff Classic and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, are likely to be played at the 75,000-seat Bank of America Stadium. And they’re likely to be played without any state-imposed capacity limits.

Last month, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper said that current limits of 50% capacity with 6 feet of social distancing separating each group of fans at sporting events will be dropped in June if current Covid trends stay on a similar path of recent, steady improvement.

In addition, there are two Labor Day weekend kickoff games scheduled for BofA Stadium this year; usually, there is only one early-season game played here.

The 2021 doubleheader consists of East Carolina taking on Appalachian State on Sept. 2 and Georgia facing Clemson on Sept. 4.

CBJ talked with several industry experts about how things are likely to play out. Read the full story here.

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