College football weekend brings in $26.2M for local hospitality sector

CHARLOTTE — College football fans spent $26.2 million here on hotel rooms, restaurant meals and other expenses over Labor Day weekend, according to figures compiled by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.

With two more games to be played next month — the ACC Football Championship on Dec. 4 and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 30 — the city is likely to surpass spending for neutral-site college football games in 2019, the most recent year of full-capacity contests.

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The Charlotte Sports Foundation is the operator and lead organizer of the games. The ACC Football Championship is an exception because it is owned and operated by the conference, and the sports foundation is the local organizer.

All the games have been or will be played at Bank of America Stadium, the 75,000-seat stadium owned by the NFL Carolina Panthers. The opening weekend games are known as the Duke’s Mayo Classic.

This year marked the first time the foundation staged two opening weekend games: Appalachian State vs. East Carolina on Sept. 2 and Clemson vs. Georgia on Sept. 4. The latter featured two top-five teams in a prime-time, nationally televised matchup.

“There’s risk involved when you’re bringing in high-profile events and our board of directors was willing to take that risk,” sports foundation Executive Director Danny Morrison told CBJ this week.

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