Charlotte FC announcing new lower bowl price point for 2026 home matches

By Brian Maurer

Photo courtesy of CJ Hellner/TopBin90

With the announcement that Charlotte FC plans to close the upper bowl this season, the team will introduce a new $26 price point for select lower bowl tickets, available for every MLS and Leagues Cup home match in 2026.

These tickets will be available starting this morning at 9 AM ET and will be available any time for any home game moving forward throughout the year. "2026 is the biggest year of the world's sport in this country and on this continent...that really is one of the genesis of how we celebrate that moment, to create accessibility on a consistent basis for those that want to come...all while listening and addressing the fact that we are closing the upper bowl," said Tepper Sports & Entertainment (TSE) Chief Revenue Officer Eric Sudol.

There will be a few hundred tickets sold at this price point each game, including the home opener against Austin FC, and the following weekend against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The number of seats will vary depending on the opponent.

The tickets at this price point will be available in stadium sections where season tickets typically have not been sold. The aim is to be a complementary option, not a competitive one, to the rest of the ticket packages sold by the club.

There are several goals Charlotte FC looks to achieve by having this new price point:

• Providing an accessible ticket price to fans for every single home match, not just the home opener, that is available at anytime online.

• Enhancing the environment of the lower bowl experience throughout the season by ensuring the bowl is filled closer to capacity.

• Maintaining ticket package valuations by spreading out the number of tickets available from one expanded home opener ticket release to a comparable number throughout the course of the season.

The closing of the upper bowl has been one of the many discussions that fans and media alike have had. The concern around accessibility to Charlotte FC and high-level professional soccer games has been the heart of these discussions. That concern is, has been, and will continue to be valid.

There was a visible concern with how the atmosphere looked at games in 2025 with the upper bowl open, as fans spread out across both the lower and upper bowl at Bank of America Stadium, diluting the fan experience. "When closing the upper bowl, obviously, part of that was atmosphere...you come to that Miami match [in 2025], you come to that third playoff match...there's social hype and buzz around that's differentiating and synergistic, that shared emotional connectivity, that sports in general offers, but Charlotte FC does to another level," said Sudol. "It's our responsibility to ensure people have that, and then by doing this, ensuring that atmosphere continues to prosper," he continued.

Based on the direction of ticket sales year-over-year since Charlotte's inaugural season in 2022, the honeymoon phase is clearly over. Sudol and TSE CEO Kristi Coleman inherited the ending of that phase and are responsible for spearheading the next: longevity.

They have honed in on the atmosphere of the lower bowl as a clear point of emphasis, which is where this new $26 lower bowl price point and upper bowl closure stems from. These are two of the first major moves this newly hired executive team has released that fans will directly associate with them and their time at the head of Charlotte FC.

If this approach leads to a consistent 30k+ crowd and a vibrant lower bowl atmosphere game-to-game, then it should be said that they could well be on the right track with this new direction.