Major League Void

Though Charlotte was by no means ungrateful to the leagues that had established teams, the city had higher hopes. 

But even residents doubted the city's ability to host a major league team.  In a 1979 Charlotte News editorial, readers complain about local station WBTV's sports programming.  The station had televised the New York City Marathon over events such as the NFL or NBA.  Dennis Sodomka comments,

"It's bad enough that Charlotte can't support a major league team sport. If we can't watch the best of sports, such as baseball, football, basketball and hockey on our television sets, how are we ever going to build up interest in major league sports here?"

Would Charlotte finally obtain a major league franchise?