Wednesday, September 5, 2012

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go...DNC Downsizes...Again

The DNC and its "boon" to Charlotte's economy took another hit today with the move of President Obama's nomination acceptance speech from the Panthers' 74,000 seat stadium to the Bobcats' 20,000 seat arena.

Officially, the reason was the weather.  Unofficially, one has seriously consider that they just couldn't put enough warm bodies in the seats. There is ample evidence that the latter was likely the real truth.

First, the DNC cut the convention from four days to three back in January.  Then came the elimination of what was supposed to be a big event at the Speedway. Now, downsizing the President's Thursday night speech effectively cuts a reason for many thousands of people to make the trek to Charlotte for Thursday's event - cutting two nights off of many hotel stays.  I heard this evening from one University Area hotel worker that hotel rooms all across town are being canceled due to this change - over 20 at this person's establishment alone.

But maybe more tellingly for why the event was moved...the delegates staying at that same hotel were trying to give hotel workers tickets to the event Thursday night as late as this morning - before it was downsized to something more fitting. 

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