49ers release new renderings of $70M stadium expansion

CHARLOTTE ATHLETICS

An artist's rendering of the $70 million in upgrades to Jerry Richardson Stadium on the UNC Charlotte campus. The project is scheduled to start in August 2025 and completed by early 2027.

Ground will be broken in August for expansion of Jerry Richardson Stadium.

Charlotte Athletics Director Mike Hill told The Post that the first phase is scheduled to be completed by early 2027 and will still host 49ers football games during the building process.

“During the 2025 and 2026 seasons you’ll have a lot of what I call ‘Pardon our dust’ types of inconveniences,” Hill said. “You may have to enter through a different gate or stuff like that because areas are blocked off. I do think in the 2026 season a lot of the tower will look largely complete on the outside. It is just the finishes on the inside that won’t be ready yet.”

Hill said the project will boost seating capacity to more than 18,000, with the possibility of more in the future. The Football Bowl Subdivision doesn’t have a minimum stadium size requirement, although it requires an average of at least 15,000 fans per game.

“What’s approved right now is 18,100,” Hill said of the seating capacity. “We are still exploring the possibility of taking a step further to get to 21,000. That's going to require another 15 to $20 million, though. So, until we can secure that funding, that's not in this immediate project, but we do have an eye on that.”

The total cost of the first phase is $70 million which the state board recently approved.

“The construction project itself that the state approved is $60 million,” Hill said. “Now there was an additional $10 million that was approved recently by the board [of trustees] to outfit the tower with kitchen equipment that comes from dining services on campus out of their auxiliary reserves. In total, $70 million will be spent on the project, 60 of which is the construction piece, and then $10 million on kitchen equipment.”

The new seats will be a large overhanging section above the current press box. So, the current media area, coaches’ boxes, and broadcast booths will remain where they are.

“[The new seats] will be above the existing structure, so the coaches' boxes will still be where that is,” Hill said. “Basically, it will be as it is. And then probably the one big modification is the chancellor's box. In the far end there won’t be the chancellor’s box anymore. We’re going to break that up into some smaller booths for, like, a home AD booth. We don’t have a home athletic director box right now, but that’s how it will be structured.”

The upgrades will benefit more than 49ers football — although it remains the stadium’s primary function.

“We are interested in hosting all kinds of events,” Hill said, “including pursuing more high school football opportunities. We’ve had some one-off games in our stadium before, but I think we’d be excited to have a chance to potentially host high school championships here, and other individual football games, not just our own. We talked about a potential bowl game at some point here as well. I think it’s the perfect spot to do that, and there may be opportunities to do some one-off HBCU games. We’re really interested in making sure that the facility is active and is serving the community.”

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