Inclement Weather Delays Start of Charlotte FC Match

On a night dubbed as “Americana Night” by the club a big celebration was planned. There were food trucks and activities ahead of the match outside of the stadium for a “Bash at the Bank” party to kick the evening off. Mother Nature of course had plans of her own with some natural fireworks to have an impact on the start of the match.

Just after 5pm I sent out this tweet about approaching storms advising the fans to seek shelter as the stadium gates were not set to open for another hour.

The speed of the storms or lack thereof would certainly delay the opening of the stadium gates as well as the start of the game. The storms were moving at a snail’s pace of 10mph. Unfortunately for outdoor sporting events this brings the lightning policy in place. The policy is slightly modified for some stadiums and outdoor events, but as a rule of thumb there is an 8-mile radius around the event that is used for observation. If lightning were to strike anywhere in that radius the event can’t start or must be delayed/suspended for 30 minutes. The clock will continue to reset until the last strike of lightning in the radius has occurred.  

Please note the purpose of the policies are for fans to stay sheltered in place for safety rather than standing outside of the gates in an open area to avoid the potential of being struck by lightning.

At 5:35pm I sent out the tweet pictured above showing that storms were widespread around the stadium advising fans to stay indoors and wait for the storms to pass. As you can see from the image lightning was still around the stadium delaying the opening of the gates and the start of the match by another 30 minutes.

The club also sent out this tweet at the same time advising fans the gates would be delayed in opening and further updates would be provided.

At 6:05pm I put out the tweet picture above showing the back edge of the system was 6.2 miles west of the stadium and we would start seeing clearing over the next 15-20 minutes. You can still see lightning strikes on the radar inside of the 6.2-mile radius drawn on my radar image above.

By 6:40pm the gates were opened, and fans were allowed to enter the stadium. However, there would be a delayed start to the match to allow time for warmups which were also shortened just a bit.

The match finally got underway, and the celebration though delayed certainly happened!  Charlotte FC went on to impose their will on Nashville SC with a 4-1 victory with goal contributions form the following players.

26’ – CLT – Fuchs (PK)

61’ – CLT – Swiderski (assist: Reyna)

67’ – NSH – Mukhtar (PK)

89’ – CLT – Ruiz (assist: Bender)

90+1’ – CLT – Shinyashiki (assist: Bender)

The total attendance for the match was 36,244

Charlotte FC goes on the road to face Miami next Saturday evening at 8pm