Orange County UNC sees cricket as the next big thing in plans for international sports stadium

A UNC-Chapel Hill report identified New Zealand’s Eden Park Stadium as the inspiration for a future international cricket stadium at the Carolina North campus in Chapel Hill. A UNC stadium could also host soccer and rugby, in addition to hosting concerts. UNC-Chapel Hill

Key Takeaways Key Takeaways AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Read our AI Policy. UNC proposes 25,000-seat NC Colosseum to host international sports by 2028.

Projected $5B–$6B impact includes $350M yearly in wages and local spending.

UNC weighs Carolina North for new Dean Dome, easing campus traffic and crowding.

Chapel Hill could be the next “global sports capital” — not for football or basketball — but for international cricket, rugby and soccer in time for the 2028 Olympics, according to the latest proposal for UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina North campus.

The UNC Board of Trustees will hear more Wednesday about the NC Colosseum, which could hold 25,000 spectators less than two miles north of UNC’s main campus. The future Carolina North campus is also on the short list to host a new, larger Dean Dome basketball arena.

The Board of Trustees’ agenda describes the colosseum as a premier complex, with a flexible playing field that can be quickly reconfigured to host concerts and academic events. It could also include gyms, courts and pools offering public memberships, the report says, and a mixed-use district with restaurants, shops, and hotels.

The report estimates the economic impact for North Carolina at $5 billion to $6 billion in the first decade. That includes a potential benefit of $300 million to $350 million a year from wages and direct spending at local businesses, $250 million from construction activities, and more than $100 million for UNC, it says.

Sports betting would also be an attraction, with a $100 million — and growing — potential betting market, the report says.

Completing the development approval process within six months would beat others, including in Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, “to the punch and establish NC as a global sports capital in the East Coast ahead of LA Olympics 2028,” it says.

Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson said Tuesday she had not heard about the stadium plan until this week. The town has a collaborative relationship with UNC and Chancellor Lee Roberts, and she expects that to continue, she said.

“I think it’s always a good idea to have recreation, and I think more opportunities for our residents to be healthy, to be social, and more opportunities for tourism are generally a good thing,” Anderson said.

“We want Morrisville to be synonymous with cricket in the U.S., and we’re doing everything we can to make it happen,” said Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley. Minor League Cricket

Cricket is a growing NC sport

Cricket is the second-most watched sport in the world, the UNC report says. It has also gained a following in the Triangle, including in Morrisville, where Minor League Cricket arrived in 2021.

The sport is important to Morrisville’s diverse community, Mayor T.J. Cawley said Tuesday.

The town is home to the Morrisville Raptors, a Minor League team, and for the last two years, it hosted Major League Cricket tournament games, attracting over 3,000 people from around the country to Church Street Park for seven games. The cricket field was expanded, adding more pitch lanes, LED-lit practice pitches and nets, athlete seating and safety nets.

Morrisville has had the opportunity to host international cricket stars, including the Sri Lankan Lions, a men’s team preparing for the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup.

“Friends told me that if you were in India, you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the facility because there’d be lines of people,” Cawley said. “Here in Morrisville, you can be 10 feet away from one of the best players in the world. It’s really incredible to bring that kind of talent to our residents who really love it.”

Minor league teams are still playing in Morrisville this year, but Major Leage Cricket moved its games to bigger stadiums with more amenities, Cawley said. The town is adding more practice pitches, lighting and athletic courts to its park.

Cawley had not heard about UNC’s plans for a cricket stadium in Chapel Hill, but said he’s “looking forward to what they do.”

“More cricket in our region helps us all,” Cawley said. “It’s kind of like when you have businesses coming to Holly Springs and Apex, it helps Morrisville. It’s helping our life, our whole area, become a life sciences hub, a high-technology place to do business. And sports are the same way.”

Major League Cricket officials did not respond to The N&O’s email asking whether matches would return to Morrisville or if UNC officials have reached out about the proposed Chapel Hill colosseum.

Dec 4, 2024; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Drake Powell (9) shoots as Alabama Crimson Tide guard Labaron Philon (0) defends in the second half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images Bob Donnan USA TODAY NETWORK

Revising the Carolina North plan

The 250-acre Carolina North campus, located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, was approved in 2009 for an academic, research and mixed-use center. Over 700 more acres, including some of the most ecologically sensitive, were preserved.

In 2018, UNC closed the Horace Williams Airport, which occupies much of the buildable area northwest of the MLK Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive intersection, but the new campus has languished without funding.

The delay contributed to less retail and more apartments than planned at the Aura Booth Park development, under construction across MLK Jr. Boulevard, because there was no activity at Carolina North to support more commercial development, town officials have said.

It’s unclear how much land could be developed or preserved in the new Carolina North plan. Populous, a global architectural firm, was hired last year to analyze the feasibility, costs and potential revenues of building a new Dean E. Smith Center at Carolina North and other potential sites on campus and at the Friday Center on N.C. 54, east of campus.

The consultant’s report has not been released yet, but it’s not expected to recommend a specific site.

The proposed Dean Dome could have 16,000 seats and host the Tar Heels men’s and women’s basketball teams, replacing a slightly larger, but nearly 40-year-old basketball arena on UNC’s South Campus. The existing arena needs major repairs and renovations, including a new roof that could cost $80 million to $100 million, Roberts has said.

Carolina North is largely undeveloped, on the other hand, and moving the Dean Dome there would ease some of the traffic and parking constraints caused by its current location near UNC Hospitals. It would also free up land on UNC’s main campus for student housing, medical and academic buildings.

Traffic will have to be studied at Carolina North, Anderson said. The intersection funnels a lot of local traffic, making congestion mitigation a critical issue, but the town is also planning a stop there on the future North-South bus-rapid transit line.

UNC officials have supported the BRT plan and the application for federal funding that could be submitted this fall, she said. Two people with the university recently joined a local delegation to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the project.

Noise and light pollution could also be key issues, along with stormwater, which already causes regular downstream flooding.