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The Charlotte Region At A Glance
A Region Like No Other | Location | Population | Air Transportation | Business/Finance | Right to Work State | Sports and Entertainment Facilities | Television
A Region Like No Other
There have always been a lot of great reasons to film in the Charlotte region.
- We have a strong crew base
- We are home to four major equipment houses.
- We have an unbelievable variety of locations.
- We have great studios and office space
- We have direct flights to almost anywhere.
- We have been named a Production Center in the 2001 & 2006 IATSE Area Standards Agreement.
The Charlotte Region's Cost of Living Index average of 91.8 is lower than areas of comparable size such as New Orleans, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Richmond, New York, and Los Angeles.
Professional sports in the area include the NFL Carolina Panthers, NBA Charlotte Bobcats, NASCAR racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway, PGA Golf, AAA Charlotte Knights baseball, ECHL Charlotte Checkers, along with men's & women's professional soccer.
Recreational assets include two outdoor amphitheaters, Paramount's Carowinds theme park, over 100 public and private golf courses, aquatic centers, and equestrian facilities.
The US National Whitewater Center is the world's largest recirculating artificial whitewater river in the world and the only river of this type in the western hemisphere at this time.
The Charlotte Region contains numerous rivers and lakes, including Lake Norman and Lake Wylie, which offer year-round water sports and recreational activities. All told, there are 1,770 miles of Lake Shoreline in the region.
Four distinct seasons are marked by mild winters. Autumns rival New England's, and our springs are spectacular with blooming dogwoods, magnolias, pear trees, and azaleas. Our 241 sunny days and only 43 inches of annual precipitation make us one of the brightest spots in the nation.
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Location:
Interstates 77 and 85 intersect in Charlotte, linking the city with the Great Lakes region, New England and Florida. Interstate 40, which stretches westward across the nation to California, is also in the Charlotte Region.
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Population:
The area comprised of the city of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County has over 825,000 people and over 2.5 million in the 16 county region. This area is one of America's fastest growing metropolitan regions. Over 12.3 million people live within a 150 mile radius of Charlotte. Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC CBSA is the 21st largest metro area in the country.
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Air Transportation:
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, the nation's 12th largest in total operations, 37th in cargo and 18th in worldwide total passenger boardings, offers nonstop or single plane service to more than 123 destinations. Ten major airlines and six commuter carriers serve over 100 markets with over 600 daily nonstop flights. International flights to Europe and the Caribbean are available from Charlotte, and all other worldwide destinations are only one stop away. More than 28.2 million total passengers were boarded in Charlotte in 2006. Charlotte is within 650 miles of 60% of the US population. Our location, midway along the East Coast, makes air travel to all major cities more cost- and time-efficient compared to other southeastern airports.
Some of the major airlines in Charlotte are:
- American/American Eagle
- Air Canada
- Air Tran Airways
- Continental
- Delta/Delta Connection
- Northwest Airlines
- Jet Blue
- United/United Express
- US Airways/US Airways Express
- Lufthansa German Airline
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Business/Finance:
The Charlotte metro area was selected as one of "America's 50 Hottest Cities" by Expansion Management Magazine in 2007. Charlotte has also been hailed by Fortune Magazine as having the nation's #1 pro-business attitude. Nine Fortune 500 headquarters and more than 300 Fortune 500 companies with operations are located in the Charlotte Region along with more than 700 foreign firms
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Right To Work State:
North and South Carolina law permits individual workers to choose whether or not they wish to join a labor union. Currently, only 3.3% of North Carolina and 3.3% of South Carolina workers belong to unions.
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Sports and Entertainment Facilities:
Bank of America Stadium, home for the Carolina Panthers, is a 160 million dollar state-of-the-art facility, designed specifically with football in mind to give each of the 72,300 spectators it holds a clear view of the playing field.
The Carolina Panthers (704-358-1644 or 1-800-635-4695), the 29th team in the NFL, won the 2003 NFC Championship. The Carolina Panthers also won seven games in their inaugural season, setting an NFL record for a startup team.
Lowe's Motor Speedway (704-455-3200) is America's premier NASCAR facility. It is home to the Coca-Cola 600, the Nextel All-Star Challenge, and the Carquest Autoparts 300 each May; and the Bank of America 500 and AllPro Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts 300 each October. The May races, including the Cola-Cola 600, attract crowds in excess of 500,000 people every year. The crowd is second only in size to the Indianapolis 500, and the 600 is the second largest single-day sporting event in the country. The majority of the sport's leading racing teams have their headquarters in the Charlotte region.
The World Premiere of Cars was held at Lowes Motor Speedway. With more than 300,000 people attending, it was the larges premiere in Disney's history.
The US National Whitewater Center (704-391-3900) is a non-profit outdoor recreational park and environmental education center located only 10 minutes from downtown Charlotte. Inspired by the whitewater stadiums built for the 2000 & 2004 Olympic games, Scott Shipley, the designer and engineer and a 3 time Olympian from the US, created the world's largest multi-channel, recirculating artificial whitewater river in the world and the only river of this type in the western hemisphere at this time. USA Canoe and Kayak has moved its headquarters to Charlotte and the USNWC is now an official Olympic Training Site. The center's 300 acres of woodlands along the scenic Catawba River are the perfect setting for whitewater rafting and kayaking, mountain biking, and hiking. The center also has the largest climbing wall in North America that is open for public use.
The Charlotte Bobcats Arena is a "grand new" entertainment and sports venue with professional and college sporting competitions, concerts and family events. With a variety of seating arrangement possibilities, the arena is capable of a maximum capacity of 20,200 spectators.
The Charlotte Bobcats (704-424-4120) are now in their 3rd season. Emeka Okafor #50 was the NBA 2005 Rookie of the Year.
Knights Castle is the home to the Charlotte Knights Triple-A baseball team. Seating capacity is 10,000 with the ability to accommodate another 4,000 on the grass berms. The stadium was built to major league specifications featuring 35,000 square feet of covered concourse, nine concession stands, full-service box office, 21 skyboxes, temporary office space and over 3,000 paved parking spaces.
Charlotte Knights Baseball (Knights Stadium/704-357-8071or 803-548-8050). The Knights are a Triple-A baseball team (Chicago White Sox affiliate) with 72 home games running from April - September.
Paramount's Carowinds/Palladium (800-888-4386) is a 108-acre theme park that straddles the North Carolina/South Carolina state line just 15 minutes from uptown Charlotte. The park offers more than 60 state-of-the-art rides, attractions and shows for all ages. 2006 marked the introduction of the new Australian-themed water park, Boomerang Bay. Carowinds is also home to Nickelodeon Central, a 15-acre Nickelodeon playgrounds with more than 20 attractions for families to enjoy together. The park has eight roller coasters including the BORG Assimilator, the Carolina's first flying coaster in which the guests fly facedown, suspended below the track and race toward the ground at speeds of up to 50 mph. It is the first coaster in the world to carry a Star Trek theme. The Palladium Amphitheatre is an outdoor theatre designed for 13,000 people to enjoy a variety of star performances.
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (704-549-5555), an outdoor amphitheater with lawn seating just north of Charlotte, brings in such notable acts as the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Paul McCartney The B-52's, and Widespread Panic. This facility seats up to 19,000 people.
Golf in the Charlotte region features over 100 public and private golf courses, including Piper Glen, a Tournament Players Championship Course, The Peninsula, host of the LPGA Championship Tournament, and Birkdale, which was designed by Arnold Palmer. In May of 2003, Quail Hollow hosted the inaugural Wachovia Championship, with a purse of 5.6 million dollars, one of the highest on the PGA Tour. The tournament is now held annually in May at Quail Hollow.
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Television:
Seven major television networks are represented in Charlotte by WBTV (CBS), WSOC-TV (ABC), WCNC-TV (NBC), WCCB-TV (FOX), WJZY-TV (The CW), and WTVI (PBS). WAXN-TV is an independent station serving the Charlotte area. NBC news cable channel CNBC has its studios in Charlotte with both English and Spanish broadcasts originating here. Raycom Sports, Jefferson Pilot Sports, NASCAR Images, Speed Channel and Wheeler TV are based in Charlotte. ESPN and TNN both do extensive production work in the Charlotte region. The Inspirational Network cable channel INSP and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association have their headquarters in Charlotte.
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