Why Charlotte’s $650M Bank of America Stadium plan is getting NC auditor scrutiny
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North Carolina’s state auditor on Wednesday shared new details on his plan to oversee a massive public investment in Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
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Dave Boliek, the first Republican elected state auditor in 16 years, spoke to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. The GOP-controlled state legislature has repeatedly moved to expand the state auditor’s powers since Boliek’s election.
His office has repeatedly launched investigations into matters in Charlotte, including looking into the city’s settlements with outgoing Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings and a former fire battalion chief who is also the husband of Jennings’ successor.
The state auditor’s office also announced in April would “provide oversight” of the city’s $650 million investment in renovations to Bank of America Stadium. The overall renovation project is expected to cost about $1.3 billion and take years to complete.
Boliek told the crowd at Wednesday’s event the city’s contribution is believed to be “the largest single one-time investment” in a private entity in state history.
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Given the large sum, Boliek said he and his team decided to monitor monthly expenses and receipts throughout the project instead of waiting until all the public money was spent to do “a full retrospective audit.”
“It’s the citizens’ credit card, and so we really felt like monitoring that monthly was important to the people of Charlotte,” he said. “… Think about it: you spend $650 million, and the state auditor looks at it a year after that money is already gone and finds a host of problems potentially. What good does that really do anybody, right?”
The auditor’s office is meeting monthly with the city and Tepper Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates the stadium, the Panthers and Charlotte FC, Boliek said. He expects the first monthly report on the project to come out “in the next few weeks.”
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Here are some other details from Boliek’s visit to Charlotte:
This story was originally published August 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
