North Meck-Myers Park basketball showdown highlights an old problem CMS needs to fix

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Alex Fernelius graduated from Myers Park High School in 2010, and he was looking forward to taking his 5-year-old son to watch the Mustangs’ nationally-ranked boys’ basketball team play nationally-ranked North Mecklenburg in a N.C. 4A state quarterfinal game on March 8.

Only when Fernelius, 32, logged into to buy tickets, they were unavailable. And he was in the queue early.

Tickets for the matchup went on sale to the public at 1 p.m. on the day of the game, about six hours before perhaps the season’s most highly anticipated high school basketball game in North Carolina was scheduled to tip off.

After about 30 seconds, the tickets were sold out.

“I started refreshing the page at 12:55 p.m., until the link was available,” Fernelius said. “And when the message about tickets going on sale at 1 disappeared, I hit refresh instantly. And it goes to ‘sold out.’ So I’m like, ‘OK, that’s weird.’ I thought maybe somebody had a bot like they do for shoes or (concert) tickets, or they were never there to begin with.”

‘I just really wanted to go’

Fernelius contacted Hometown Ticketing, which operates the website where tickets were being sold, and asked the company about a security breach.

“I just really wanted to go,” he said.

Fernelius said Hometown Ticketing told him that a password was given out to players and parents that allowed them to buy tickets ahead of the public release.

When reached by The Observer, a Hometown Ticketing spokesperson declined to comment on the record, directing the newspaper back to the schools.

“The schools only use us to publish events,” the representative said, asking that their name not be used.

A sign inside Myers Park’s gym shows maximum capacity is 1,668.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools spokesperson Jessica Saunders told The Observer in an email that North Meck purchased its allotment of 400 tickets in advance. Myers Park, meanwhile, provided a passcode for students and staff to purchase from its allotment of 600 tickets ahead of the public sale.

Saunders said total ticket sales were capped at 1,200. The district said that allowed for 100 of what it termed “additional personnel” for a total of 1,300. That number included operations officials. In addition that that 300, Myers Park athletic director Brian Poore also admitted some individuals who did not have a ticket, like the media and area coaches, after prearranged discussions.

The district also said Myers Park hired 22 police or security officers along with Show Pro ticket attendants.

So, after pre-sale ticket allotments went to North Meck (400), Myers Park players and players’ families (350) and other Myers Park families, students and staff (250), there were only about 200 tickets available to the general public.

New game, same old problem

This issue is not new.

CMS has been faced with overcrowding issues at high-level athletic events for years.

At times, the district has often moved high-profile games to larger venues, including Memorial Stadium, Bojangles’ Coliseum, Halton Arena at UNC-Charlotte and the Grady Cole Center.

In 2023, when Myers Park and North Meck were scheduled to play a state semifinal at Myers Park, the district moved the game to Providence High, which is the largest gym in the district and can accommodate more than 2,000.

Saunders said Myers Park officials chose to play this year’s game at home.

“This event was a home school event due to the placement in the playoffs,” Saunders said. “Moving an event requires scheduling time, event space, funding, security.”

Several coaches told The Observer that they believed last week’s state quarterfinal game could’ve drawn up to 10,000 people if the venue was large enough.

Right now, however, CMS doesn’t have any facilities that large. But that could change.

Is CMS addressing the issue?

Saunders told The Observer in an email that “we are planning regional athletic facilities to accommodate future needs (when land is even scarcer) as well as current gaps (abilities to host larger tournaments, etc.). The design of our first regional athletic facility is a part of the 2023 bond.”

In November, Mecklenburg County voters approved a $2.5 billion bond initiative that includes funding to address high school athletics. Of note:

▪ More than $201 million to replace campus buildings at East Mecklenburg, including a “comprehensive athletics package.”

▪ More than $54 million at Garinger to include a new kitchen and cafeteria and gym.

▪ More than $228 million for an onsite replacement of North Mecklenburg, including a new gym and athletic facilities.

▪ More than $202 million for campus reconstruction and new athletic facilities at Harding.

▪ Nearly $9 million for design of that West Regional Athletic Complex on Freedom Drive. Plans call for a “new multi-sport regional athletic competition complex with gymnasium; natatorium; stadium; fields; ancillary spaces.”

▪ Nearly $128 million for South Mecklenburg towards an “onsite replacement of the balance of campus” and an athletics package that would a new gym and football field.

For now, fans like Fernilius may continue to miss out on high-profile games.

“It’s kind of disappointing,” he said. “It’s a public high school playoff game that it says is open to the general public, but it’s only open to everybody with a passcode. You’ve got five-star commits playing. You could’ve done something for the culture and held it at (Johnson C.) Smith or at Queens or (UNC-Charlotte). If you had a bigger venue, you could’ve given everybody a chance to experience that.”

Fernelius said he saw tickets being scalped online for up to $100. Tickets were sold online for $8.

“You’re in a big city and gyms are not built for the capacity involved,” he said. “Plan accordingly. It’s just disheartening to tell your 5-year-old that just played his first year of basketball that he can’t get to see his favorite player (North Meck’s Isaiah Evans) who is going to Duke because they don’ t have a venue that’s big enough.”