Athletics

Conference USA has released its preliminary TV schedule for the 2016 football season, and it currently includes three Charlotte 49ers road games.

Charlotte’s season-opener at Louisville will be televised by the ACC Regional Sports Network. The 49ers game at Marshall will be televised nationally by first-year C-USA TV partner beIN Sports, and the 49ers road game at the University of Southern Mississippi will be televised by the American Sports Network (ASN). 

UNC Charlotte has been named the host institution for the 2016 Conference USA Women’s Soccer Championships. It marks the second time in the last three years that the Charlotte 49ers will welcome fellow league members to Transamerica Field for the annual tournament.
This year’s event will begin with eight teams in quarterfinal round action Nov. 2. The semifinals will be Nov. 4, with the final on Nov. 6. Game times will be announced at a later date.

Conference USA has reached a new multi-year agreement for a comprehensive national television package with four leading outlets: ESPN, CBS Sports Network, the American Sports Network (ASN) and beIN SPORTS. The University is among the 14 member institutions of this athletic conference.

“We explored a number of traditional, digital and additional outlets during the negotiation process,” said C-USA commissioner July MacLeod. “Our interests are aligned, and we are very excited about the potential of these partnerships.

The Charlotte 49ers Athletic Foundation will host the 33rd annual Great Gold Rush Auction, Saturday, June 4, in Dale Halton Arena inside the Barnhardt Student Activity Center. This event begins with a silent auction at 5:30 p.m. The live auction starts at 8:30 p.m. on the floor of Halton Arena.  A food extravaganza will be available throughout the evening. All proceeds from the event go to the 49ers athletic scholarship fund.

Outstanding student-athletes were honored recently at an annual awards banquet held by the Charlotte 49ers and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Team MVP and Coaches’ Awards, as well as department-wide academic honors, were presented.

The 49ers football program awarded its Offensive MVP to all-Conference USA rusher Kalif Phillips and its Defensive MVP to leading tackler Nick Cook. The Jon Richardson Football Scholarship was awarded to defensive lineman Brandon Banks.

The Charlotte 49ers will hold the fourth annual Green-White Spring Football Game at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 23, at Jerry Richardson Stadium. The game, which marks the end of the spring 2016 practice season, is open to the public.

Conference USA bestows the Commissioner’s Academic Medal to student-athletes who achieve a cumulative 3.75 GPA or higher. For the 2015-16 academic year, 45 UNC Charlotte student-athletes were honored.

Charlotte 49ers softball and women’s soccer led the way; the teams had nine and seven members, respectively, achieve the honor. Also, 210 Charlotte 49ers were named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Role for maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.

The Dale F. Halton Arena opened Dec. 2, 1996, as a state-of-the-art facility intended to showcase sporting events and major functions. It honors a generous University supporter whose name also graces a reading room in Atkins Library and the tennis complex.

Halton is the granddaughter of Henry Barksdale Fowler, the founder of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Charlotte, which was established in 1905 as the nation’s first Pepsi franchise. At the time, Charlotte had a population of about 15,000.

Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen was at Richardson Stadium March 17 to film a promo for the upcoming Showmars HEARTest Yard 5K on Saturday, April 9.

Proceeds from the 5K support the Levine Children’s Hospital. Olsen, through his foundation, established the HEARTest Yard initiative, a cutting-edge program that provides families of babies affected by congenital heart disease with a multitude of services. The Levine Children’s Hospital administers the program.

The Charlotte 49ers football program will open the 2016 spring season with spring practice starting Saturday, March 19. The spring season will conclude with the annual Green-White Game at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 23. This fall, the 49ers will begin their second season in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of Conference USA.

Head coach Brad Lambert returns 17 starters and 54 letter winners from the 2015 season.

Returners include second team all-Conference USA selections Larry Ogunjobi and Kalif Phillips.