Jerry Richardson Stadium is the home to the Charlotte 49ers of University of North Carolina, and currently the stadium holds less than 16,000 seats for fans. The university plans to change that in a major plan that contains multiple phases and will cost 102 million dollars to complete. Phase 1 of the plan is to expand the seats to 21,000 just to start, but in the end there will be 30,000 seats in the stadium. This expansion won’t just benefit the football program, but every single athletic team at the college. Phase 1 of  this expansion will also include a new softball clubhouse, a stadium for men’s and women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, a baseball clubhouse, and renovating the locker rooms for the basketball teams. At this point the college has already finished renovating the locker room for the football players. The expansion is in preparation for the Charlotte 49ers to join the American Athletic Conference, and while there is no exact date on when that will be taking place, the university will be working hard throughout this year and   the next to complete phase 1 of this expansion, and improve their athletics. There is no set date for when the entire expansion will be complete because as of right now the university plans to gradually add in a lot of new buildings, and upgrades for multiple sports teams. It is believed though the entire plan will take 10-15 years to complete.