[7] In 1946, 22 young men began practice as the Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina Owl's first athletic program: a football team.

[8] The team hosted 2 home games that year at American Legion Memorial Stadium.

[8] In part due to the effects of fewer World War II veterans entering college in the late 1940s, the football program ended after the 1948 season.

[10] On September 18, 2008, Chancellor Dubois officially recommended adding a 49ers football program with the condition that its fans first raise $5 million to help fund the stadium complex.

On March 1, 2011 the 49ers introduced Wake Forest defensive coordinator Brad Lambert as the program's first head coach.

[19] Lambert would finish his career at Charlotte a week later with a season-ending road victory against the previous season conference champion FAU.

[23] On September 14, he recorded his first career victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent with a 52–17 win against UMass.

[25] Healy and the 49ers both would reach bowl eligibility for the first time following a home victory over Marshall November 23 in his first season at the helm.

Pete Rossomando was named interim head coach for the final four games of the season.

[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] (*)FCS Opponent (°)AAC Conference Opponent (*)Annual rival game, (°)Non-conference game, (•)Includes C-USA games, (†)No longer an AAC member To generate financial support for the launch of the football program, Chancellor Dubois created a program called Forty Niner Seat Licenses, or FSLs, which essentially served as seat deposits for season tickets.

[7] Chancellor Dubois conducted a lengthy review process of the committee's results before making his final recommendation to the board of trustees.

He presented the findings of his own internal review to the board at a June meeting which included estimates from stadium design firm Populous.

They were also significantly higher than those for a much larger facility recently constructed for the University of Central Florida's Bright House Stadium.

On February 12, 2010, the University of North Carolina's board of governors approved a debt service fee increase to fund the construction of the football stadium and football center,[50] and on August 2, 2010 Governor Bev Perdue signed the debt service fee bill into law to clear the way for stadium construction.

[51] Designed by the architecture teams of Jenkins-Peer Architects and the DLR Group, its location was shown near the campus entrance at Highway 29 north of Hayes Stadium.

[56] Note: † 2020 season attendance figures were affected by state and university quarantine decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.