Among North Carolina's top 10 biggest cities, Fayetteville is the only one without a downtown convention center, according to a pre-feasibility study requested by Mayor Mitch Colvin. The city tucked away $100,000 in the fiscal year 2026-27 budget, according to The Fayetteville Observer. The pre-feasibility report gathers research from public data and information from Cumberland County's scrapped Crown Event Center project. The pre-feasibility study pointed to the Crown Event Center project as a warning. Colvin said to the Fayetteville Observer that Fayetteville State University Chancellor Darrell T. Allison was "extremely interested" in the idea of a convention center where FSU could host events.