Tepper green light as Carolina owner
ATLANTA — The new owner of the Carolina Panthers is committed to keeping the team in the Carolinas.
And Charlotte is clearly his preferred choice.
But David Tepper left a bit of wiggle room on his first day as owner of the team.
The NFL unanimously approved Tepper’s $2.2 billion purchase of the team from Jerry Richardson yesterday, leading to immediate questions about the new owner’s thoughts on replacing 22-year-old Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
“What’s the name of the team? Carolina Panthers. It’s going to be the Carolina Panthers,” Tepper said. “And that means this team has to have some kind of presence in the Carolinas and last time I saw, how many are there? That’s right, there’s two of them.”
Tepper seemed to be implying that he might consider other cities in North and South Carolina if efforts to build a new stadium in Charlotte fall through. The lease with Bank of America Stadium runs for only one more season.
But Tepper reiterated several times that the largest city in the Carolinas is the best place for the team.
“There is a logical place for this team, and it’s Charlotte,” he said. “And far as a new stadium, again, you’re asking me too much and the only thing I have a market on now is lack of knowledge. I’ll call it stupidity, so I’ve got that down. I’ll learn a lot more in the future.”
Tepper’s purchase was the first order of business at the league’s spring meeting in Atlanta. He was quickly approved after passing muster with the owners’ finance committee during a morning session.
“We congratulate David and welcome him to the NFL,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
Tepper is paying an NFL-record price to buy the team from Richardson, the team’s founder and only owner since the Panthers entered the league in 1995. Richardson abruptly announced he was selling the team last December after coming under investigation from the league for sexual and racial misconduct in the workplace. The probe is ongoing.
Tepper is the founder and president of global hedge fund Appaloosa Management, with a reported net worth of $11 billion. Already familiar to the league as a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, his purchase was quickly approved.
Tepper said he plans to formally take over the team in July.
In the meantime, he reserved judgment on both a new stadium and those who are running the football side of things, most notably general manager Marty Hurney and coach Ron Rivera.
“I do think they have a great team down there right now,” Tepper said. “The biggest thing I can do is have a great appreciation of how stupid I am. Sometimes, it’s better to do nothing than to do something.”
Bank of America will be the NFL’s seventh-oldest stadium after Los Angeles opens its new facility for the Rams and Chargers, and the Raiders complete their move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
That has raised the prospect of the Panthers seeking another home if they can’t get a new stadium of their own.