Richardson turns over daily duties
Owner plans to sell team at end of the season
Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson will step away from the day-to-day operations of the franchise, the team announced Monday. Richardson said Sunday that he would sell the team at the end of the regular season. Earlier on Sunday, a Sports Illustrated report found that Richardson and the Panthers had reached confidential settlements with at least four exemployees for workplace misconduct, for which the owner was being investigated. The NFL said Monday that it would continue its investigation into Richardson despite his intention to sell the team. Tina Becker, an executive who has been with the team for 20 years, takes over as chief operating officer with full control of the team’s day-to-day management. “These have been some of the most difficult days of my 19 years with the Panthers, but I am lifted up by the strong resolve and the commitment our employees have shown to this organization,” Becker said in a statement. “Our team on the field is performing at a very high level and I believe is bound for the Super Bowl. My immediate focus will be to ensure the corporate side of the organization performs at the same high level while addressing the real concerns that have been raised in recent days.” Team president Danny Morrison had resigned earlier in the year, and there was no COO before, or after, his resignation. Becker began her career with the Panthers as a cheerleader and later became the squad’s coach. She has served in a variety of other management roles during her career with the Panthers, including directing the organization’s business and administrative operations, ticketing and sponsorship, and stadium operations as well as dealing with league affairs. Prior to joining the owner’s office, Becker was the team’s director of entertainment from 2012 to 2014. Richardson, 81, has been the Panthers’ sole majority owner since the franchise’s inception in 1993. In his statement Sunday that he would sell the team he made no mention of the accusations, saying only it was “time to turn the franchise over to new ownership.” He is a former receiver for the Baltimore Colts in 1959-60 who made his money largely in the food business, beginning with a Hardee’s franchise. “I’m very sad,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told ESPN. “Jerry is one of the really, really, really outstanding men of football that I’ve ever met, and I really admire him. “I know that he made it the old-fashioned way. He worked for it. He took what he made in a short time in pro football and turned it into a great business and then used that to get the Carolina franchise. So he’s a great story.”