The Maui News

Tepper buying Panthers for $2.2 billion

- By STEVE REED

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers are being sold for an NFL-record $2.2 billion.

Hedge fund manager David Tepper has agreed to buy the Panthers from team founder Jerry Richardson, two people familiar with the situation said Tuesday. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has not yet announced the sale.

The purchase is subject to a vote at the NFL owners meeting next week in Atlanta.

Richardson announced in December he was selling the team amid an NFL investigat­ion into sexual and racial misconduct in the workplace. That decision came after a report by Sports Illustrate­d detailing Richardson’s alleged misconduct.

The league’s investigat­ion into the allegation­s is still ongoing.

The price tag is the most ever paid for an NFL franchise, eclipsing the $1.4 billion the Pegula family paid to purchase the Buffalo Bills in 2014.

Ben Navarro, the founder and CEO of Sherman Financial Group, was considered Tepper’s biggest competitor in the bid to purchase the Panthers. He conceded Tuesday that he’d lost the bid.

Tepper’s plans on whether the team will remain in Charlotte for the long-term future remain unclear.

The Panthers are tied to their downtown stadium through the 2018 season because of an agreement with the city. After that a new owner is free to extend the lease to the stadium, build a new stadium or possibly move the team.

Moving the Panthers out of Charlotte would seem to a longshot.

NFL commission­er Roger Goodell said he would prefer to keep the team in Charlotte where it has been successful. The Panthers have been one of the NFL’s best supported teams with only two non-sellout games since the team began playing its home games in Charlotte in 1996.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Tepper, 60, is a part owner of the Steelers and founder and president of Appaloosa Management, a global hedge fund based in Miami.

Because he holds a 5 percent stake in the Steelers, Tepper’s finances already have been vetted by the league, meaning it wouldn’t take much for NFL owners to approve the sale. However, Tepper would have to sell his minority ownership stake of the Steelers, per league rules.

Forbes listed Tepper’s net worth at $11.4 billion in February 2017.

Tepper is known for his philanthro­py.

He donated $55 million to Carnegie Mellon University’s business school in 2013. Tepper graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, where the Tepper School of Business is named after him.

 ?? AP file photo ?? David Tepper is the founder and president of Appaloosa Management, a global hedge fund based in Miami.
AP file photo David Tepper is the founder and president of Appaloosa Management, a global hedge fund based in Miami.

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