CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers couldn’t do much of anything offensively last season, finishing last in the NFL in several major categories and failing to muster a point over the final two games of a 2-15 season.
But say this much: The team and the city of Charlotte have perfected the two-minute offense when it comes to renovating Bank of America Stadium.
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On Monday evening, the 11 members of Charlotte’s city council will vote on an $800 million renovation plan, which will be funded more through taxpayers’ millions than Panthers owner David Tepper’s billions. Under the proposal, the city would kick in $650 million from hospitality taxes, funds that must be earmarked for tourism-related projects.
Tepper, the hedge fund manager worth $20.6 billion, would cover the remaining $150 million, plus an estimated $421 million in stadium upkeep over the span of the 20-year deal.
The vote comes just three weeks after the city and Tepper Sports & Entertainment rolled out the details of the project, which will feature state-of-the-art scoreboards, sound system and LED boards (including several that will be located outside the stadium), updated bathrooms, faster escalators and new seats throughout the nearly 30-year-old stadium.
This is our home. This is our future. Welcome to the Crown Jewel of the Queen City. We are excited to unveil a first look at the proposed renovation of Bank of America Stadium. pic.twitter.com/PcCBeo9IMg
— Bank of America Stadium (@BofAstadium) June 3, 2024
Given the tenor of the meetings during the project’s unveiling and a public forum last week, council members are expected to approve the renovations, likely by a lopsided margin. And while The Athletic has previously mentioned the benefits of having an open-air, downtown stadium in the country’s third-fastest growing city, the renovations feel like they’re getting shoved down Charlotte’s collective throat.
If the process feels hurried, there’s a reason: The council wants to complete the vote before its summer break. As a result, there’s been little opportunity for anyone to take a breath, look at the deal from all angles and ask pointed questions of elected officials and TSE.
Such as: What safeguards are in place to assure Tepper doesn’t pull another Rock Hill, the South Carolina city where the owner infamously bailed out of a team headquarters project while construction of the facility and a new I-77 interchange were half-done?
Also: Could someone explain why Tepper, who owns the 73,788-seat stadium, will reap the benefits of a stadium makeover with relatively little skin in the game? The Buffalo Bills are getting $850 million in taxpayer funds — the largest public commitment toward an NFL facility, according to the Associated Press — but those are going toward a new, $1.4 billion stadium, not a reno.
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Variations of those questions were among the public comments during last week’s forum, where speakers in favor of the project outnumbered those opposed nearly 3-to-1.
The city has some level of protection from being Teppered, though not enough. The deal calls for a hard tether tying the Panthers and Charlotte FC to the city for the next 15 years. There’s a soft tether over the remaining five years that requires Tepper to pay for the outstanding debt if he moves his NFL or MLS teams out of Charlotte.
An interesting wrinkle in the proposal popped up Friday when the agenda for Monday’s meeting included an item stating the city and TSE would begin “good-faith negotiations” by 2037 on the design and construction of a new stadium, to be completed in time for the 2046 season.
City spokesperson Jason Schneider said that paragraph is not a promise from Charlotte to build Tepper a new stadium that, given the current rate of inflation with stadium projects, could cost $10 billion or more in another 15 years. Instead, Schneider said the language was included as an acknowledgement that BoA Stadium will be 50 years old in 2046 and “the two parties will need to address that.”
Schneider said the city included a similar provision in its agreements with the Charlotte Hornets for renovations to the Spectrum Center, which the city owns. Those types of non-binding stipulations are fairly standard in deals involving sports facilities, according to a pair of industry experts.
Some context on new Panthers stadium provision in Charlotte city council Monday agenda: Acknowledgment that BoA will be 50 years old in 2046. City has a similar provision in place with the Hornets related to their arena renovations.
From city spokesman: pic.twitter.com/9bXilXn0vJ— Joe Person (@josephperson) June 21, 2024
Tepper will be 89 and figures to be living somewhere else in 2046, as the former owner of the Panthers. That’s not to suggest Tepper is itching to move the team to San Antonio or St. Louis. But it’s hard to see him hanging on to his football investment another 22 years if the Panthers continue winning at a 31.3 percent clip, tied with the New York Jets for the NFL’s worst mark since Tepper bought the team in 2018.
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The renovations, which will be completed over five years and feature a “social patio” with skyline views from the 500 level, will make the team more valuable if Tepper decides to sell. Former Panthers president Danny Morrison, the CEO of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, told council members the renovations will make BoA the best outdoor stadium in the country.
Fans in other cities — Seattle, Pittsburgh and Green Bay come to mind — would dispute that. But there’s no debating that upgrades were needed at BoA, which has been beginning to show its age.
And while Tepper has moved on from earlier visions of adding a dome or retractable roof and hosting a Super Bowl and Final Fours, these enhancements will help modernize BoA, which Morrison has called a classic American stadium.
But that will come at a big public cost, which might have been an easier sell if the deal didn’t feel like it was already done.
(Photo: Eakin Howard / Getty Images)
Joe Person is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Carolina Panthers. He has covered the team since 2010, previously for the Charlotte Observer. A native of Williamsport, Pa., Joe is a graduate of William & Mary, known for producing presidents and NFL head coaches. Follow Joseph on Twitter @josephperson
