ROCK HILL, S.C. — David Tepper has not been shy about the fact that he doesn’t see the Carolina Panthers’ long-term future at Bank of America Stadium.
For years, Tepper, owner of the Panthers and Charlotte FC, has commented on his desire for a new stadium and his interest in building an entertainment district around it.
On Tuesday, he reaffirmed that commitment to a potential stadium in Charlotte, but also made it clear he doesn’t anticipate embarking on this project by himself.
“At some point, that building will fall down. Like I said before and I’ll say it again, I’m not building a stadium alone,” Tepper said Tuesday. “The community is going to have to want it. If I’m a third, and the community’s a third, and eventually in the future, personal seat license (owners) are a third, or whatever we do, it’s a partnership.
“If people don’t want it, they don’t want it. I’m not going to force it on anybody; I don’t want to force it on anybody.”
While the specifics of the future home stadium of the team remain up in the air — and no, the stadium isn’t literally falling down anytime soon — an example of their commitment to a different city, Rock Hill, S.C., was on display. The Panthers won’t officially move there until 2023, but the team is prioritizing making a mark on the city of Rock Hill.
“We’re here for the long haul,” Nicole Tepper, wife of David Tepper, said.
The Teppers demonstrated that by donating $500,000 to Miracle Park in Rock Hill. The Carolina Panthers Charities also announced a separate $200,000 grant. The 15-acre park will allow people with all abilities to participate in a wide variety of sports.
Like the plans for the new facility in Rock Hill, the impact of the pandemic has shifted the timeline on when a new stadium could be a reality. The South Carolina facility is opening a year later than originally planned, and a new stadium also remains something that is still far down the road.
Expecting help from the city of Charlotte, when it comes to financing a new stadium, is still a part of the plan for the almost 25-year-old venue, one of the oldest in the NFL.
Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham represents District 2, which includes much of uptown Charlotte. He said that he is in favor of a public-private partnership that is mutually beneficial.
“Public-private partnerships are the hallmark for our community. It’s certainly how we brought professional sports to Charlotte,” Graham said. “We will probably have to work together to keep professional sports in Charlotte.”
“... We already lost the practice facility. I want to have NFL in the fall in Charlotte in uptown. I’m committed to working with them on a methodology for both parties.”
The city being a part of building a new stadium has been a constant theme for Tepper, who remains the richest owner in the NFL after buying the team from Jerry Richardson for $2.275 billion. His current net worth is $14.5 billion, per Forbes.
South Carolina’s willingness to put more money into the Panthers’ new practice facility played a significant role in the team ending up in Rock Hill. Local taxpayers and some officials have shown a resistance to putting money into these projects. Recently, Las Vegas provided $750 million to help build the Raiders’ new Allegiant Stadium. SoFi Stadium, home to the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, is an example of a privately funded NFL stadium.
Bank of America Stadium is considered to have been privately funded with the help of the original PSL owners, who generated $52 million in deposits.
With all of the future stadium plans up in the air, the team has continued to renovate Bank of America Stadium, especially for the introduction of MLS next spring. This summer, a turf field is being put in for the first time in the stadium’s history, and there have been new suites introduced along with other features.
“We’re trying to make the building we have the best possible building we can have,” Tepper said.
In 2019, Tepper expressed a desire to create a stadium with a retractable roof within the next 10 years in order to increase the number of events that could be held in Charlotte, such as the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four.
But he said Tuesday that after the past year with COVID-19, “there’s no way in hell” he believes a dome would be the right choice, not ruling out a retractable roof specifically.
“The weather is too beautiful (in Charlotte). If anything, (COVID) shows you it’s really an advantage to have (a more open) building,” Tepper said.
As far as where that new stadium would go, Tepper said that the Pipe and Foundry site in uptown Charlotte across Interstate 277 from Bank of America Stadium remains an option, but there are currently no ongoing discussions. Pipe and Foundry said that there was no update on the situation when reached for comment Tuesday.
In May of 2020, the Pipe and Foundry announced that it would move its operations from Charlotte to the town of Oakboro in Stanly County. The company was enticed by up to $50 million in state and local incentives. Production is scheduled to start at the plant as early as third quarter 2023, per Pipe and Foundry.
The 55-acre site has been proposed to be rezoned as an “uptown mixed-use district, allow for a range of uses, including retail, hotels, restaurants and stadiums. The site is one of the largest areas for potential development in uptown Charlotte and has been mentioned by Tepper specifically in the past.
“Where we are is a great place in Charlotte ... we’ll see what happens,” Tepper said. “If (Charlotte Pipe and Foundry CEO) Roddey Dowd wants to get generous and donate the land to the city, then we could put a stadium over there. So maybe you could talk to Roddey about that.”
The owner also kept the pressure on by expressing another option: building a new stadium where the current one is located and having the team play elsewhere for multiple years while it is built. That is something that the Minnesota Vikings did recently, playing at the stadium on the University of Minnesota campus while waiting for the completion of their new site.
Another part of the formula has been the prospect of building an entertainment district in uptown near the current Panthers practice fields to help the “re-birth of Charlotte” after the pandemic, per Tepper, and to “make Charlotte one of the centers of this part of the south for entertainment.”
The idea is modeled after the setup on the North Shore of Pittsburgh near Heinz Field and PNC Park, which Tepper saw firsthand during his time as a Steelers minority owner. He mentioned Tuesday that his vision is dependent on apartment buildings not continuing to be built in the desired location.
“All of this is really early, but conceptually in terms of the concept of an entertainment district and a possible stadium that keeps the Panthers playing in uptown Charlotte, I support the concept,” Graham said. “Of course, the devil is in the details.”
