What I believe was the beginning of the end of Jerry Richardson's tenure as the owner of the Carolina Panthers came just before the Green Bay-Carolina kickoff Sunday.
That's when Sports Illustrated published a blockbuster report on Richardson's alleged workplace misconduct _ including sexual harassment, a racial slur and the owner asking some of his female employees if he could "personally shave their legs."
The SI story, if true, I believe will serve to oust Richardson one way or another from the team that he founded and which he has owned since the Panthers began play in 1995.
The NFL is very image-conscious, and Richardson's image just got tarnished with the sort of stain that no amount of scrubbing is going to wash away completely.
This is not one glass of red wine dumped on a crisp white dress shirt like the ones Richardson favors. This is that same shirt getting dunked into a barrel of red wine, then dragged through a dumpster and then set afire. The allegations against Carolina's 81-year-old owner are dramatic, salacious and cross so many barriers that it's hard to imagine Richardson's career surviving them.
I believe now _ and this is just a guess _ that Richardson will sell the team sooner rather than later. This would make his fellow owners happy, assuming the allegations are true.
The Panthers had no immediate comment on the SI report.
I think the Panthers will ultimately stay in Charlotte no matter who owns them � this has been a good market for the NFL for a long time � but of course that's no sure thing either.
What Richardson really should do if the allegations are true is find a local owner, make sure the team stays in Charlotte and then sell it even if he could get a higher price elsewhere. He owes Panthers fans at least that much, and that would at least preserve a portion of his legacy.
In other words, if the story is true, the team should stay.
But Richardson should go.
If you haven't read the allegations yet, let's summarize a few of them in brief. The Sports Illustrated report alleges:
_ At least four former Panthers employees have received significant monetary settlements from Richardson "in exchange for what amounted to a vow of silence."
_ On at least one occasion, Richardson directed a racial slur at an African-American Panthers scout.
_ Richardson not only verbally harassed some female employees _ especially on Fridays, which were "Jeans Day" and became fodder for many inappropriate comments _ but also would sometimes request them to visit him in his suite inside Bank of America Stadium.
Richardson's assistant would escort the women to Richardson's office and then leave. One former female employee recalled Richardson "arriving barefoot and asking for a foot massage." Others, said the magazine, talked of Richardson "giving back rubs that lingered too long or went too low down the spine."
There's more, but you get the point. The #MeToo movement has arrived in Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium. The man everyone refers to as "Mister" inside the Panthers' offices _ no surname necessary _ is in major trouble. The shock value of the Sports Illustrated story will eventually fade, but Richardson will never be perceived exactly the same way again in the Carolinas.
Besides the embarrassment of the story for the Panthers and Richardson and the various tangential concerns _ what to do about that 13-foot statue of Richardson outside the stadium? _ there is a big business side to this as well. What sponsors are going to be jumping up and down to renew deals _ or sign new ones _ with the Panthers after this? Who wants to work with a guy who allegedly insisted that he buckle the seat belts of female employees and, in doing so, would also be "brushing his hand across their breasts"?
The Panthers tried to get ahead of this story on Friday, announcing that they were going to investigate their owner for workplace misconduct. By Sunday, the NFL had taken over that investigation � with the Panthers' support.
If you didn't know any better on Sunday, you would have thought it was business as usual at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers played the Green Bay Packers in front of a full house. Richardson, the only current NFL owner to have also played in the league, sat in his customary front-row seat in the end zone beside his wife.
But underneath the stadium is a virtual volcano, and it has started to erupt.
By the time this is over, I believe it will sweep Jerry Richardson right out the stadium doors.
