CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Angela Osment and her husband Steven Osment were shopping in a Sam Club’s when they saw on Twitter that Cam Newton was signing with the Carolina Panthers.
The Osments, who live in Chesterfield, Va., and have been Panthers fans for years, were ecstatic. Newton was Angela’s favorite player, and before they could even leave the parking lot, they were on their phones searching for tickets to Sunday’s game against Washington Football Team.
Each time they’d get close to buying it, someone would press the purchase button before them.
They finally found two tickets.
They had attended the Panthers’ Week 9 game against the New England Patriots. Tickets in the 100 level were a little more than $200 a piece. This time, the prices had doubled.
“Prices were changing literally before my eyes,” Angela Osment said.
Call it the Cam Newton effect.
Since Newton signed with the Panthers last week, the demand for tickets has risen significantly. Excitement is at a high. Less than two hours after the announcement, there were people at the Panthers’ ticket office, wearing Newton jerseys, trying to buy tickets.
“For this game, since the time he signed or when they announced it, we’ve seen demand has been through the roof for this game,” Kyle Zorn, a marketing strategist for TickPick, an online marketplace for event tickets.
He added that before Newton’s signing, prices just to get into the doors started at $80. Now, they start at $174. Zorn said that 40% of all orders came after the news broke, which he called unusual.
“Most Panthers game you’ll see the price drop leading up to the game, and we’ve seen this continue to increase,” Zorn said. “This is a unique situation. You’ve got a former MVP quarterback who bounced around to come back to his team.”
He likened the situation to Tom Brady’s revenge game and return to New England earlier this year. The prices for that game also rose significantly.
The average purchase price for a Panthers game was $165 on TickPick two weeks ago. It has been $200 since the Newton news broke. Zorn said the majority of people who have been buying tickets are from the Carolinas, while 10-11% are from the D.C. area.
Jackson Tarleton said he was also interested in buying tickets, but first wanted to make sure Newton was going to play. After watching him score two touchdowns last week against the Cardinals, he checked online to see how much tickets cost.
By then, they were out of his price range.
Tarleton said he’s going to keep checking and hopefully go to a game later this season. A lifelong Panthers fan from Greenville, S.C., Tarleton said the signing has re-energized him.
Bringing the pride back
Before Newton’s arrival, the Panthers were bad on offense and good on defense. Their team was spiraling as quarterback Sam Darnold continued to struggle. After starting the season 3-0, they lost four consecutive games. Interest began to wane. Late in the fourth quarter of the Panthers-Eagles game, Eagles fans outnumbered the Panther faithful in Bank of America Stadium and began a loud chant.
“Oh God, it was ridiculous,” Jose Hugo, a Panthers fan who attended the game, said. “All these people were chanting, singing this stupid Eagles song.
“We have not had home-field advantage almost since Cam has been gone.”
Hugo bought tickets after the Newton news as well.
There also appeared to be a significant number of New England fans at the Panthers-Patriots game two weeks ago, and a sea of purple flooded the uptown Charlotte stadium Oct. 17.
But Sunday’s game is expected to be filled with Panthers fans this week, even with the large contingent of Washington fans in the Charlotte area.
On Thursday, Newton said he and the Panthers planned to give 50 tickets away to fans who have either never been to a game or who have rarely been to a game.
“I want to bring the pride back to Carolina,” Newton said. “We need to reclaim Bank of America Stadium.”
A Panthers team spokesperson said they expect Sunday’s game to be sold out. There has not only been an increase in fans purchasing tickets for this game, but for the remaining two home games against Atlanta and Tampa Bay as well.
Newton, a former NFL MVP, is arguably Charlotte’s most successful professional athlete. He helped make the city relevant as a sports town. He dabbed and danced after touchdowns. He led the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance in 2016. In Charlotte, Newton was an iconic figure.
He still is.
That’s why Nicolas De Castro, 37, of Charlotte said he had to get a ticket.
De Castro said before Newton’s signing, his wife planned to get him tickets to a game for his birthday, which is later this month. With the way the Panthers were losing, he told his wife he was no longer interested in attending.
“There wasn’t a lot of fire,” he said.
De Castro, an attorney, said he and his wife were working from home when he saw the news that Newton had signed with the Panthers on Twitter. He couldn’t believe it.
“So when he signed, I told my wife ‘Absolutely. I want to — we’re going to the game,' ” De Castro said. “I want tickets.”
He said he and his wife got tickets later that afternoon in the 300 level for $280 each — twice the normal price.
Panthers fans say they are willing to pay a little more to see Newton play. They believe he’s the missing piece to Carolina in becoming a playoff team.
The Osments will drive 4 1/2 hours from Virginia to Charlotte on Sunday to see Newton play.
“This is probably the biggest game that we’re going to,” Steven Osment said. “The excitement and electricity in that stadium is going to be crazy.
Said his wife, Angela: “This is bigger than Thanksgiving, Christmas, anything to me.”
