The Carolina Panthers bidding hits $2.5 billion, potentially setting a record for the sale of a U.S. sports team.
The Carolina Panthers are embroiled in a variety of storylines during the offseason. As the front office continues to rebuild a good, but not great team, there’s an off the field angle that is just as important. With Jerry Richardson out of the picture due to alleged misconduct, the team is moving forward to find a new owner. News broke on Wednesday that the bidding for the team has hit $2.5 billion.
Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg first reported the news on Wednesday. The number of $2.5 billion would be a record number for a sale of a United States based professional sports franchise. The current record is held by the NBA’s Houston Rockets when they were sold back in in 2017 for $2.2 billion.
This increase in bidding has directly impacted some of the names that were in the running for ownership. For example, Michael Rubin, the executive chairman of the sports-apparel organization, Fanatics was not willing to go that high in cost and stepped away. Rubin was a part of a minority group that included entertainment mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and NBA-star Stephen Curry.
Multiple bidders remain in the hunt to become the newest owners in the NFL. Alan Kestenbaum, CEO of Bedrock Industries LP, is still on the list of potential owners. David Tepper, who owns a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers, is on the list of interested parties. Ben Navarro and Jim Goodnight are two additional names that could find themselves new owners of the organization. Goodnight is a wealthy and local name, valued at nearly $10 billion, but it has not been confirmed that he’s made an official bid.
Forbes has valued the Panthers at $2.3 billion, which makes them the 21st most valuable team in the league. The team with the highest value is the Dallas Cowboys, often ranked as one of the most valuable sports organizations in the world.
Richardson made the announcement in December that the team was to be sold at the end of the 2018 season. This occurred after Sports Illustrated released an in-depth piece that chronicled multiple allegations of racial and sexual misconduct against Richardson by former employees. These allegations led to an investigation within the NFL. Richardson stepped down from day to day operations and was replaced by Tina Booker, who became one of the highest ranked women within the NFL.
Once a winning bid has been selected by Richardson, the next step in the process is for three-fourths of the 32 team owners in the NFL to approve the selection. There isn’t a time table on that selection and approval process, but many believe that will occur during the upcoming ownership meetings in Atlanta in May.
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The end of the 2017 season became a whirlwind for the Carolina Panthers as the team made a push toward the NFL Playoffs only to fall short. Jerry Richardson’s struggles became a rallying call for the players, even though that came with criticism. Now, the team is headed toward the next phase of this sale and it will be intriguing to see what happens in the near future.