Carolina Panthers: David Tepper enters final steps to purchase franchise

With experience owning a NFL team, David Tepper seems poised to take the reigns of the Carolina Panthers.

The soap opera around the Carolina Panthers’ next owner is drawing to a close. News broke last week that David Tepper, currently a minority owner in the Pittsburgh Steelers, is poised to take ownership of the Charlotte-based organization. This purchase would help end the reign of Jerry Richardson, one that was marred with multiple issues, most recently allegations of racial and sexual harassment that brought his ownership to an end.

News broke on Wednesday that Tepper’s move to take ownership of the Panthers was basically complete, and all that is left was for the NFL owners to approve the sell at an upcoming meeting scheduled for May 22.

According to multiple sources, including David Newton of ESPN, the sale is worth $2.275 billion dollars. This will become one of the most expensive deals for a US sports organization. In 2017, the Brooklyn Nets and Houston Rockets sold for $2.3 and $2.2 billion, respectively. The last NFL team to be sold was the Buffalo Bills back in 2014 when the team went for $1.4 billion.

Due to Tepper already passing the vetting process during the steps to purchase a stake in the Steelers, he is expected to be easily approved by the owners. The process requires three-fourths approval from all the current owners in the league.

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He was one of Richardson’s top choices when news broke that the sale was going to occur. Richardson announced that he was going to sell the team after an in-depth piece revealed multiple allegations and legal settlements around racial and sexual misconduct. Even before this piece was published, Richardson had mentioned that there was potential that the Panthers would be sold. But as the league begins to crack down on situations such as these, it’s clear that the allegations played a part in the move occurring so quickly.

Both Tepper and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have stated that they want the Panthers to remain in Charlotte. This was one of the first major concerns that came up when the announcement of the team being for sale was made. Since then all parties involved have expressed every intent to leave the team where it’s currently located.

Initial reports paint Tepper as an individual who will be a different type of team owner than Richardson. Richardson was one who stayed away from the public limelight; rarely granting interviews. Tepper is on the exact other end of the spectrum as he’s already spoken to multiple media outlets about the sale and that is expected to continue once the deal is finalized.

Another interesting comparison between the two is the idea that Richardson was often opposed to many of the social issues and conversations that are impacting the professional sports space, but Tepper isn’t as quiet as he’s even publically called out President Donald Trump.

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It’s rare that sports teams go through a major transition in ownership. It will be interesting to watch the upcoming season as David Tepper steps into the owner’s role for the successful Carolina Panthers.

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