Carolina Panthers

• 1. The 1987 Bid

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  On the 15th of December 1987, entrepreneur Jerry Richardson announced his bid for an NFL expansion franchise in the Carolinas. A North Carolina native, Richardson was a former wide receiver on the Baltimore Colts who had used his 1959 league championship bonus to co-franchise the first Hardee's restaurant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He eventually expanded that chain into a business empire before becoming president and CEO of Flagstar. Richardson drew his inspiration to pursue an NFL franchise from George Shinn, who had made a successful bid for an expansion National Basketball Association team in Charlotte called the Hornets. Richardson founded Richardson Sports, a partnership consisting of himself, his family, and a number of businessmen from North and South Carolina who were also recruited to be limited partners. The group looked at four potential locations for a stadium, ultimately choosing uptown Charlotte. To highlight the demand for professional football in the region, Richardson Sports held preseason games around the area from 1989 to 1991. The first two games were held at Carter, Finley Stadium in Raleigh and Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, while the third game took place at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. These matchups featured existing NFL teams playing against each other. In 1991, the group formally filed an application for the open expansion spot. On the 26th of October 1993, the 28 NFL owners unanimously named the Carolina Panthers as the 29th member of the league.

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• 2. Rapid Rise And First Runs

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  The Panthers first competed in the 1995 NFL season alongside the Jacksonville Jaguars as one of two expansion teams. Dom Capers served as the first head coach after being hired from the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator role. The team fell to the Atlanta Falcons 23, 20 in overtime during their first regular season game in Week 1. After starting 0, 5 with three close losses, they won their first franchise game 26, 15 over the New York Jets. They finished that inaugural season with a record that stood as the best performance ever from a first-year expansion team. Their second season saw them finish 12, 4 and win the NFC West division. They secured a first-round bye before beating the defending Super Bowl champions Dallas Cowboys 26, 17 in the divisional round. The team ultimately lost the NFC Championship Game to the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers 30, 13. A rough period followed with a losing record in 1997 and another in 1998, leading to Capers' dismissal. George Seifert replaced him but could not turn things around immediately. The team finished 1, 15 in 2001, tying an NFL record for most losses in a single season at that time.

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• 3. The Rivera Dynasty

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  Ron Rivera took over as head coach in 2011 after hiring quarterback Cam Newton with the first overall pick in the draft. Newton became the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year after setting the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season with 14. He also became the first rookie quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards and rush for over 500 yards in one year. The team struggled early in 2012 but won five of their last six games to finish 7, 9 and save Rivera's job. They achieved winning records in subsequent years including a 15, 1 campaign in 2015 which tied for the best regular-season record in NFC history. During that same season, Cam Newton was named NFL MVP. The Panthers secured their third consecutive NFC South championship and earned their first overall top-seeded playoff berth. They defeated the Seattle Seahawks 31, 24 in the Divisional playoffs and the Arizona Cardinals 49, 15 in the NFC Championship Game. This run led them back to Super Bowl 50 where they lost to the Denver Broncos 24, 10. Rivera held the position until the 3rd of December 2019 when he was fired following a home loss against the Washington Redskins.

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• 4. The Billion Dollar Sale

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  On the 16th of May 2018, David Tepper finalized an agreement to purchase the Carolina Panthers from Jerry Richardson. The sale price reached nearly $2.3 billion, setting a new record at the time. League owners approved the deal on the 22nd of May 2018, and it officially closed on the 9th of July 2018. Forbes valued the team at approximately $2.3 billion upon the sale and estimated its worth at $4.1 billion by 2023. The franchise is legally registered as Panther Football, LLC and controlled by Tepper who had previously been a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. After starting 6, 2 in his first season, the team finished 7, 9 in 2018. They began the 2019 season 5, 3 but lost their last eight games to finish 5, 11. Late in that season, Tepper fired Rivera as head coach. Perry Fewell finished the year as interim coach with a 0, 4 record. The 2019 season also saw a season-ending injury to Cam Newton who only played in two games that year.

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• 5. Stadium And Facilities

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  The Panthers played their first season at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina while their facility in uptown Charlotte was still under construction. Ericsson Stadium opened in the summer of 1996 and has been called Bank of America Stadium since 2004. It was specially designed by HOK Sports Facilities Group for football and serves as headquarters for the organization. Two bronze panther statues flank each of the stadium's three main entrances and are the largest sculptures ever commissioned in the United States. The names of the team's original PSL owners are engraved on the base of each statue. Mike McCormack and Sam Mills were honored with life-sized bronze statues outside the stadium as the first two people in the Panthers Hall of Honor. The team holds practices on three open-air fields next to the stadium where they can be seen from nearby skyscrapers. They added strategically planted trees and tarps over fences to prevent outsiders from watching practice sessions. The Panthers have hosted their annual training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina since 1995. A planned $1 billion team headquarters nicknamed The Rock in Rock Hill faced termination in April 2022 after owner David Tepper filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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• 6. Uniforms And Identity

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  The shape of the Panthers logo mimics the outline of both North Carolina and South Carolina. The team changed their logo and logotype in 2012 for the first time in history to give it an aggressive contemporary look. Primary tweaks included more pronounced features like a muscular brow and fangs creating a menacing appearance. The revised logo uses a darker shade of blue over black compared to the old design which had teal over black. By October 1993 when announced as the 29th NFL team, the uniform design was still under creation. The organization decided on jerseys colored white, black, and blue with pants colored white and silver. Process blue was chosen as the exact tone because it is lighter than Duke's blue but darker than North Carolina's. The all-black uniforms won the Greatest Uniform in NFL History contest run by NFL.com in July 2013. Team captain Steve Smith chose blue socks for that uniform to make it distinct from other teams wearing all black. In 2012, Nike altered the collar to honor former player Sam Mills by featuring the phrase Keep Pounding. That phrase came from a speech Mills gave before the 2003 playoff game against Dallas comparing his cancer fight to the team's battle.

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• 7. Community And Culture

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  South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley declared the 30th of July 2012 as Carolina Panthers Day in her state saying the team belongs to South Carolina. During the 2015 NFC Championship and Super Bowl, the hashtag OneCarolina was used by college and professional sports teams from both states to show unified support. Sir Purr has been the mascot since the first season wearing jersey number 00. He participates in community events including monthly visits to patients at Levine Children's Hospital. The team's cheerleaders are called the Carolina Topcats who lead cheers and entertain fans at home games. In March 2022, they became the first NFL cheerleading team to have a transgender member named Justine Lindsay. The drumline is known as PurrCussion and performs outside the stadium introducing players prior to home games. Starting with the 2012 season, an honorary drummer hits a six-foot-tall drum four times before each home game to signify the four quarters of football. Drummers include current and former players military veterans Make-A-Wish children and athletes like Stephen Curry and Jimmie Johnson. The Panthers raised more than $1.4 million for the Keep Pounding Fund through direct donations charity auctions blood drives and an annual 5k stadium run.

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