Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper has no plans to move the team out of Charlotte and is seriously considering a renovation to Bank of America Stadium that would prolong its life for at least another decade rather than pushing for another new stadium immediately.
A source with direct knowledge of Tepper’s thinking said the owner would want the renovations — or the new stadium — to be financed with a public-private partnership. While concerned about some aspects of uptown development — particularly the shrinking number of parking spaces due to the apartment building surge — Tepper believes that the stadium’s current uptown location is one of the best in the country and has no current plans to move the team or the stadium out of Charlotte, the source said.
The renovation would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, based on preliminary estimates, and concentrate on “back-of-house” infrastructure upgrades needed to keep the stadium usable for at least the next 10 years and perhaps as many as 20. Still, it would be far cheaper than building a new football stadium — those often have a price tag of more than a billion.
