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CHARLOTTE — The Panthers are experiencing growing pains on the field this season, but off the field the NFL franchise is preparing for a massive transformation later this decade.
Despite suffering a 43–13 blowout loss to the Buccaneers at home on Sunday—which coach Dave Canales admitted was “a shock” after the game—Carolina remains atop the NFC South with a 3–3 record. The Panthers will quickly return to the national spotlight when they kick off Week 8 against the Packers on Thursday Night Football, their second primetime matchup of the season.
The Panthers are still searching for their first winning season since David Tepper bought the team for nearly $2.3 billion in 2018, after winning their first division championship under Tepper with an 8–9 record last season. Quarterback Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, is in his fourth year, and a decision on his future looms as his rookie contract expires after the 2027 season.
The on-field developments come as the Panthers brace for a $1.3 billion (and potentially more expensive) upgrade to Bank of America Stadium—a multiyear project that team officials are confident will eventually bring multiple NFL tentpole events to Charlotte.
“We talk about the NFL Draft, we’re really excited about that,” Kristi Coleman, Panthers president and CEO of Tepper Sports & Entertainment, told Front Office Sports. “I think at some point we will have a Super Bowl—that is the ultimate goal.”
The next available Super Bowl is in 2031, the year after Carolina’s stadium renovation is set to be completed. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called the Panthers’ facilities “Super Bowl quality” during an event in July unveiling the latest project details, but he noted accommodations in Charlotte remain tricky.
“There’s some other things that have to happen, obviously, not just at our stadium, but with hotels and those kinds of things,” Coleman said. “So, some of that stuff is out of our control, but we’re doing everything we can to get as many events as we can here.”
NFL Draft locations are only booked out through 2028, so Charlotte could be in line for that event much sooner than the league’s crown jewel.
‘More Than a Facelift’
Nearly every inch of Bank of America Stadium will receive an upgrade over the next four years: Every seat in the venue will be replaced, and there will be new scoreboards, concourses, luxury suites, and club areas. A new practice facility will open next year, and a 4,400-capacity music venue is set to open adjacent to the football stadium in 2029.
Panthers execs said they stopped using the word “renovation,” instead dubbing the work a “transformation” of the 30-year-old venue. “I think renovation has a certain connotation about it, where you’re just giving it a facelift,” TSE chief strategy and development officer Jake Burns told FOS. “And given it’s a $1.3 billion project, we are doing way more than a facelift—all the way down to our mechanical, electrical, and plumbing.”
The transformation will reduce Bank of America Stadium’s 75,000-seat capacity, and some season-ticket holders will have to move seats, although final numbers there have not been announced. In contrast to the Jaguars moving to Orlando for one season during their own stadium renovation, both the Panthers and Charlotte FC, Tepper’s MLS team, will continue playing home games at Bank of America Stadium throughout the project. But fans will still face some yet-to-be-revealed disruptions during construction.
Public funding will cover $650 million of the project, while Tepper will pay for the remaining half plus any cost overruns. This comes after a failed $800 million project in 2022 that would have seen the Panthers build a new headquarters and practice center just across state lines in Rock Hill, S.C.
Panthers Legends Buying In
The ongoing organizational investment is being noticed by former Panthers stars, several of whom were in Charlotte this past Sunday for the team’s annual legends weekend gathering.
“Anytime the team dumps money into the stadium, the facilities, you’ve got to feel good about that as a player,” Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly told FOS. “Because if they’re just sitting back and not doing a whole lot, you’re like, ‘Come on.’”
Jake Delhome, who played quarterback in Carolina from 2003 to 2009 and led the Panthers to Super Bowl XXXVIII and now works on the team’s radio broadcasts, has always been impressed with Bank of America Stadium compared to other NFL venues. “You didn’t feel like you were in just a concrete jungle,” Delhomme told FOS. “You go to some stadiums we would play in—and I don’t want to say what cities—but they were built way after this one, and it’s like ‘this piece of shit.’ I mean, I hate to be that way. Like ‘this is terrible.’”
Jonathan Stewart, the former running back selected by the Panthers in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft, said the on- and off-field transformation is leading to the team finally finding its identity after eight consecutive losing seasons. “We have a new culture here in Carolina, where it does feel like there’s a mix of what the DNA has been, but it’s also innovative,” Stewart told FOS.
The first phases of the $1.3 billion stadium transformation will begin after the Panthers finish this NFL season. In the meantime, the focus remains on the field, with the opportunity to win consecutive division titles for the first time since the franchise’s 2015 run to Super Bowl 50.
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