It was going to happen sooner or later, so add the Carolina Panthers to the list of teams rumored to make the move to Los Angeles, as soon as the City of Angels builds a stadium. Today we have an idea of how much money the Panthers may need to revamp Bank of America Stadium, and it's a pretty penny.
Bob Morgan, Charlotte chamber of commerce president admits that the possibility of the Panthers moving to Los Angeles "scares the hell out of me", this from the Charlotte Business Journal. The article goes on to say that according to both local, and national sources, L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made overtures to Jerry Richardson during the Democratic National Convention about moving his team to California.
For years it has been easy to write off such rumors as frivolity. After all, Jerry Richardson's dream was for NFL football in the Carolina's, and he worked for years to make this a reality. Sadly, there are real-life realities of a man in his seventies being asked to plan for a 15-20 year future; those plans begin now. The back-and-forth between the Panthers, and the City of Charlotte will determine the direction of the franchise moving forward, and the renovations the team are looking for postulated to be over $100 million, according to reports-- which is hardly chump change.
While this news isn't as exciting as games on Sunday, draft picks, or touchdowns, this is arguably more important than any of that.