Well, well, well.
Look who is looking enviously at the billion-dollar stadiums popping up around the NFL. The Big Cat, Jerry Richardson. Just as we told you would happen.
Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton can play coy all he wants. Everyone knows that the city and the county put about $60m. into the kitty to help make Richardson’s current stadium happen. Any upgrades or expansion would likewise command large sums of public money for “infrastructure.” After all, this is the route the Falcons are taking in Atlanta right now in order to get the Georgia Dome replaced. No way the Panthers stand pat for that.
And so now we know that the Panthers have broached the topic of the vacant land along West Morehead to the city. You can bet that set off all manner of “unofficial” “informal” scurrying by the city’s raft of six-figure fixers (see Eastland, debacle.) But what will really drop a bomb on Uptown will be the NFL lockout next year and the loss of Panther home games.
The message then will be loud and clear: Jerry Richardson cannot compete with the billion-dollar stadiums unless his roster costs go down and his public subsidies go up.
