CHARLOTTE, N.C. – David Tepper, the new owner of the Carolina Panthers, wants to be the sole owner of the NFL team, according to a report from Sports Business Daily.
Reporter Daniel Kaplan, who wrote the story, told NBC Charlotte’s Rad Berky that being the sole owner would mean Tepper would not have to answer to anyone.
“It’s like anything. Would you rather own something outright or would you rather have partners?” said Kaplan.
Jerry Richardson sold the team to Tepper after reports surfaced that he had engaged in sexual and racial improprieties. Richardson owned 48 percent of the team.
The rest was owned by minority partners including Richardson’s wife, two of his children and several other, mostly local individuals.
Buying them all out, Kaplan said, would be costly for Tepper.
“If you subtract whatever debt there is from that $2.275 billion, one could do the math... so clearly, this is a $1 billion-plus decision he has made,” he said.
The move should not come as a surprise to the minority owners of the Panthers.
Shortly after submitting the winning bid to buy the team, Tepper was asked at a news conference last month what would happen to the minority owners.
He replied, “I’m trying to determine the development I want to have in the community. So the more development there is in the community, it might make it more difficult to have minority partners.”
Tepper is expected to close on the sale in late July or early August.
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