We like Super Bowls

[Mr. Scot]

Joe Person and Katie Peralta talk about the pending team sale, including information from David Tepper's sister...

Highlights...

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David Tepper's $2.275 billion deal to buy the Carolina Panthers is expected to close in the next two weeks, drawing to an end the era of team founder Jerry Richardson. The sale itself is expected to close without much fanfare, but the change of ownership marks a major change in the history of the franchise.

The next chapter for the Panthers begins under a sole, outspoken new owner.

While much of what Tepper, 60, could do when he takes over (including building new practice facilities and making staffing changes) remains to be seen, here's what's known about how the Tepper era will begin.

Person and Peralta confirm the two week timeframe we've seen mentioned elsewhere.

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Tepper is not taking on any minority partners — at least not for now. Although he doesn't need any since he bought the team outright, Tepper could always opt to take some partners on later.

Tepper himself was a minority partner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, buying a stake in his hometown team in 2009. Tepper has to give up his Steelers' shares now that he's set to become the second owner in Panthers history.

Industry experts say there are pros and cons of taking on minority partners. A new-to-town owner could leverage the network of well-established business people in Charlotte, such as Family Dollar founder Leon Levine, or the Belk family, who founded the Belk department store chain.

Taking on minority partners means Tepper would have to make a capital call every time he wanted to make a new investment.

This we already knew.

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Tepper is also expected to remain at the helm of Appaloosa Management, the hedge fund firm he started in 1993.

In his WFNZ interview, Kent Babb was asked by Kyle Bailey if the Panthers were going to be one of many things to Tepper or his main thing.  His answer was that they will be his main thing...eventually.  For now, he's going to be continuing in other enterprises but it's expected that he'll gradually transition to a point where the Panthers are his number one - and perhaps only - priority.

This will also factor into a later point.

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One such opportunity Tepper is expected to take advantage of is using analytics to improve the fan experience at Bank of America Stadium.

That's something the New England Patriots have been doing through the team's operator, Kraft Sports Group, which examines fan behavior and uses analytics to tailor its marketing tactics.

For instance, the Patriots' analytics group uses databases and modeling to determine whether season-ticket holders will renew. If a fan misses two games, the team will reach out to them with a survey, personal calls and letters to help encourage season-ticket renewal, according to DMN, a New York-based firm that specializes in data-driven marketing analysis.

Season ticket holders should be happy to hear this.

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It's not yet clear what kind of staffing changes Tepper could make at the Panthers' front office.

With Tepper expected to continue running his hedge fund, he'll likely need a top lieutenant to run the day-to-day operations of the Panthers. That could come in the form of a team president, a post that has remained vacant since Danny Morrison unexpectedly stepped down last year.

Tepper is not expected to make any immediate personnel changes on the football side of the organization.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera, who has been to the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, and general manager Marty Hurney have contracts that run through the 2020 season.

Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports business consultant who advises NFL team owners on business matters, said he doesn't anticipate any sweeping changes. "Anytime a new team owner comes in, it is inevitable that they will have some of their own people at certain positions," Ganis said.

Going hand in hand with the previous mention about Tepper not being full time as Panthers owner yet, it makes sense that he's put someone he trusts in charge while he's still working on other things.  As I've mentioned before, I see Steelers second-in-command Omar Khan as a strong possibility for that role.  And again, while there may not be many immediate changes, there's lots of speculation about changes happening next offseason.

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Tepper grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1970s when the Steelers were collecting Super Bowl rings like trading cards with a star-studded roster that included Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris and Mean Joe Greene. Tepper’s family followed all the Pittsburgh teams.

Sheryl Weitman, Tepper’s sister, remembers Tepper going to Pirates games at Forbes Field with his grandfather. They'd pay a quarter to sit in the bleachers and watch Tepper’s idol, Pirates great Roberto Clemente.

After buying a stake in the Steelers in 2009, Tepper would attend Steelers' board meetings and call attention to current trends like fantasy football, as well as ways to improve the gameday experience for fans who wanted to keep up with their fantasy teams.

That's pretty interesting.  And again, this should make season ticket holders and fans who attend games in general pretty happy.

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But Tepper made it clear after he was approved as the Panthers owner in May what his main focus is.

“If I’m moving someplace and we’re doing this at Carolina, the first thing I care about is winning,” said Tepper, adding that winning also is the second and third things he cares about, too.

Can't hear that enough...

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Weitman, who lives in Miami near a lot of Tepper’s extended family, says her brother has grown accustomed to winning.

“He’s been described as a rich guy who’s middle class. He puts on no airs. We’re just a football-loving family,” she said.

“I think he likes to win. And hopefully that’s what we’ll do in Charlotte. We like Super Bowls. Well, you know, we’ve been Steelers fans our whole lives. So we hope we’ll bring some of the magic to Charlotte.”

One of the things that's been said frequently about the Panthers, and Cam Newton specifically, is that they hate losing just as much as they love winning.  That characteristic is now going to extend from the owner's box on down, because people who are "accustomed to winning" don't generally handle losing all that well.

And finally...

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Much has been made of Tepper’s “billionaire next door” persona. But family members and associates say his salt-of-the-earth reputation is not an act.

Shealy, the Appaloosa investor, called Tepper a "humble guy" who isn't afraid to speak his mind.

"There will be very little guesswork when it comes to David Tepper’s opinions on things," Shealy said.

No beating around the bush, no mincing words, no holding back...

For good or bad, I have a feeling Panthers fandom under Tepper is set to be a wild ride.

I'm sure we all hope it's for good.

[LinvilleGorge]

When it was all happening, it looked like the NFL was picking our front office clean of talent while the organization was doing little to retain them. In hindsight, it looks like they just knew exactly when to abandon the pending dumpster fire. Gotta wonder just how much they may have known.

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

When it was all happening, it looked like the NFL was picking our front office clean of talent while the organization was doing little to retain them. In hindsight, it looks like they just knew exactly when to abandon the pending dumpster fire. Gotta wonder just how much they may have known.

I go back to what I was told.

The people on the football side of the operation were on the opposite side of the building from Richardson.  The only people who would have been in a position to see him on a daily basis would have been Hurney, Gettleman and Rivera. 

Word gets around in an office of course, and the SI accuser indicated that plenty of Panther executives knew what was going on.

Who knew?  Who knows?

But again, one insider has stated that you'll probably see a lot of people in the offices jump ship in the coming months, possibly to Buffalo, Arizona or New York.  Some of that will likely just be the standard fear of change you get anytime a business is sold.  Others may actually have something to hide.

Guess we'll see what happens...

[The Pieyed Piper]

 

[top dawg]

9 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

So we hope we’ll bring some of the magic to Charlotte.”

Don't underestimate the "we" and "we'll," in this equation. 

Apparently Tepper lets some of his family put in their $0.02 when it comes to thoughts about the team. Not saying that that is good or bad, but it's interesting. It's not like football is a traditional business, because it is largely fan driven, and, like it or not, Tepper appears to be surrounded by real football fans who are accustomed to winning, and with that will come some strong opinions that may have an effect on some of his decisions. Sure, he is the sole owner (for a reason), but family will be in his ear (especially pertaining to the football side of things). 

[Moo Daeng]

8 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

When it was all happening, it looked like the NFL was picking our front office clean of talent while the organization was doing little to retain them. In hindsight, it looks like they just knew exactly when to abandon the pending dumpster fire. Gotta wonder just how much they may have known.

So other teams saw the dumpter fire coming and decided to promote our guys to the highest levels they can go in their line of work?

That doesn't make sense.

They took jobs as GMs and head coaches that any person would jump to take if offered 

[top dawg]

8 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

I go back to what I was told.

The people on the football side of the operation were on the opposite side of the building from Richardson.  The only people who would have been in a position to see him on a daily basis would have been Hurney, Gettleman and Rivera. 

Word gets around in an office of course, and the SI accuser indicated that plenty of Panther executives knew what was going on.

Who knew?  Who knows?

But again, one insider has stated that you'll probably see a lot of people in the offices jump ship in the coming months, possibly to Buffalo, Arizona or New York.  Some of that will likely just be the standard fear of change you get anytime a business is sold.  Others may actually have something to hide.

Guess we'll see what happens...

Rivera's office, from what I remember, is right near the locker room. Just saying...

[The Pieyed Piper]

7 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

 

They took jobs as GMs and head coaches that any person would jump to take if offered 

Rivera has some patience, doesn't he? He could have bolted and didn't. This is gonna pay off big time.

srsly? why did Chud leave???

[Moo Daeng]

4 minutes ago, top dawg said:

Rivera's office, from what I remember, is right near the locker room. Just saying...

Mister will do whatever he can to keep stirring this up. He's not concerned with anything but his perception of reality. Its rather sad.

[arbnranger]

1 hour ago, Moo Daeng said:

Mister will do whatever he can to keep stirring this up. He's not concerned with anything but his perception of reality. Its rather sad.

Maybe he’s still upset about everyone having to call Richardson Mister. 

[Cary Kollins]

The more I read about Tepp the more I like him.

The win-first mindset, proactively improving the fan experience, the honesty in press conferences...it all sounds great.

heres to hoping he can put it all together. I’m optimistic.

[Mr. Scot]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

Rivera's office, from what I remember, is right near the locker room. Just saying...

That's his second office. His first office like the rest of the football operation, would still be on the opposite side of the building from Richardson.

That said, he and the two GMs would have been the only ones on the football side who probably saw Richardson on a regular basis.

Still, I can't imagine Rivera knew. He strikes me as too much of a stand up guy to have just sat by and let something like this happen, or celebrate someone who did a thing like this after the fact.

To that point though, dear Ron, please don't do that anymore. Especially now that it's been revealed he actually did do the things he was accused of.

The best thing Rivera, the players and anyone else associated with the team right now would be to refrain from any sort of "yeah, but I liked him" type comments that make them sound completely tone deaf.

[Mr. Scot]

13 minutes ago, arbnranger said:

Maybe he’s still upset about everyone having to call Richardson Mister. 

Heck, this thread isn't even about Jerry Richardson. But someone asked a Richardson related question, so I answered with what I know.

There's a separate thread more suited to discussing Richardson, though. This one should be about Tepper.

[top dawg]

_We need a link. 

http://m.wbtv.com/story/38541799/a-new-chapter-is-about-to-begin-for-the-carolina-panthers-heres-what-we-know

One of Tepper's early investors is Alan Shealy, principal at the Boise investment firm Claremont Partners. Shealy describes Tepper as a "quintessential opportunist."

"If he sees opportunity somewhere, he will cross the Rubicon to get there," Shealy said.

 

I wonder if seeing bargains on the free agent market, or in th supplemental draft will apply. Indeed, Tepper made his fortune on risky investments, so what about players with potential issues? On one hand, he has been influenced by the Steelers. On the other hand, he's obviously relatively fearless when treading in risky waters. 

It will be fascinating to see what transpires.