Tbe

It was dumb to start the project before they issued those bonds. Tepper definitely looks silly for just trusting a local gov like that when the contract isn’t air tight.

I doubt this ends up being true. RH was paying for the public infrastructure needed for the property. Infrastructure bonds are tied to the muni’s tax base since infrastructure doesn’t generate revenue. The ability for the town to pay is all that matters to investors. York county is also stating in their lawsuit that RH agreed they needed Yorks’ assistance to secure financing but ultimately didn’t accept the county’s help. The reason is not known.

Interesting allegations from York County in the lawsuit. 57. TERMINATION OF THE PROJECT Originally, the City of Rock Hill was obligated to issue the bonds by October 2020. That date was subsequently amended to February 26, 2021. 58. However, the City did not issue the bonds by February 26, 2021. 59. Following the City’s missed deadline, the Tepper Defendants approached York County and the City of Rock Hill to discuss the City’s ability or inability to issue the required bonds. A meeting was held with the Tepper Defendants, the City of Rock Hill, and York County in attendance. 60. At that meeting and in subsequent meetings, it was agreed by all parties including the City of Rock Hill that it was advisable and necessary to obtain York County’s assistance in obtaining the bond financing required of the City of Rock Hill by the various agreements. 61. All parties agreed that the Tepper Defendants would request the financial intervention from the County. 62. However, despite the City’s previous agreement for the Tepper Defendants to pursue such an arrangement, the City of Rock Hill publicly refused to accept the financial assistance they acknowledged was needed and desirable. 63. 64. The City did not accept the County’s assistance and failed to issue the bonds. On or about March 7, 2022, the Tepper Defendants announced that they were pausing construction on the Project. At that time, the Tepper Defendants alleged that the City of Rock Hill had been unable to come up with the promised $225 million in bond proceeds. 65. In contrast, the City of Rock Hill accused GTRE and the Tepper Defendants of breaching their agreements themselves and failing to cooperate with the City and its bond underwriters to facilitate the bond issuances. 66. Prior to these pronouncements, in early 2022, the Tepper Defendants, including Appaloosa Management and its CFO Michael Palmer, again approached York County in an attempt to structure an alternative financial arrangement and continue the Project. 67. In fact, the Tepper Defendants – including representatives of Defendant 68. Going above and beyond its commitment to the Project, York County Council passed its own resolution on March 21, 2022, authorizing County personnel to pursue an arrangement to save the Project. 69. This time, perhaps sensing its time was up and the imminent collapse of the Project, the City of Rock Hill agreed to York County’s assistance. 70. 71. However, no such arrangement was reached. On April 19, 2022, the Tepper Defendants announced that they had terminated GTRE’s agreements with the City of Rock Hill. 72. 73. On June 1, 2022, GTRE filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Complicates it for him. He can’t afford another bad PR event. He loses a lot of negotiating power with CLT because of this.

Only the issuer would be holding the bag. Not like voters ever hold anyone accountable for past bond projects though.

Emotion is the only thing that explains how this went down. Nothing else makes sense. He’s sacrificing an entire state’s worth of fans and team competitiveness because RH wouldn’t pay $225 mill of the 800 mill price tag.

Too much of this entire thing doesn’t add up. Why would Tepper or RH deliberately tank such an important project? Doing so doesn’t benefit anyone. Something obviously happened that hasn’t been brought to light. What we know: RH didn’t issue the bonds despite lengthy extensions. RH was only obligated to do their best to issue the bonds. They didn’t have to back stop the debt or put their Aa3 credit rating at risk. Tepper agreed to this but we know the panthers were trying to get RH to backstop the debt after the contract was signed. At some point the panthers went to York county to try and leverage York’s AAA credit rating to help RH secure the debt. RH has not been including any financial info in freedom of information request responses. What are they hiding? Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/04/22/rock-hill-panthers-financing-dispute.html After Tepper paused construction, all efforts to revived the project centered around tax credits instead of debt or cash indicating that debt tied to a municipality was problematic. Reading between the lines, I think RH realized it couldn’t issue the bonds at the interest rate they wanted and/or without hurting their credit rating. Based on their contract with Tepper, they had the legal out. I bet they counted on him just eating it since the project was so far along. I think Tepper realized he was not going to get the money and pulled the plug out of anger. Not smart but in line with prior actions.

Slightly more detail… the lawsuit states. “The Tepper Defendants directed the misappropriation of $21 million of statutorily restricted, public funds from their stated purpose,the expansion of a roadway in York County, and improperly utilized these funds on their failed vanity project, the Carolina Panthers’ headquarters and practice facility. Rather than cover the ballooning project budget themselves, the Tepper Defendants took money from York County and its taxpayers.” Now in the lawsuit, York County blames both Tepper’s companies and Rock Hill for the $21 million loss. “Ultimately, the City of Rock Hill failed to issue the required bonds, the development project collapsed, and the City and the Tepper Defendants were left blaming each other for the failure,” the lawsuit states. “Both the City and the Tepper Defendants have harmed York County and its taxpayers, and the County should be made whole.“

https://www.wcnc.com/amp/article/sports/nfl/panthers/carolina-panthers-rock-hill-york-county-south-carolina-david-tepper-lawsuit-training-facility/275-ddfc7ac6-68e5-4cf2-94d8-2685e2be4967 The lawsuit also blames the city of Rock Hill for failing to issue the required bonds, leading to the project's failure. The suit states this led to Tepper and Rock Hill pointing fingers over whose fault it was, harming York County and its taxpayers.

If a rookie is pretty much on par with a guy going into his 5th year, you play the rookie. This isn’t hard.

Not if they release Sam.

That’s not true for everyone. A lot of guys do take big steps in the nfl. The issue is most guys don’t get playing time which means they don’t get better. Look at Bradberry. That guy shouldn’t have become anything. Small school guy who would have been drafted late if at all. Instead, he came here and became a starter because there was no one else. He got a full time role and tons of 1:1 coaching. A few years later he was the best corner in the league for a minute with a big contract.

The ‘process’ is just ‘try to get better everyday’. That’s it. No more substance than that. How does a nfl player and team get better everyday? Rhule has no idea.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/real-estate-company-owned-by-david-tepper-files-bankruptcy/RRPFHAMRAJDF5CTJG37U2AVFJY/ A bankruptcy attorney who is not associated with this case told Channel 9 the public should expect the now-defunct practice facility site to be resolved faster as a result of this filing. “This is a process in which I think that will help expedite and whatever the project is going to be, property is going to be, you know, in the future,” John Woodman said. “This will help that process at least start a lot sooner rather than later.” It’s unclear at this point what will happen to the half-built practice facility. GTRE also announced that it has received a commitment for $20 million in financing from DT Sports Holding, LLC, subject to court approval, which will allow the company to fund a process to address its legitimate creditor claims, as well as to preserve, protect and enhance the Rock Hill site for the benefit of all stakeholders. The City of Rock Hill does not plan to make a statement until it has had a chance to review the bankruptcy filing Thursday, a city spokesperson said. The bankruptcy ends a bitter back-and-forth public disagreement between Tepper and the city of Rock Hill. “Everybody had their hopes high on the Carolina Panthers coming here,” Rock Hill Mayor Pro Tem Derrick Lindsay said. In the meantime, Rock Hill residents are left wondering how exactly it got to this point. “That’s just a billionaire’s ploy to get out of paying the people,” said Charlie Ruffalo, owner at Sub Station II. Ruffalo put up this message on his sign advertising, “The Tepper Sub: We quit on it halfway through.”

So the idea is to just get better? Wow…what an innovative strategy. I don’t think anyone on that team right now really knows what it takes to win. Matt certainly doesn’t.

It will probably end up being useful eventually. It will make that area way more attractive to home developers etc.

No, the city will end up ordering him to take it down. Similar to what fort mill is doing to the old Bakker tower. Could take years though.

Correct. Never understood why contractors don’t ask for the agreed funds to be put in escrow. Fronting $20 mill for a llc client with no assets seems stupid.

Depends on if the bankruptcy court forces him to sell the land to pay debts.

He is right. My father managed major construction projects most of his career. Bankruptcy of the holding corp is a standard contingency plan for projects like this. It’s not part of the plan if things go well, but it is part of the plan if they don’t. It’s rare for projects of this size to fail, but it has happened.

I guess. At least the largest contract that hasn’t been fully paid. It does explain all that talk about contractors and other workers moving down to RH for this project. If these local govs are going to give sweet deals to corporations, they should at least stipulate that local or regional suppliers and contractors be used.

So it looks like he’s disputing claims from York County, the architect, and the construction company out of PA. About to get uglier with York County.

I don’t blame Tepper for asking. I do blame the politicians for saying yes.

Rhule has his work cut out for him if he wants to convince fans that Sam is the best option. If it was the same system as last year, sure. But Sam has the skills of a late round rookie and no upside.

OTAs started yesterday.