Ownership Info from Darin Gantt

[Mr. Scot]

A recent radio interview with Darin Gantt; lots of discussion up front about the ownership issue.

WRAL Interview with Joe Ovies and Lauren Brownlow

 

Highlights:

- The League appears to be pressuring Jerry Richardson to choose David Tepper even if he's not the high bidder

- Owners, including a specifically mentioned Bob Kraft, favor Tepper over all other candidates

- The whole "Tepper Out / Tepper In" thing may have been the league "playing poker" as a way to nudge Richardson

- Over the past few months, Richardson has been known to be notably unhappy about the sale process

- On that front, Richardson has reportedly said to people around him "I don't have to sell this team" several times

- The league's reply to those statements is basically "Oh yes you do" (and yes, they can force him)

- Richardson's response: "Well, even if I have to sell it, I don't have to pick the guy you want me to choose"

- The League not only wants the sale to happen, but they also want it to happen as soon as possible

- The NFL currently views Jerry Richardson as "a problem that they need to get rid of" and they want him off the radar

- Gantt expects the league to issue a minor to moderate penalty quickly after the sale

- They're also hoping for a good sale price in the hope that it will set a precedent for future team sales

- Time wise, we can expect to know who "the guy" is well prior to the draft (final vote of course coming in late May)

- Neither Felix Sabates nor any of other local guys were ever a serious option; neither is the team being moved

- FYI: No mention of Alan Kestenbaum, I Am Number Four or anyone else in the course of the interview

 

Overall, pretty informative segment.

First impression: Really sounds like Jerry Richardson has gotten pretty bitter about the whole affair. 

Speculating off of Gantt's comments and past stories, I think Jerry truly believed that his "internal investigation" idea would be respected. The league declined.  He then likely thought that the league wouldn't proceed with the investigation if he agreed to sell the team.  That didn't pan out either. 

So basically, after he showed his ass, the NFL refused to cover it for him. After decades of being a league loyalist, I gotta imagine that left Jerry pretty pissed off. Now Richardson is "grumpy" about the process, and apparently saying things to annoy the NFL.

It's never been a secret that the league favors Tepper, and maybe Richardson would have been fine with him too.  Jerry's admiration for the Steelers and Tepper's relationship with the Rooneys certainly would have been seen as positives.

Unfortunately for all his fans in league ownership, Tepper lowballed the bid.

Now Richardson likely views the NFL as pushing him to take less money so they can have their guy take over his team, and to be fair, he's right.  So Jerry is making noise that he's gonna do this his way and pick his guy.  There's an element of this that almost sounds like spite.  And while it might sound silly to let something as petty as spite factor into a billion dollar transaction, Jerry is still Jerry.

So yes, he's going to sell the team, but probably not to the successor that the NFL has anointed to take his throne.

Albert Breer pointed out a while back that the league was unhappy with the way the sale "drama" was playing out.  We speculated at the time that it was probably about Navarro being the front runner over Tepper.  Gantt's interview here both bears that out and fleshes it out a little, while also giving us an indication that the end of the saga is probably near.

Bottom Line: More evidence that unless David Tepper seriously increases his bid, the next owner of the Panthers is Ben Navarro.

[t96]

Good . fug bob kraft and the other owners . Go Navarro

[Ricky Spanish]

Bye shield at midfield

[LinvilleGorge]

I don’t blame JR for not wanting to be strong armed into taking a lesser bid so that the other owners can have their own hand picked guy take over. 

I just hope he’s regretting always putting the NFL as a whole ahead his own franchise and keeping that NFL shield at midfield.

The league and other owners he always protected through thick and thin hung his ass out to dry at the first opportunity. Not that he didn’t deserve it but I can understand why he’s bitter.

[Woodie]

14 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

A recent radio interview with Darin Gantt; lots of discussion up front about the ownership issue.

WRAL Interview with Joe Ovies and Lauren Brownlow

 

Highlights:

- The League appears to be pressuring Jerry Richardson to choose David Tepper even if he's not the high bidder

- Owners, including a specifically mentioned Bob Kraft, favor Tepper over all other candidates

- The whole "Tepper Out / Tepper In" thing may have been the league "playing poker" as a way to nudge Richardson

- Over the past few months, Richardson has been known to be notably unhappy about the sale process

- On that front, Richardson has reportedly said to people around him "I don't have to sell this team" several times

- The league's reply to those statements is basically "Oh yes you do" (and yes, they can force him)

- Richardson's response: "Well, even if I have to sell it, I don't have to pick the guy you want me to choose"

- The League not only wants the sale to happen, but they also want it to happen as soon as possible

- The NFL currently views Jerry Richardson as a "problem that they need to get rid of" and they want him off the radar

- Gantt expects the league to issue a minor to moderate penalty quickly after the sale

- They're also hoping for a good sale price in the hope that it will set a precedent for future team sales

- Time wise, we can expect to know who "the guy" is well prior to the draft (final vote of course coming in late May)

- Neither Felix or any of the other local guys were ever a serious option; neither is the team being moved

- FYI: No mention of Alan Kestenbaum, I Am Number Four or anyone else in the course of the interview

 

Overall, pretty informative segment.

First impression: Really sounds like Jerry Richardson has gotten pretty bitter about the whole affair. 

Speculating off of Gantt's comments and past stories, I think Jerry truly believed that his "internal investigation" idea would be respected. The league declined.  He then likely thought that the league wouldn't proceed with the investigation if he agreed to sell the team.  That didn't pan out either. 

So basically, after he showed his ass, the NFL refused to cover it for him.

After decades of being a league loyalist, I gotta imagine that left Jerry pretty pissed off.

Now Richardson is "grumpy" about the process, and apparently saying things to annoy the NFL. It's never been a secret that the league favors Tepper, and maybe Richardson would have been fine with him too.  Jerry's admiration for the Steelers and Tepper's relationship with the Rooneys certainly would have been seen as positives.

Unfortunately for all his fans in league ownership, Tepper lowballed the bid.

Now Richardson likely views the NFL as pushing him to take less money so they can have their guy take over his team, and to be fair, he's right.  So Jerry is making noise that he's gonna do this his way and pick his guy.  There's an element of this that almost sounds like spite.  And while it might sound silly to let something as petty as spite factor into a billion dollar transaction, Jerry is still Jerry.

So yes, he's going to sell the team, but probably not to the successor that the NFL has anointed to take his throne.

Albert Breer pointed out a while back that the league was unhappy with the way the sale "drama" was playing out.  We speculated at the time that it was probably about Navarro being the front runner over Tepper.  Gantt's interview here both bears that out and fleshes it out a little, while also giving us an indication that the end of the saga is probably near.

Bottom Line: More evidence that unless David Tepper seriously increases his bid, the next owner of the Panthers is Ben Navarro.

I just hope that if Navarro does win the bid that the other owners still welcome him into the fold even though he was not their preferred choice.  It sounds like Navarro has the personality to help heal any wounds between the team and the league, so I don't think it will be long-term issue, but will it have any effect on the short term?

One thing I wonder about, lets say JR sells to Navarro out of spite or simply because he has the biggest offer, how upset would the league be about it.  Would they be so bitter they levy a stiffer penalty against the Panthers for the mess Jerry left than they would if Tepper gets the team?  Wouldn't be fair, but when has this league ever been about fair?

[TheSpecialJuan]

Great stuff 

[Captain Morgan]

wow, that's some real drama right there

 

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, Woodie said:

I just hope that if Navarro does win the bid that the other owners still welcome him into the fold even though he was not their preferred choice.  It sounds like Navarro has the personality to help heal any wounds between the team and the league, so I don't think it will be long-term issue, but will it have any effect on the short term?

One thing I wonder about, lets say JR sells to Navarro out of spite or simply because he has the biggest offer, how upset would the league be about it.  Would they be so bitter they levy a stiffer penalty against the Panthers for the mess Jerry left than they would if Tepper gets the team?  Wouldn't be fair, but when has this league ever been about fair?

Hard to say.  Unfortunately, it's a real possibility.

Gantt at least indicated that they don't want Jerry Richardson's scandal hanging over the head of the new owner, so that's a positive.

Does that still apply if the new owner isn't who they wanted?  My gut says yes, but I guess we'll see.

[LinvilleGorge]

4 minutes ago, Woodie said:

I just hope that if Navarro does win the bid that the other owners still welcome him into the fold even though he was not their preferred choice.  It sounds like Navarro has the personality to help heal any wounds between the team and the league, so I don't think it will be long-term issue, but will it have any effect on the short term?

One thing I wonder about, lets say JR sells to Navarro out of spite or simply because he has the biggest offer, how upset would the league be about it.  Would they be so bitter they levy a stiffer penalty against the Panthers for the mess Jerry left than they would if Tepper gets the team?  Wouldn't be fair, but when has this league ever been about fair?

If the league really doesn’t want Navarro they simply wouldn’t vote the sale through. The NFL has to approve any sale.

[Mr. Scot]

7 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I don’t blame JR for not wanting to be strong armed into taking a lesser bid so that the other owners can have their own hand picked guy take over. 

I just hope he’s regretting always putting the NFL as a whole ahead his own franchise and keeping that NFL shield at midfield.

The league and other owners he always protected through thick and thin hung his ass out to dry at the first opportunity. Not that he didn’t deserve it but I can understand why he’s bitter.

Kinda came back to bite him on the ass, didn't it?

I'd guess Richardson probably was expecting his loyalty to be rewarded. And maybe in the pre #metoo world, it would have been.

Now? Not so much.

He can be bitter all he wants to of course, but in the end all of this is nobody's fault but his own.

[Growl]

If the league ramrods this team into choosing somebody I will never watch another NFL game.

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

If the league really doesn’t want Navarro they simply wouldn’t vote the sale through. The NFL has to approve any sale.

Despite the talk, Newton believes Navarro will have no trouble getting approval.

Sounds like the talk might have just been posturing to scare Richardson, but he didn't blink.

 

Just now, Growl said:

If the league ramrods this team into choosing somebody I will never watch another NFL game.

Haven't seen anyone indicating that's possible.

David Tepper being talked into upping his bid is definitely possible, but not likely.

[*FreeFua*]

4 minutes ago, Growl said:

If the league ramrods this team into choosing somebody I will never watch another NFL game.

I’m sure the NFL will be sooo choked to lose a superior fan like yourself...

[Mr. Scot]

I'd add that the league is in a bit of a no win situation at this point.

On the one hand, they may want to drag out the process a little in the hope that Richardson changes his mind or Tepper ups his bid.  Neither of those things actually seems likely, but they can hope.

Of course, the problem with dragging it out is that for as long as you do that, Jerry Richardson stays in the public consciousness.  The NFL wants Jerry to be out of sight / out of mind as soon as possible so they can put the embarrassment of this scandal behind them.

Something's gotta give.