Thank you Big Cat!

[faninsc]

2 hours ago, cookinbrak said:

PSL owners didn't do squat until after we were awarded a team. JR had to sell it and pay a ton up front.

From an article on the history of the Panthers from the website.  He worked on it for 6 years.

------ Richardson, a North Carolina native who caught a touchdown pass to help the Baltimore Colts win the 1959 NFL Championship, got the ball rolling in July of 1987. Three months after the idea came to him, Richardson contacted longtime friend Hugh McColl, chairman of NationsBank (now Bank of America), to discuss financial feasibility. McColl then contacted Muhleman, who was fresh off helping bring the NBA to Charlotte. About two years into the process, Richardson pegged Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike McCormack, who would eventually become the Panthers' first general manager and president, as his primary football advisor.

Slowly but surely, Richardson's group built its case, drawing massive crowds to NFL preseason games staged throughout the region - Raleigh in 1989, Chapel Hill in 1990 and Columbia in 1991. Behind the scenes, the principals pieced together a stadium funding plan built around Permanent Seat Licenses. On the first day PSLs were made available, just a few months before the NFL made its expansion decision, more than 41,000 were ordered.

And all the while, Richardson was making in-roads with the NFL owners who would eventually decide his fate.

"I was in awe of the effort he put in," Muhleman said. "I am sure that Jerry did the best and most thorough job of one-on-one meeting with every single owner and influential person in the NFL that had ever been done by any expansion person. His impact on the owners was tremendous - his personal sincerity and determination, along with his wonderful personal football history. ---------

 

For me cheering for the Panthers has been a family affair since day one.  We have 3 generations in my family as die-hard fans.  My late Dad was a fan and now his great-grandsons are fans.  I have so many great memories with family that revolve around the Panthers - training camp, attending games, watching games on TV.  Priceless.  Thanks to Jerry Richardson for seeing his dream through and bringing the Carolina Panthers to the Carolinas. 

[Clicheking]

Thank you for bringing us the team, kicks rocks in regards to everything else. The mediocrity, the "country club" atmosphere, never prioritizing the team and the fans, the allegations. Glad we're finally free from your grasp

 

 

 

[pantherclaw]

Thank You Jerry, for a team that I bleed for. 

Forever grateful for all that you have done for the Carolinas, and this franchise.

[ickmule]

So many of you sit on your soapboxes and throw rocks.  JR isn’t all bad and we all owe him a great big thank you for bringing football to the Carolinas.   I for one feel a little sorry for the man.   We all have skeletons so give the man a break.  

[mc52beast]

Thanks for sucking up to the Brass and leaving that ugly fuggin Shield at the 50

Thanks for letting Hurney destroy the team, then firing him, then hiring him again

I appreciate what JR did in bringing football to the Carolinas but it’s time to go

[steven8989]

Thanks Jerry for everything you done to get us the Carolina Panthers, and no matter what you've done will always be thankful. We all make mistakes everyday of our lives and over half of the people on here that are complaing are no better. We would have no professional NFL team if it wasn't for you, I don't care what any of these morons say. All of you thinking the statue will come down just because of what happened are crazy, it will be there as long as the Panthers are playing here. Also I hope all the Tepper nuthuggers are happy when this team gets moved out of the Carolinas. You can't believe anything this asshole is saying, he is just a rich asshole. 

7 hours ago, t96 said:

 

[cookinwithgas]

me holding my Thank You Mr Richardson sign at the last game made Forbes.com LOL

Personally I think he's a grumpy old man who stayed at work too long while his brain got a bit whacky, but he got it done for all of us. He had the dream and put in the work to make it real, and despite any flaws there's no denying that what he accomplished took drive, dedication and passion. His gamble on the PSL concept may have cemented the teams selection as a slam dunk but even without that he was going to beat all the other competitors.

[The Pieyed Piper]

13 hours ago, 4Corners said:

They need to remove him from the statue but keep fhe panthers. 

replace him with a Lombardi replica one year from now.

[DaveThePanther2008]

13 hours ago, CatMan72 said:

Sad ending, but still grateful to JJR for bringing us a team. No excuse for his actions, but it doesn't erase all the good he has done over 2 plus decades of founding & owning the team.

I personally think the statue should stay since it's meant to comemerate him bringing the NFL to the Carolinas. You can't erase him from the history of this team. Good people occasionally do bad things and make mistakes.

Absolutely.  

Those of us that remember the bidding process for an NFL team was not a given for Carolina. In fact, when the bidding process started Carolina was a long shot.  If it wasn't for an amazing presentation from JR and his team.  Carolina would not have a team to this day.   There really aren't any new teams.  

The Browns went to Baltimore and became the Ravens, Oilers to Tennessee to become the Titans,  The NFL wasn't going to let Cleveland with their rich history in this league go without a team.  Houston was another good location that shouldn't be without a team.   So basically it came down to that one bid in 1993 that we could have gotten into the league.  Those areas that lost against us.  Memphis, San Antonio and others STILL DON'T have a team.  Idiots that think we would eventually have had a team are Morons.  

JR really wanted to bring a Lombardi to Carolina and regardless of how it ended that was his goal from day one.  You can criticize how he handle the operation all day and how he went about running this team.  All I can say is I would have never seen Chad Cota intercept a ball in the endzone to win the NFC West in 1996 in our 2nd year, Steve Smith put over 200 yds against Fred Smoots and Minnesota in 2005 and Cam Newton's amazing run against Tampa at Christmas time in 2011.  None of those cherished memories happen without Jerry Richardson, for that I am eternally grateful.  Not to mention being a member of the best football forum in the NFL.  (Plug for Zod, Thanks)

I sit here and get so furious over the amount of hate for him. What he did was inexcusable and he knew what he needed to do to alleviate the fans of a long drawn out investigation and embarrassment only to be forced to sell the team.  So he sold it on his terms.  He did the right thing to sell the team.  No one gives him credit for doing the right thing.

I hope David Tepper realizes the impact that JR had on Charlotte and the NFL and what he did for the team he now owns.  If it weren't for JR over 25 years ago taking the dream he had of bringing a team to Carolina.  He wouldn't have a team to buy.  I know the wounds are fresh from his fallout but IMO the Statue should stay right were it is.  Remind the fans and future fans who is responsible for the team we love. (or most of us)

JR you have my total gratitude and appreciation.  I wish you the best of luck and health going forward.

[PhillyB]

hyuck hyuck thanks for making yourself incredibly rich with our dollars on an entity you value as a profit generator for your coffers over satisfying the people making you rich. and calling black people the N word and making them call you mister while you fondle employees who can't go anywhere for help because you've lionized yourself to the point of becoming untouchable in your own culture 

golly thanks for everything mister richardson! your boots are looking a little dirty from standing on our faces may we lick them some more? we may??? gee whiz thanks mister

[The Pieyed Piper]

lol somebody was asked to tighten up some body hair.

 

[Zaximus]

13 hours ago, Manther said:

 

Just like we were going to be MLB or MLS ....any day now.

Some people think that just because things are, that they were destined to be.  Anyone or someone else could have done it.  Hogwash.

Failed attempts and false starts don't make the history books.  Try taking the subway in Cincinnati sometime.

There are always other cities and other money men jockeying for a team.   Without Richardson, the expansion would have happened somewhere else. 

Richardson made the play, we got the team. 

There would be no PSL owners without Richardson.

Your  twisted logic  runs counter to basic cause and effect.

Its just not how life works.

 

 

 

You have bad logic.   MLB has never been a real thing here because there isn't enough MLB fans.    MLS is MLS, come on.     Football always had enough fans here, hence why we would have got a team anyway.    Keep slurping though and believe that.

[bLACKpANTHER]

Thank you for bringing the NFL to the Carolinas. I truly appreciate that. This team has been, and forever will be, the thorn in my side and a love of my life. Thank you for giving this to me and every other Panther fan.

 

Now, get the fug out.

[Moorgan]

Billionaires live in their own world. I'm not thanking him for anything. In my opinion, statues are not markers of history (for the most part), they venerate, celebrate, a person. I don't particularly want a larger than life statue celebrating and lionizing a man who had to sell the team in hypocritical disgrace. But those panthers are bad ass.