Some things I didn't know about the history of the team that I now know after going through Observer archives

[Sam Mills Fan]

- In the late '80s, there were competing groups in Cabarrus, Gaston, and York Counties over where an eventual NFL stadium would be built. In fact, Richardson's first idea was to work with the people at Charlotte Motor Speedway to retrofit for NFL games and to play out there. Different counties were basically at war with each other at this time.

- Famed handicapper Danny Sheridan put the odds of Charlotte getting an NFL team at 50 to 1, the same odds as *Montreal* and behind cities like San Antonio, Sacramento, and Birmingham.

- Richardson originally tried to say the stadium would cost $80 million to build. It eventually cost $250 million in the mid-90s. To put that $80 million into perspective, it cost $75 million a few years ago just to do things like renovate the stairs and escalators.

- Pete Rozelle was more gung ho about Charlotte getting a team than Paul Tagliabue was, at least at first. Tagliabue had to be really sold on it when he became commissioner, while Rozelle was supportive of a Charlotte team early on.

- Jerry Richardson had arranged for a Redskins/Falcons exhibition game to be played at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, but it was nixed at the last second by the university. The exhibition had to be moved to Chapel Hill instead.

- George Shinn initially wanted to own a Charlotte NFL team and kept outbidding Richardson for things left and right. If Shinn hadn't dropped out for financial reasons in 1989-1990, it's possible that he might have ended up owning the team instead. Or maybe the NFL would have never came here because his bid was just less impressive than Richardson's.

- Jerry Richardson was a huge backer of racist NC Senator Jesse Helms and was a co-chairman of a big Charlotte fundraiser in Helms' honor that George Bush Sr. attended.

- Raleigh tried hard for their own NFL bid in 1990.

These are things that I, someone who is practically a Panthers historian at this point, did not know. And this has been a July thread on the Huddle, carry on. 

[Mr. Scot]

Joe Menzer and Scott Fowler both wrote pretty good books about early Panthers history.

[Burnout189]

13 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

- Raleigh tried hard for their own NFL bid in 1990.

That would have been a mess had Raleigh won the bid over Charlotte. Imagine having to fly into a smaller and pricier airport, less hotel accommodations etc.

[Sam Mills Fan]

18 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Joe Menzer and Scott Fowler both wrote pretty good books about early Panthers history.

I feel like I read the one about the Panthers' inaugural season back in the day, but I don't recall all of this information about the lead up to everything starting in the '80s.

Another gem: after the Denny's revelations, Jerry Richardson announced the hiring of a minority partner. As in she was black so she became a "minority partner". There are only two references to her in the entire archives and she seemed to conveniently disappear as soon as the team was actually awarded to Richardson lol.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

lol if the stadium had been built in gaston county

 

gross

[Mr. Scot]

20 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

I feel like I read the one about the Panthers' inaugural season back in the day, but I don't recall all of this information about the lead up to everything starting in the '80s.

Another gem: after the Denny's revelations, Jerry Richardson announced the hiring of a minority partner. As in she was black so she became a "minority partner". There are only two references to her in the entire archives and she seemed to conveniently disappear as soon as the team was actually awarded to Richardson lol.

Shocking.

I think Menzer's book is the one where I learned that Richardson tried to get Joe Gibbs as his original head coach and team architect. Also where I read that Polian wanted Rich Kotite.

Had heard since that Gibbs is not a big fan of Jerry Richardson (this was before the scandal) but I don't remember who said that.

[Moose Hoover]

duh

[Carolina Rider]

2 hours ago, Porn Shop Clerk said:

lol if the stadium had been built in gaston county

 

gross

Hey, we're not all bad over here. As long as it isn't Gastonia.

[kungfoodude]

9 hours ago, Burnout189 said:

That would have been a mess had Raleigh won the bid over Charlotte. Imagine having to fly into a smaller and pricier airport, less hotel accommodations etc.

Most of that would have just been built anyway. I think the thing that would have been more interesting is if Raleigh would have allowed a stadium downtown.

[xav8tor]

22 hours ago, Burnout189 said:

That would have been a mess had Raleigh won the bid over Charlotte.

Imagine having to fly into a smaller and pricier airport....

True, Charlotte was the far better choice, but as far as airports go, thinking RDU is "pricer" is just plain wrong. AA DOMINATES CLT, and charges accordingly. Below are six city pairs, economy nonstop averages. flying out of CLT, on average, costs twice as much as it does to fly out of RDU, and these are restricted coach prices. You don't even want to know what full fare first class costs are. On long hauls, I've even considered driving to RDU to save the $$$. Furthermore, often, where connecting flights are required out of RDU to the destination, guess where the connecting city is? Yep. CLT. Same flight on the final leg, hundreds of dollars less.

DEP	ARR	Avg. Price	Diff. in %
KCLT	ATL	536	164.42
KCLT	MIA	475	130.14
KCLT	DCA	321	110.31
KCLT	PHL	621	221.00
KCLT	ORD	475	128.73
KCLT	SFO	627	109.23
		Avg,	143.97
KRDU	ATL	326	60.82
KRDU	MIA	365	76.84
KRDU	DCA	291	90.65
KRDU	PHL	281	45.25
KRDU	ORD	369	77.68
KRDU	SFO	574	91.55
		Avg,	73.80

 

[CosmoGirl]

4 minutes ago, xav8tor said:

True, Charlotte was the far better choice, but as far as airports go, thinking RDU is "pricer" is just plain wrong. AA DOMINATES CLT, and charges accordingly. Below are six city pairs, economy nonstop averages. flying out of CLT, on average, costs twice as much as it does to fly out of RDU, and these are restricted coach prices. You don't even want to know what full fare first class costs are. On long hauls, I've even considered driving to RDU to save the $$$. Furthermore, often, where connecting flights are required out of RDU to the destination, guess where the connecting city is? Yep. CLT. Same flight on the final leg, hundreds of dollars less.

DEP	ARR	Avg. Price	Diff. in %
KCLT	ATL	536	164.42
KCLT	MIA	475	130.14
KCLT	DCA	321	110.31
KCLT	PHL	621	221.00
KCLT	ORD	475	128.73
KCLT	SFO	627	109.23
		Avg,	143.97
KRDU	ATL	326	60.82
KRDU	MIA	365	76.84
KRDU	DCA	291	90.65
KRDU	PHL	281	45.25
KRDU	ORD	369	77.68
KRDU	SFO	574	91.55
		Avg,	73.80

 

Yep. I fly up from FL frequently. I usually book my AA flight to RDU or ATL which has a layover in CLT and don't take the connection. Downside is I cannot check my bag because it goes to final destination. 

[Burnout189]

6 minutes ago, xav8tor said:

True, Charlotte was the far better choice, but as far as airports go, thinking RDU is "pricer" is just plain wrong. AA DOMINATES CLT, and charges accordingly. Below are six city pairs, economy nonstop averages. flying out of CLT, on average, costs twice as much as it does to fly out of RDU, and these are restricted coach prices. You don't even want to know what full fare first class costs are. On long hauls, I've even considered driving to RDU to save the $$$. Furthermore, often, where connecting flights are required out of RDU to the destination, guess where the connecting city is? Yep. CLT. Same flight on the final leg, hundreds of dollars less.

DEP	ARR	Avg. Price	Diff. in %
KCLT	ATL	536	164.42
KCLT	MIA	475	130.14
KCLT	DCA	321	110.31
KCLT	PHL	621	221.00
KCLT	ORD	475	128.73
KCLT	SFO	627	109.23
		Avg,	143.97
KRDU	ATL	326	60.82
KRDU	MIA	365	76.84
KRDU	DCA	291	90.65
KRDU	PHL	281	45.25
KRDU	ORD	369	77.68
KRDU	SFO	574	91.55
		Avg,	73.80

 

Dang, I stand corrected. I checked through Delta, who I fly, and it was actually around $40 cheaper going into Raleigh instead of Charlotte for the same flight.

[xav8tor]

1 minute ago, Burnout189 said:

Dang, I stand corrected. I checked through Delta, who I fly, and it was actually around $40 cheaper going into Raleigh instead of Charlotte for the same flight.

I gotta correct myself too. I just looked at the cumulative average and doubled the RDU, which equals the CLT avg. Brain fart. What I should have said, is "up to" twice as much. The bottom line still stands though. It's double digits more to fly out of CLT. Always has been since US Air bought Piedmont back around 89 or90. Now it's just worse...far worse.

[xav8tor]

8 minutes ago, CosmoGirl said:

Yep. I fly up from FL frequently. I usually book my AA flight to RDU or ATL which has a layover in CLT and don't take the connection. Downside is I cannot check my bag because it goes to final destination. 

Be careful. Even though it's been some time ago since I was in the airline biz and things have changed, there were a few horror stories where they had ways of tracking that sort of thing, and in one case, allegedly, came after the pax with the threat of a lawsuit to recoup the price difference. No idea if it's actually true, but the fine print might say they could do it.