Peter King MMQB after Super Bowl 38

[JB82887]

. I do want to send kudos to the Richardson family for their generosity. I don't recall any team, ever, flying every club and stadium employee, plus a guest, to the Super Bowl, and including a game ticket for all. For Panthers owner Jerry and his son Mark,it meant chartering three planes for 400 employees and one guest each, plus 800 tickets, plus 400 hotel rooms for four nights each. The concessions workers came. The night watchman at Ericsson Stadium came. When I saw Mark Richardson Sunday morning, I said: "That's really ..." and he cut me off and said, "expensive." He smiled. No, I thought. "Worth it" is what I was thinking. What a wonderful gesture.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/peter_king/02/02/mmqb/

[JB82887]

...for those who believe that Richardson has nefarious plans for the team or is simply collecting cash from owning this team.

[SparkyDevil]

I've heard a few times that Richardson is a great guy and treats his employees well. This also shows you how much winning really means to him. He had to be so excited to want to fly that many people to the game. I have a feeling this whole renovation project and getting tax dollars is to keep the team here for the long haul.

[Ricky Spanish]

I think Jake Delhomme convinced me, you and the rest of America that he's going to be one heck of a player in this league for a long, long time.

*sigh*

[CatMan72]

...and then he went on to call JR a cheap bastard at every opportunity, see how these media types are?

[Panthro]

I was a lot different person a decade ago

[Bama Panther]

That was a great trip. Thanks, JR.

[teeray]

People say a lot of things about Jerry. I disagree with a lot of the negative stuff people put on him, but everyone has a right to their opinion. However, one thing that is pretty much universally known around the league is that he treats all of employees with incredible respect and gratitude. Whether you are a player, concession guy, or night watchman, he treats everyone really, really well.

There are always stories of things like this that almost no other owner does, or does with the same regularity, or sincerity that Richardson does it.

[Nicbsbll2]

Little known fact: the employees had to actually buy the game tickets from the Panthers. The flight, hotel, NFL Experience tickets, and everything else was free to the employees though.

[jtnc]

I was a lot different person a decade ago

And Shula still is? Contradiction I see.

[Bama Panther]

Little known fact: the employees had to actually buy the game tickets from the Panthers. The flight, hotel, NFL Experience tickets, and everything else was free to the employees though.

Wrong. I received two tickets for absolutely no charge whatsoever.

[Mr. Scot]

One thing I find kind of amusing is that the comments about Richardson being a lousy boss . cheap bastard / whatever never seem to come from people who've actually worked for him. Heck, even people he's let go still tend to speak well of him.

Think what you want about his ability to build a winning team, but evidence says that negative comments about his personality or how he treats his employees are off base.

[SIGCHI222]

Wrong. I received two tickets for absolutely no charge whatsoever.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh....busted.

[Growl]

they cheated